12/5/13 Olmsted Brothers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Olmsted Brothers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Olmsted Brothers company was an influential landscape design firm in the United States, formed in 1898 by
stepbrothers John Charles Olmsted (1852–1920) and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. (1870–1957), who were the
sons of the eminent landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.

Contents
1 History
2 Office and archives
3 Design work
3.1 Selected Private and Civic Designs
3.2 Campus Designs
4 References
5 External links

History
The Olmsted brothers inherited the nation's first landscape architecture business from their father Frederick Law
Olmsted. This firm was a successor to the earlier firm of Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot after the death of their partner
Charles Eliot in 1897. The two brothers were among the founding members of the American Society of Landscape
Architects (ASLA) and played an influential role in creating the National Park Service. Prior to their takeover of the
firm, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. had worked as an apprentice under his father, helping to design projects such as
Biltmore Estate and the World's Columbian Exposition before graduating from Harvard University.The firm
employed nearly 60 staff at its peak in the early 1930s. Notable landscape architects in the firm included James
Frederick Dawson and Percival Gallagher.[1][2] The last Olmsted family member in the firm, Frederick Law
Olmsted, Jr., retired in 1949.[3] The firm itself remained in operation until 1980.

Office and archives

"Fairsted", the firm's 100-year-old business headquarters and design office, has been carefully preserved as the
Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, located on 7 acres (2.833 ha) of landscaped grounds at 99 Warren
St., Brookline, Massachusetts. It offers excellent insights into the practice of large-scale landscape design and
engineering. The site also houses an archive (access by appointment only) of the firm's designs, plant lists, and
photos for hundreds of projects.

Design work
The Olmsted Brothers completed numerous high-profile projects, many of which remain popular to this day,
including park systems, universities, exposition grounds, libraries, hospitals, residential neighborhoods and state
capitols. Notable commissions include the roadways in the Great Smoky Mountains and Acadia National Parks,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmsted_Brothers 1/5
12/5/13 Olmsted Brothers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yosemite Valley, Atlanta's Piedmont Park, a residential neighborhood in Oak Bay, British Columbia, Canada:
Uplands; entire park systems in cities such as Portland and Seattle,[4] and Washington state's Northern State
Hospital. The Olmsted Brothers also co-authored, with Harland Bartholomew, a 1930 report for the Los Angeles
Chamber of Commerce entitled "Parks, Playgrounds, and Beaches for the Los Angeles Region" encouraging the
preservation of outdoor public space in southern California.[5] The report was largely ignored by the city, but
became an important urban planning reference.

Selected Private and Civic Designs

Audubon Park, New Orleans, Louisiana

Ashland Park, residential neighborhood built around Ashland, The Henry Clay Estate in Lexington,
Kentucky
The British Properties, Vancouver, Canada
Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial a World War II for American servicemen in Cambridgeshire,
near Cambridge, England
Caracas Country Club (1920s)[6]
Cleveland Metroparks System, in the Greater Cleveland area, Ohio
Crocker Field Park, Fitchburg, Massachusetts
Druid Hills, Atlanta, Georgia
Eastern Promenade, Portland, Maine
Elm Bank Horticulture Center, Wellesley, Massachusetts
First Presbyterian Church of Far Rockaway, Queens, New York
Fort Tryon Park, New York City
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Original Name "League Island Park"
Fresh Pond, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Grover Cleveland Park, Caldwell, New Jersey
High Point Park, Montague, New Jersey
Homelands Neighborhood, Springfield, Massachusetts
"New" Katonah, Katonah, New York
Kentucky State Capitol Grounds, Frankfort, Kentucky
Kohler (Village of), Wisconsin[7]
Leimert Park Neighborhood, Los Angeles
Locust Valley Cemetery, Locust Valley, New York
Metro Parks, Summit County, Ohio [8]
Manito Park and Botanical Gardens, Spokane, Washington
Marconi Plaza Original Name "Oregon Plaza"
Marquette Park, Chicago, Illinois
Memorial Park (Jacksonville), Florida
Memorial Park, Maplewood, New Jersey
Otto Kahn Estate, Cold Spring Hills, New York
Oldfields-Lilly House and Gardens,[9] a National Historic Landmark, originally Hugh Landon estate
(Olmsted job # 6883 [1] (http://www.rediscov.com/olmsted/default.asp?include=master.htm) 1920-1927)
[2] (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oldfields_Border_plantings,_Olmsted_job-
6883,_sheet_88,_scanned_11_2007_orig_sz_29x24inch.jpg), Indianapolis, Indiana
Piedmont Park, Atlanta, Georgia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmsted_Brothers 2/5
12/5/13 Olmsted Brothers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pope Park, Hartford, Connecticut

Rancho Los Alamitos Gardens, Long Beach, California
Seattle Park System
Southern Boulevard Parkway (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
South Mountain Reservation, Maplewood, Millburn, South Orange, West Orange, New Jersey
Thompson Park and roadways, Watertown, New York
Union County, New Jersey Park system
Utica, New York Parks and Parkway System (1908–1914)
Verona Park, Verona, New Jersey
Wade Lagoon, on University Circle, Cleveland
Warinanco Park, Roselle, New Jersey
Washington State Capitol campus, Olympia, Washington
Watsessing Park, Bloomfield, New Jersey
The Highlands Neighborhood, Seattle

Campus Designs

Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania (1895–1927)

Chatham University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Denison University, Granville, Ohio (1916)
Grove City College, Grove City, Pennsylvania (1930)
Harvard Business School, Allston, Massachusetts (1925–31)
Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania (1925–32)*
Huntingdon College campus,[10] Montgomery, Alabama
Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana (1929-1936) [11]
Iowa State University Ames, Iowa (1906)
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland (1903–19)
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana [12]
Middlesex School, Concord, Massachusetts (1901)
Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts (1896–1922)
Newton Country Day School, Newton, Massachusetts (1927)
Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio (1903) [13]
Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio (1909)[14]
Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon (1909) [15]
Saint Joseph College, West Hartford, Connecticut
Samford University, Homewood, Alabama
University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois (1901–10)
University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida (1925)
University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho (1908)[16]
University of Montevallo, Montevallo, Alabama[17]
University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana (1929–32)
University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island (1894–1903)
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington (1902–20)
Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York (1896–1932)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmsted_Brothers 3/5
12/5/13 Olmsted Brothers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Western Michigan University Main Campus, Kalamazoo, Michigan (1904)[18]

Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts (1902–12)

References
1. ^ "Percival Gallagher" (http://tclf.org/content/percival-gallagher). The Cultural Landscape Foundation. Retrieved
2012-04-11.
2. ^ "Percival Gallagher" (http://siris-archives.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?
session=12622E21190UU.7082&profile=all&uri=link=3100006~!105700~!3100001~!3100002&aspect=Browse&
menu=search&ri=2&source=~!siarchives&term=Gallagher%2C+Percival%2C&index=). Smithsonian Institution
Research Information System: Archives, Manuscripts and Photographs Catalog. Retrieved 2012-04-11.
3. ^ Valerie Easton (27 April 2003). "Masters Of Green"
(http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/2003/0427/cover.html). The Seattle Times (seattletimes.com).
Retrieved 2012-04-11.
4. ^ David B. Williams (May 2, 1999). "The Olmsted Legacy -- The Fabled Massachusetts Landscape Firm Got To
Seattle Early, And That Has Made All The Difference" (http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?
date=19990502&slug=2958185). The Seattle Times (seattletimes.com). Retrieved 2012-04-11.
5. ^ Hise, Greg; Deverell, William (7 June 2000). Eden by Design: The 1930 Olmsted-Bartholomew Plan for the Los
Angeles Region. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-22415-5.
6. ^ Simon Romero, Sandra La Fuente P. contributor (27 December 2010). "A Venezuelan Oasis of Elitism Counts
Its Days" (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/28/world/americas/28venez.html). The New York Times. p. A1 NY
ed. Retrieved 2012-04-11.
7. ^ "Company Timeline" (http://www.kohler.com/corp/about/timeline/index.htm). Kohler Company.
8. ^ Cheri Goldner. "The History of Metro Parks"
(http://www.summitmetroparks.org/InsideMetroParks/History.aspx). Summit Metro Parks. Retrieved 2012-04-11.
9. ^ "Oldfields – Lilly House & Gardens" (http://www.imamuseum.org/art/collections/oldfields-lilly). Indianapolis
Museum of Art. Retrieved 2012-04-11.
10. ^ "Huntingdon History" (http://www.huntingdon.edu/about.aspx?id=42). Huntingdon College. Retrieved 2012-04-
11.
11. ^ "The Old Crescent" (http://hiddentreasuresindiana.org/the-old-crescent/). Indiana Historic Landscapes Alliance.
Retrieved 2012-04-12.
12. ^ "History of LSU" (http://www.lsu.edu/visitors/history.shtml). Louisiana State University. 5 October 2010.
Retrieved 2012-04-12.
13. ^ Geoffrey Blodgett (11 May 1995). "The Grand March of Oberlin campus plans"
(http://www.oberlin.edu/library/news/observer16.17/observations.html). Observer (Oberlin College). Retrieved
2012-04-11.
14. ^ "The Ohio State University" (http://www.campusheritage.org/page/the-ohio-state-university). Campus Heritage
Network. Retrieved 2012-04-12.
15. ^ "Report on Oregon Agricultural College"
(http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/jspui/bitstream/1957/7930/1/Rep_on_Org_Agr_1909.pdf). Oregon State
University. 1 October 1909. Retrieved 2012-04-12.
16. ^ "History of the University of Idaho"
(http://www.uidaho.edu/celebrationofleadership/inauguration/Inauguration%20objects/history). University of Idaho.
Retrieved 2012-04-12.
17. ^ "About Montevallo:UM Quick Facts" (http://www.montevallo.edu/montevallo/QuickFacts.shtm). University of
Montevallo. Retrieved 2012-04-12.
18. ^ "Original 1904 Planting Plan for the Western State Normal School"
(http://www.cf.wmich.edu/planning/WebSites/1904/1904OlmstedPlan.htm). Western Michigan University.
Retrieved 2012-04-12.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmsted_Brothers 4/5
12/5/13 Olmsted Brothers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

External links
Olmsted His Essential Theory (http://www.olmsted.org/index.php?
tg=articles&idx=More&topics=46&article=63)
Olmsted Parks in Seattle -- A Snapshot History (http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=1124)
at HistoryLink.org
Olmsted Associates: A Register of Its Records in the Library of Congress, Manuscript Division
(http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms001018)
Olmsted Research Guide Online (http://ww2.rediscov.com/olmsted/default.asp?include=master.htm) a
search tool for Olmsted projects and archival records
Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site (http://www.nps.gov/frla/index.htm) preserved home, office
and archives of Olmsted firm, National Park Service
National Association for Olmsted Parks (http://www.olmsted.org/)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Olmsted_Brothers&oldid=553128618"

Categories: American landscape architects Landscape architecture Landscape Cultural landscapes
Companies based in Massachusetts 1898 establishments in the United States Druid Hills, Georgia

This page was last modified on 2 May 2013 at 01:11.

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmsted_Brothers 5/5