André Parmentier

Who was André Parmentier?

André Joseph Ghislain Parmentier, also known as Andrew Parmentier is the one of a generation of American landscape designers who arrived from Europe in the early years after Independence. Many of these designers, including William Russell Birch and George Isham Parkyns, also practiced landscape depiction, reinforcing the picturesque connection of landscape art as both making and representing places.

He married Sylvie Parmentier on 3 May 1813 at Tubize, Belgium.

After some bad business adventures in Belgium, and with some help of his brothers, André Parmentier moved to the United States in 1821. He lived in Brooklyn, where he was active in horticulture with a lot of success. One of his creations is a garden of 120.000 m².

In 1828 he published his "Periodical catalogue of fruit & ornamental trees and shrubs, green-house plants, etc.. Cultivated and for sale at The Horticultural and Botanic Garden of Brooklyn, corner of the Jamaica and Flatbush roads, about 2 miles from the city of New-York" With, a.o., a plan and description of the garden.