|
Frederick Law Olmsted
(1822-1903)
The beauty of the park ... should be the beauty of the fields, the meadow, the
prairie, of the green pastures, and the still waters. What we want to gain is tranquility
and rest to the mind.
- Frederick Law Olmsted
|
Frederick Law Olmsted was America's outstanding landscape
architect of the 19th century. A native of Hartford, Connecticut, Olmsted left Yale
College after only a year because of problems with his eyes. However, he traveled widely
in America, the Orient, and England, and he gained practical knowledge by working for
progressive farmers. In 1847 he started his own experimental farm and nursery and soon
began a career planning parks and other green spaces for America's growing cities. Olmsted's
designs were characterized by the re-creation of natural features and the use of wandering
paths and roads. Olmsted was an apt choice for the Retreat, since he himself believed
deeply in the restorative power of landscapes that recalled the beauties of Nature.
Among Olmsted's many other notable works are New York City's Central Park, Prospect
Park in Brooklyn, N.Y., the Capitol grounds in Washington, D.C., and the system of parks
and boulevards in Boston known as the Emerald Necklace. Olmsted was also active in the
antislavery movement, publishing A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States in
1856. Olmsted's home in Brookline,
Massachusetts,
is a National Historic Site.
For further information:
Beveridge, Charles E. Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing the American Landscape.
New York: Rizzoli, 1995.
Roper, Laura Wood. FLO, a Biography of Frederick Law Olmsted. Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983.
Stevenson, Elizabeth. Park Maker: a Life of Frederick Law Olmsted. New
York: Collier Macmillan, 1977.
Weidenmann, Jacob. Beautifying Country Homes: a Handbook of Landscape Gardening.
New York: O. Judd , 1870. Weidermann was Olmsted's longtime associate and worked on the
Retreat project.
|
