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Frederick Law Olmsted (1822 - 1903)
Despite these distinguished colleagues, Olmsted is considered the father because his firm dominated the profession until at least 1920. With his first partner, Calvert Vaux, he designed and supervised the creation of Central Park in New York (1858-1863, 1865-1878), Prospect Park in Brooklyn, parks in Buffalo and Chicago, and the residential community of Riverside, Illinois. Together, with other partners and staff, Olmsted's office carried out some 550 other commissions before his retirement in 1895. The most important ones are: Mount Royal Park in Montreal, Belle Island Park in Detroit, the U.S. Capitol grounds, Stanford University campus, park systems in Boston, Rochester and Louisville, and his two last great projects: the World's Columbian Exposition (1888-93) and Biltmore, the Vanderbilt estate in Asheville, North Carolina (1888-95). His stepson, John Charles Olmsted, and his son, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., carried on the Olmsted firm. They oversaw some 3000 new projects between 1895 and 1950. And, a majority of influential landscape architects were apprenticed or worked in the Olmsted firm in Brookline, Massachusetts carrying the Olmsted design philosophy. In 1980, the National Park Service bought the home and office of the Olmsted firm in Brookline, Massachusetts to create the Olmsted National Historic Site. Many of Olmsted's plans and drawings are preserved and available for purchase there. Well, how did this all happen to the scion of a well-to-do dry-goods merchant in Hartford, Connecticut? Frederick's early life was guided by a doting father - his mother had died when he was 3 years old, shortly after the birth of his younger brother, John Hull. His father took his family on numerous excursions to view scenic landscapes and experience the spiritual "uplift" it provided. By the time he was twelve, young Frederick had seen most of New England, Niagara Falls and Quebec. He was a dedicated to the picturesque, as was his father. On one occasion, he and his brother, then 9 and 6 years old, respectively, hiked 16 miles through unfamiliar country to visit an aunt and uncle. It took them two days and an overnight stay at an inn - inconceivable today. But, his schooling was erratic. He was sent to his first boarding school at the age of 6. By the time he would have finished the equivalent of high school, he had been in 12 different programs. Yet, he was curious and had a natural love of learning. He contracted sumac poisoning which threatened his eyesight and eventually kept him from entering Yale. Instead, he embarked on a series of apprenticeships, in turn, intending to become a surveyor, a merchant and a farmer - careers that were all for naught. In 1842, when his brother entered Yale, Olmsted became an apprentice seaman. Since he was of slight build and afflicted by seasickness, he experienced a misery he could not have imagined and never forgot the brutalization and injustices of seafaring life. Once back in the U.S., he wrote numerous letters to New York newspapers urging changes in maritime law to protect seamen and passengers alike. This was to establish a pattern: Olmsted would undertake a new venture, a new career or a journey, reflect, and then write about it under the pen name "Yeoman" which symbolized to him the ideal democratic citizen who exercises his rights and responsibilities to himself, his family and his community. In turn, he became a "scientific farmer", with his father buying him two different farms. He beautified his farms, yet never made money on them, but he learned about good drainage and good soil preparation. He went on a walking tour of England, followed by a month of traveling throughout Europe. From then on, he would always take pleasure in travel and in recording his observations of places and people - a necessary prerequisite if you consider the extent of his travels criss-crossing the North American continent at a time when the railways were being constructed and well before any automobiles or aeroplanes. In fact, he used all modes of transportation of the times: riverboat, rail, carriage, horseback and foot.
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Frederick
Law Olmsted (F. L. Olmsted) was the leading landscape architect of
the second half of the 19th century well before there was any established
curriculum or training program for landscape architects, or a professional
organization in the field such as the American Society of Landscape Architects
(ASLA). He is acknowledged as the father of American landscape
architecture even though he was preceded by highly respected practitioners.
He also had some very strong competition from landscape architects
working at the same time, who are largely forgotten today.