Frederick Law Olmsted: Plans and Views of Communities and Private Estates

by Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles E. Beveridge (Editor), Lauren Meier (Editor), Irene Mills (Editor)

Overview

Full of original plans and historic photographs, this beautifully illustrated collection is the first comprehensive presentation of Olmsted's design concepts for communities and private estates.

Silver Winner of the 2021 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award for Best Coffee Table Book

Master landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted (1822–1903) is renowned for his public parks, but few know the extent of his accomplishment in meeting other needs of society.

Lavishly illustrated with over 500 images, this book presents Olmsted's design commissions for a wide range of projects. The rich collection of studies, lithographs, paintings, and historical photographs depicts Olmsted's planning for residential communities, regional and town plans, academic campuses, grounds of public buildings, zoos, arboreta, and cemeteries. Focusing on living spaces designed to promote physical and mental well-being, the book showcases more than seventy of Olmsted's designs, including the community of Riverside, IL; the Stanford University campus; the U.S. Capitol grounds; the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893; the National Zoo; and George W. Vanderbilt's Biltmore estate.

Illuminating Olmsted's design theory, this volume displays the beautiful plans and reveals the significance of each commission within his entire body of work. Readers concerned with the quality of the environment in which we live and work, as well as architects, landscape architects, urban planners, historians, and preservationists, will find stimulating insights in Plans and Views of Communities and Private Estates.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421438672
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	11/10/2020
Series:	The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted
Pages:	608
Sales rank:	1,032,880
Product dimensions:	11.30(w) x 11.10(h) x 1.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) is considered to be the father of landscape architecture. He was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator.

Charles E. Beveridge (ALEXANDRIA, VA) is the leading Olmsted authority in the country and the series editor of The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted.

Lauren Meier is a landscape preservationist and a coeditor of The Master List of Design Projects of the Olmsted Firm, 1857–1979.

Irene Mills is a landscape designer. Beveridge, Meier, and Mills are the coeditors of Frederick Law Olmsted: Plans and Views of Public Parks.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter One. Residential Communities
Chapter Two. Industrial Areas
Chapter Three. Regional and Town Planning
Chapter Four. Private Estates
Chapter Five. Academic Campuses
Chapter Six. Residential Institutions
Chapter Seven. Grounds of Government and Public Buildings
Chapter Eight. Expositions
Chapter Nine. Summer Communities
Chapter Ten. Resorts and Hotels
Chapter Eleven. Zoos and Arboreta
Chapter Twelve. Cemeteries and Memorials
List of Illustrations
List of Repositories
Index

Editorial Reviews

A major contribution to American letters, an important step in the documentation of this American genius.
—Smithsonian

Olmsted the man belongs to his own time, but his work and words continue to have meaning today. The editors are preserving a life and a work instructive for the future as well as of the past.
—Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography

[S]uperbly done, reflecting credit on both the editors and publisher. A necessary addition to all university and college libraries.
—Choice

[H]andsomely produced, and the editors have provided the editorial scaffolding that has become one of the major glories of American historical scholarship.
—Maryland Historical Magazine

From the Publisher

[H]andsomely produced, and the editors have provided the editorial scaffolding that has become one of the major glories of American historical scholarship.

Maryland Historical Magazine

Olmsted the man belongs to his own time, but his work and words continue to have meaning today. The editors are preserving a life and a work instructive for the future as well as of the past.

Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography

[S]uperbly done, reflecting credit on both the editors and publisher. A necessary addition to all university and college libraries.

Choice

A major contribution to American letters, an important step in the documentation of this American genius.

Smithsonian

"[H]andsomely produced, and the editors have provided the editorial scaffolding that has become one of the major glories of American historical scholarship."

Maryland Historica Magazine