Liz Sargent HLA offers more than twenty years of experience in the field of cultural landscape studies for clients ranging from the National Park Service, National Trust for Historic Preservation, state and local governments, colleges and universities, as well as private clients and non-profit organizations. As a practice with a national reputation, our projects span throughout the United States. Much of the firm’s project experience stems from work conducted on cultural landscape reports for the National Park Service, the agency that has served as a front runner for this emerging field internationally. Some of our hallmarks include our depth of professional experience, as well as our small size, which gives us the ability to collaborate with other professionals on teams large and small to meet the needs of each particular project. Liz Sargent HLA offers flexibility and collegiality, attention to detail, and the ability to visualize holistic and comprehensive solutions as part of problem solving. Principal Liz Sargent is an award-winning designer, as well as a historian, and can offer the unusual capability of translating planning projects into built work. Additionally, Liz Sargent HLA is a small, woman-owned business.
Liz Sargent HLA personnel fully meet the Secretary of the Interior's Guidelines for Professional Qualifications Standards (36 CFR Part 61, Appendix A) for professionals working in the field of historic preservation. We are experienced with the use of the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties with respect to landscapes. We understand the methodology for assessing cultural landscapes through the recognition of historical contexts and significance, identification of character-defining patterns and features, analysis of issues and opportunities, and development of appropriate treatment guidelines and recommendations. A cultural landscape perspective infuses all of our work. The firm is also experienced in working with local, state, and federal review agencies having responsibility for compliance with historic preservation programs and regulations.
Liz Sargent, FASLA, is a historical landscape architect with more than twenty-five years of experience preparing Cultural Landscape Reports, Master Plans, Concept Plans, and National Register nominations for significant historic sites throughout the United States. Liz has worked with a variety of clients that have included the National Park Service, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Civil War Trust, and Historic Columbia Foundation. With a background in botany, American history and landscape architecture, she has been a steward to America’s most important places, including nine of America’s twenty-two World Heritage Sites, thirty-four National Historic Landmark properties, and more than fifty national park units, shaping places as diverse as Mount Vernon, the Everglades, the Salk Institute, and Valley Forge. Liz often recommends an ecological approach to cultural landscape management. In her work, Ms. Sargent seeks to capture the essence of landscapes and important features in ways that make sense to interdisciplinary teams, while articulating the way in which landscapes are shaped over time by the intersection of natural systems and human intervention. Liz received her BA from Connecticut College and her Masters of Landscape Architecture from the University of Virginia.
Liz Sargent, FASLA
Principal
Jane Jacobs is a historical landscape architect with more than twenty-five years of experience practicing landscape architecture in Kentucky, South Carolina, and Virginia, specializing in preservation of cultural landscapes, master plans for historic sites and implementation of design and construction projects on historic sites. Jane is currently a collaborative consultant with interdisciplinary teams including historic landscape architects, landscape architects, architects, engineers, material conservationists, and historians. Jane has worked extensively with the National Park Service on projects in various regions of the country. She has expanded her work on cultural landscape reports and other preservation documents to include expertise in NEPA compliance and has authored a variety of Environmental Assessments for historic sites and contributed to team efforts for Environmental Impact Statements. Jane has also prepared numerous treatment plans and conceptual design alternatives within the context of CLRs, that meet required standards for universal accessibility while meeting objectives of park management for future visitation to historical properties and cultural landscapes. Jane received her BA in Environmental Design in Landscape Architecture from the School of Design at North Carolina State University and her Masters of Landscape Architecture from Cornell University. After receiving her Masters degree, Jane served as Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture for eleven years with Rutgers University and the University of Virginia.
Jane J. Jacobs, PLA
Collaborative Consultant
Lucy Lawliss, FASLA
Collaborative Consultant
Lucy Lawliss, FASLA, is a historical landscape architect involved in developing cultural landscape projects with Liz Sargent HLA. Lucy was the first historical landscape architect hired for the National Park Service-Southeast Region. During her 25-year career with the National Park Service, Lucy also served as the NPS-Parks Cultural Landscapes program manager in Washington, DC; park cultural resources manager for a four-park group in the San Francisco East Bay that included Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front NHP; and as park superintendent at George Washington Birthplace National Monument and Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County National Military Park. In addition, Lucy has served on the National Association for Olmsted Park's Board of Trustees and as co-chair led the planning for Olmsted 200. Locally she serves on the Manatee County, Florida, Historic Preservation Board and in the recent past served on the NPS-National Center for Preservation Technology and Training advisory board.
Christina Osborn is a historic preservation consultant, with a particular focus on cultural landscapes. She has worked on a variety of projects with interdisciplinary teams throughout theUnited States, including cultural landscape documentation, historic district surveys, national register nominations, preservation master plans, environmental assessments, and design and construction projects. Christina holds a Bachelors of Landscape Architecture from Virginia Tech and has more than twelve years of experience in cultural landscape preservation and design. She previously worked as a Landscape Designer and Historic Preservation Specialist for Commonwealth Heritage Group (formerly John Milner Associates).
Christina Osborn
Collaborative Consultant
Carolyn Mitchell is a versatile landscape architect with over thirty years of experience in landscape architecture, planning, historic preservation, and environmental restoration. Carolyn’s practice has focused on the intersection of natural resource preservation and cultural landscape interpretation and treatment. She has served as lead consultant for preservation and rehabilitation of some of the nation’s most iconic landscapes with award-winning results and collaborated on multidisciplinary teams to restore, rehabilitate, and interpret sites of all sizes. Her work has encompassed planning, design, and construction phase services for the National Park Service, the United States Navy, state and local agencies, and private clients. Her historic preservation expertise includes preparation of cultural landscape reports, development of alternatives for analysis, visual impact assessment for NEPA compliance, and detailed rehabilitation design. Carolyn is a licensed professional landscape architect in Maryland, New York, and Florida and a Maryland Forest Conservation Plan qualified professional. She received a BA in botany from George Washington University and a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Virginia.
Carolyn Mitchell
Collaborative Consultant
Nell Boeschenstein is landscape historian and Masters Candidate in Architectural History with a certificate in Historic Preservation at the University of Virginia. Since 2020, Nell has interned with Liz Sargent HLA, where she has assisted with a variety of projects relating to cultural landscape documentation, landscape history and interpretation, and National Register nominations at sites such as Zion National Park in Utah, President's Park in Washington, D.C., and Shaker Village in Kentucky. Having worked previously as a writer, editor, teacher, and journalist focused on the intersection of American history and landscape, she brings a strong writing and storytelling background to bear on her work in the design field. Her writing has been published in outlets such as Granta, The Oxford American, The Kenyon Review, and The Guardian among others, and she worked previously at BackStory with the American History Guys, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and Sweet Briar College. Nell received her B.A. in English from Dartmouth College and her M.F.A. in nonfiction writing from Columbia University.
Nell Boeschenstein
Collaborative Consultant
Maeve Corcoran
Collaborative Consultant
Maeve is a geographic information systems analyst and researcher with a prior focus in graphic design and
printmaking. She has a wide range of experience working to materialize projects centering historic preservation and ecological conservation. Applying her fine art and design background to contemporary map making, she creates striking and effective cartographic solutions to foster mutual appreciation for our environment. She holds a BFA in Printmaking and Art History from Virginia Commonwealth University, and a Certificate of Studies in Geographic Information Technology, Surveying, and Computer Drafting from Brightpoint Community College.
Jen Trompetter is a landscape architect and award-winning designer with more than eighteen years experience preparing cultural landscape documentation, master plans, concept plans, and schematic design through construction drawings for parks and historic properties throughout the United States. She has served as a project manager overseeing the construction administration of complex projects that sensitively combine preservation planning with discreet design interventions. Jen combines strong graphic and writing skills in the preparation of integrated studies that establish the basis for appropriate rehabilitation of historic landscapes. She has also taught extensively in the landscape architecture department at the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture. Prior to joining LSHLA, Jen worked at Nelson Byrd Woltz (NBW) Landscape Architects and D.I.R.T. studio where she designed and managed important cultural landscape projects. She received an undergraduate degree in the History of Art and Architecture from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and received her Masters of Landscape Architecture from the University of Virginia.
Jen Trompetter, PLA
Collaborative Consultant
Kevan Klosterwill is a writer, researcher, and landscape designer. He holds a PhD in the Constructed Environment from the University of Virginia and degrees in landscape architecture from the University of Georgia. He also holds a BLA and MLA from the University of Georgia. Kevan has written articles for academic journals on landscape history and theory; his writing has also appeared in Landscape Architecture Magazine. His research interests include historical and contemporary approaches to human-animal relationships in the landscape, climate-responsive design, and utopian planning. Kevan is also currently developing a book on Warren H. Manning, an early environmental planner and landscape architect known especially for his expansive National Plan vision prepared in the early twentieth century. In addition to his writing and research, Kevan previously worked as a Park Planner for Athens-Clarke County, Georgia.