February 22, 2010 (RALEIGH, NC) – Bell/Glazener Design Group, a landscape architecture and planning firm in Raleigh, has received the contract to participate in the new lighting design for the historic Elizabethan Gardens in Manteo, NC.
Dennis Glazener, RLA, president of Bell/Glazener Design Group, will work as a consultant to Engineered Designs, Inc., an engineering firm based in Raleigh.
The Elizabethan Gardens, founded and supported by the Garden Club of North Carolina, Inc., are located adjacent to The Lost Colony’s Waterside Theatre and Fort Raleigh National Historic Park on Roanoke Island, near North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The lush Gardens host numerous special programs and events throughout the year, including historical celebrations, theater and musical performances, family events and educational workshops.
Glazener has been involved in the efforts to upgrade the Gardens since July of 2009 when he visited the site and consulted with the gardens’ Executive Director, Horace Whitfield, and the current Chairman of the Board of Governors, June Bell, regarding future goals and objectives. His recommendations address long-range planning, immediate infrastructure needs, special opportunities and event staging, facility expansions, and fundraising.
Overall site improvements will involve upgrading the walks and pathways, improving the lighting and electrical systems, and building expansions to accommodate a Tea Room and gift shop.
For Glazener, this contract is also nostalgic: His wife Sharon Bell Glazener’s grandfather, Bert Bell — the father of well-known landscape architect Dick Bell, FASLA — cleared the land for the original Gardens in the early 1950s, implemented the initial master plan, and provided most of the plant materials from his own nursery on Roanoke Island. The Innocenti–Webel firm provided the initial design for the Gardens and is also participating in the current design efforts.
“I am honored to have a part in the growth and expansion of the Elizabethan Gardens,” Glazener said. “Dick’s father — ‘Skipper’ Bell — was an inspiration for his own life; and he in turn, has been a great influence in my life and career. The lineage continues!”
Last year, Bell/Glazener Design Group restored the historic mid-century Taylor Garden on the UNC-Greenboro campus.
For more information on the Elizabethan Gardens, visit www.elizabethangardens.org.
For more information on Bell/Glazener Design Group, go to http://www.bgjdesign.com.
About Bell/Glazener Design Group:
For over 50 years, Bell/Glazener Design Group has provided design services to commercial, residential, and institutional clients in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. Projects range from residential landscape architecture to extensive regional planning, urban design, campus planning, land use-master planning and sports-recreational planning. For more information visit www.bgjdesign.com or call 919-787-3515.
Client News and Media Recognition 