John Charles Olmsted

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John Charles Olmsted

John Charles Olmsted (* 1852 in Vandeuvre , Switzerland ; † 1920 ) was the nephew and adoptive son of Frederick Law Olmsted and was, like him, a well -known American landscape architect . With his step-brother, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. , he founded the landscaping company Olmsted Brothers in Brookline . The company became known for designing many city parks, college campuses, and other public spaces . John Olmsted worked in his profession for over 40 years and has left a visible mark on the American urban landscape to this day.

Early life

John Charles Olmsted's childhood and adolescence were filled with extraordinary and sometimes traumatic events that shaped his later shy personality as well as his broad interests. It was in 1852 in the Swiss Vandeuvre in Geneva , the son of Dr. Born John Hull Olmsted and Mary Cleveland Perkins Olmsted . By the age of five he had already crossed the Atlantic twice and lost his father to tuberculosis . In 1859 he was adopted by his uncle Frederick Law Olmsted and brought his life into order.

But the shaky stability of the situation was quickly interrupted - first by the Civil War , during which his stepfather and his family moved to Washington, DC in 1862 , and later by another move to Mariposa , California , where Frederick Law Olmsted from 1863 to 1865 headed a gold prospecting operation. By staying in the middle of Yosemite National Park and surrounded by sequoia trees , John Charles learned to read the landscape through its flora and fauna as well as through fossils and minerals . This laid the foundation for the skills that would prove very valuable in his later work.

Career

John Olmsted continued the planning his father had begun and transferred his work in the Boston area to new cities such as Portland in Maine , Portland in Oregon , Seattle , Spokane , Dayton and Charleston . In these cities he was the first to implement a comprehensive planning philosophy with regard to civil buildings, streets, parks and green areas integrated into an overall concept in livable urban landscapes.

Olmsted also designed individual parks in New Orleans , Watertown and Chicago . His successful work led to a large number of other orders for schoolyards, residential buildings, state capitols and also to designs for large residential areas including streets and schools. In particular, his plans for cities near industrial plants and factories are considered particularly worth mentioning.

In all of his works, John Olmsted always kept an eye for the natural beauty of the place. His goal was to ensure that the cities and public spaces he designed are comfortable and welcoming. For this he favored modest, informal structures in a natural environment instead of large and imposing buildings.

In 1899, John Olmsted was a founding member and first president of the American Society of Landscape Architects .

Selected works

  • 1903 - Seattle City Council hired the Olmsted Brothers company to develop a comprehensive plan for the city's parks and boulevards . John Olmsted was the company's lead developer on the assignment and designed a 20  mi (32.19  km ) long system of interconnected parkways connecting parks, sports fields, green spaces, and natural lakes and waterways.
  • 1908 - Bryn Mawr College , further development of the landscape plan developed by his father and development of a private garden and a small theater
  • 1909 - Exhibited at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition World's Fair

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Arleyn Levee: John Charles Olmsted. Landscape Architect, Planner (1852-1920). National Association for Olmsted Parks, accessed May 17, 2012 .
  2. ^ The Grounds. Washington State Department of Enterprise Services, accessed May 17, 2012 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Olmsted, John Charles
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American landscape architect
DATE OF BIRTH 1852
PLACE OF BIRTH Vandeuvre , Switzerland
DATE OF DEATH 1920