Russell Page Archive: PepsiCo World Headquarters

Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens, PepsiCo World Headquarters, Purchase, Harrison County, New York, USA

1980 to 1985

Archive of Garden Design Ref: RP/1/14/22

At PepsiCo’s headquarters in Purchase, New York, Russell Page ingeniously drew together the site’s extensive park area and the collection of 20th century sculptures placed within it. By introducing curving pathways, he not only allowed the visitor to connect with the art on view but created more of a balance between the natural and man-made elements of the site. Smaller gardens were added to the areas surrounding the modernist complex of offices. These had been designed by architect Edward Durell Stone when the land was acquired in the late 1960s, as seven symmetrical, connected buildings.

Page had been invited to work on the project by Donald Kendall, the force behind the gardens and after whom they are named. Kendall, chief executive officer of PepsiCo from 1971 to 1986, became friends with Page in Chile in the late 1970s, and later recalled:

‘I met Russell down in Chile, and we established a wonderful relationship there. I invited him up to our home and then showed him PepsiCo. He lived at our house for quite a while. It was a very personal thing between the two of us, and that’s why he devoted the last years of his life here. It wasn’t just the garden. Russell was so happy here, and everybody treated him so well. He was treated like a king because they all thought he was one.’ (Mortimer, [211])

Kendall saw the gardens as an outward manifestation of the company’s values: experimental yet stable. In 1966, PepsiCo had relocated its corporate headquarters to a former polo club in Purchase, Westchester County, New York, bringing with it the collection of sculptures the company had begun to acquire the previous year. Surrounding the newly-built offices, the site, well over 100 acres, was laid out as gardens. Around 6,000 trees were added to an outer ring which buffered the property from land outside. Edward Durell Stone Jr. (son of the complex’s architect), who was charged with landscaping the grounds, incorporated the eight sculptures in the collection into the overall design.

By the early 1980s the number of sculptures had grown to 28 and the layout needed updating accordingly. In handwritten notes, Page summarised his initial thoughts:

‘The placing of several large pieces of sculpture has seriously affected the fluidity of the original composition. As things are the landscaping looks too bland and the sculpture too aggressive. The scales of the two elements are too disparate and the total visual effect may not be too bad as you drive past but looks deplorable if you are walking or stationary.[…] In the case of the Purchase Park, the lines and shapes of existing plantings have to be heavily strengthened and be made far more dramatic both in choice of trees and in their placing. The nature of the sculptures and their materials demands contrast in plant forms and textures and a careful study of light and shadow.’ (Page, n.p.)

In order to improve the experience for those walking around the grounds, Page’s first step was to introduce a pathway, made of amber-coloured gravel, which curved its way around the grounds, linking buildings, gardens and sculpture together to create a unified whole. His vision for the entire site can be gleaned from two large plans which, when viewed together, incorporate the whole property (RP/1/14/22/1 and RP/1/14/22/2). Unusually, among the early drawings are two for an interior of one of the office reception areas.

There are also designs for the new waterlily garden that Page created. Here, three geometric pools, sunk into grass, are surrounded by perennial borders. A classical pavilion at one end of the garden (see RP/1/14/22/12) is said to have been inspired by the eighteenth-century garden designer Humphry Repton (van Zuylen, 247).

Although several of the plans are more concerned with layouts than the specifics of planting, a handwritten list of ‘plants wanted’ survives; more than 45 varieties of roses are included (RP/1/14/22/12(4-7 of 7)).

Following Page’s death in January 1985, Francois Goffinet continued to work on the gardens (as he did at Badminton).

Literature

Mortimer, Senga. “The Garden Page.” Unidentified publication (Archive of Garden Design: RP/5/1/11).

Page, Russell. “PepsiCo Offices, Purchase NY’. Unpublished manuscript, undated [1980?] (Archive of Garden Design: RP/3/1/1A).

van Zuylen, Gabrielle and Marina Schinz. The Gardens of Russell Page. Frances Lincoln Ltd, 2008.

Related material in the Archive of Garden Design

RP/4/3/12: PepsiCo, Page working on the site during construction (photographs by Marina Schinz)
RP/4/3/13: PepsiCo, pond (photograph)
RP/4/3/14: PepsiCo, three ponds (photograph)
RP/4/3/35: PepsiCo, aerial view (photograph)

Related material elsewhere

There are mounted 35mm colour transparencies of the PepsiCo gardens in the RHS Lindley Library reference collection (PAG/2/3/11).