Ralph Hancock (landscape gardener)
Ralph Hancock (2 July 1893 – 30 August 1950) was a Welsh landscape gardener, architect and author. He built famous roof gardens in London and New York in the 1930s and created notable gardens at country houses and exhibitions.
He was born in Cardiff, Wales. His father worked in auctioneering and estate services. In 1917 he married Hilda Muriel Ellis (Muriel) and they had three children: Bramley (Clarence Neville Bramley Hancock) in 1918, Denys in 1920, and Sheila in 1928. Early in his career he worked as a marine and general insurance broker, but in 1926 he became a Fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society and developed a strong interest in horticulture, especially orchids.
Hancock’s first major project came in 1927, a rock and water garden for Princess Victoria at her home Coppins in Iver, Buckinghamshire. The princess rewarded him with a diamond and sapphire tie pin. He was influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement, drawing on the ideas of William Robinson and Gertrude Jekyll.
In 1930 Hancock moved to New York to promote his work. He published a booklet called English Gardens in America and designed an exhibition garden at Erie Station in New Jersey. He also exhibited at the Massachusetts Horticulture Show, winning several awards including the Presidents Cup in 1933, and he helped design the Lydia Duff Gray Hubbard garden in New Jersey.
Between 1933 and 1935 he created one of his most ambitious projects: the Gardens of the Nations at Rockefeller Center in New York. The roof gardens reflected Dutch, French, Italian and English styles, each with its own hostess in themed costumes. Building the gardens required vast amounts of soil, bricks, stones and water, delivered up the building’s elevator and sides via pulley systems. Hancock ran the Sky Garden Tour, charging visitors a dollar per person, but the venture lost money and closed by 1938. He maintained ongoing contact with the Rockefeller family during the project.
After this success, Hancock returned to London and, in 1938, built three roof gardens at Derry and Toms in Kensington: a Tudor garden, a Spanish garden with palm trees and fountains, and a woodland garden with a cascade and pink flamingoes. The rooftop base and drainage systems were carefully designed, and the gardens opened with many plant varieties. The project cost about £25,000, and visitors paid a penny to tour; funds raised supported local hospitals for decades. The gardens are now listed as Grade II by Historic England.
In the mid-1930s Hancock lived at 110 Sloane Street in Kensington and owned a country house at Horne, Lingfield, Surrey, which he restored. He was also successful at the Chelsea Flower Show, winning gold medals in 1936, 1937 and 1938. He popularized Moon Gates, which he used in several projects. His 1938 Chelsea show garden was noted for its realistic, cottage-and-stream design.
Hancock wrote When I Make a Garden, which was republished in 1950 with photos of his Derry and Toms and other works. He also showed gardens at the Ideal Home Exhibitions between 1936 and 1938, each with a theme: Gardens and Music (1936), Gardens of the Lovers (1937), and Novelists and their Gardens (1938), inspired by Rafael Sabatini.
World War II interrupted his work. Denys died in 1941 during North Africa campaigns, and the family faced losses. Derry and Toms was damaged during an air raid but repaired after the war. Hancock continued to design, often with his son Bramley, creating hundreds of private gardens in the UK. He submitted plans for city gardens in Cardiff, Hull and Temple Newsam in Leeds, but none were adopted.
In 1947 Hancock returned to Chelsea with new work, and he and Bramley built the gardens at Twyn-yr-Hydd after a commission from Sir David Evans Bevans of Barclays Bank. Hancock had bought a cottage at Chailey Green near Lewes, Sussex, intending to restore it, but he died of a heart attack in 1950 before work could start. Bramley completed the Chailey restoration and finished Hancock’s last design for a garden at The Hyning, Earl Peel’s home in Lancashire.
Ralph Hancock left a lasting mark on garden design, blending Arts and Crafts styling with bold rooftop landscapes that reshaped ideas about where and how gardens could be built.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 15:17 (CET).