January 6, 2026 - We are proud to share that our founder, Douglas Hoerr, has been named the 2026 recipient of the Elvira Broome Doolan Medal — an honor recognizing innovative work in landscape architecture with an emphasis on city planning and civic improvement in urban areas. This recognition reflects Doug’s decades of leadership in shaping greener, healthier cities and public realms.
From the beginning, Doug’s work has championed horticultural excellence in service of urban life. His high-profile streetscape for the Crate & Barrel flagship in 1991 became a horticultural, cultural, and retail sensation, leading to the reinvention of plantings along more than two miles of Michigan Avenue’s Magnificent Mile. Those seasonal, textural, and immersive plantings helped catalyze Chicago’s urban-greening movement and influenced city greening nationwide.
Doug’s commitment to performance-driven landscapes extends to the rooftop. As chair of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s first green roof advisory committee in 2002, he proposed a roof garden for Apple to mitigate urban heat island effects. Since then, he has helped advance green roof design across the country, including the four-plus acre Meadow at the Old Chicago Post Office and the five-acre Skylawn at POST Houston—ambitious, ecologically informed landscapes that bring nature back to the heart of cities.
His civic work in Des Moines exemplifies the power of horticulture to knit together streets, parks, and institutions. Beginning in 2001, following a presentation to the Des Moines Founders Garden Club, Doug led a multi-year transformation: reimagining Ingersoll Avenue as a unified, pedestrian-friendly corridor; renewing the median on Fleur Drive; and designing gardens at the original Des Moines Public Library (now the Dr. Norman E. Borlaug Hall of Laureates) and the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden. In 2023, he received the Zone XI Horticulture Commendation for artfully blending natural and built landscapes.
An awards ceremony will be held in New York City on April 21, 2026. Please join us in congratulating Douglas Hoerr on this remarkable recognition.
Check out Garden Club of America's official press release for more information on this honor.
About the Elvira Broome Doolan Medal The Elvira Broome Doolan Medal honors innovative contributions to landscape architecture that elevate city planning and civic life. Endowed by the estate of Jerome K. Doolan in memory of his wife, Elvira Broome Doolan—who studied landscape architecture at the University of California, Berkeley—its design dates to 1991, with the first award presented in 1993. Elvira was a member of the Pasadena Garden Club and The Garden Club of Santa Barbara (Zone XII), served as GCA president from 1968–71, and received the GCA’s Mrs. Oakleigh Thorne Medal in 1972 for outstanding achievement in garden design. The Doolan Medal continues this legacy of creative, civic-minded excellence in urban landscapes.