Experiencing Olmsted
The Enduring Legacy of Frederick Law Olmsted's North American Landscapes
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- $35.99
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- $35.99
Publisher Description
200 Iconic Landscapes That Define North America
Frederick Law Olmsted is the father of American landscape architecture. His firm, and the successor firms that sprung from it, worked through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to shape some of our most beloved green spaces, including national, state, and city parks, suburban neighborhoods, and academic campuses. He is most famous for creating New York’s Central and Prospect Parks, Stanford University’s campus, and the Capitol Grounds. What is less known and surprising about his legacy is that he worked widely across North America.
By highlighting 200 iconic landscapes, many of which are still open to the public today, Experiencing Olmsted brings a fresh approach to the firms’ work and philosophy. It highlights not only grand city parks, but also other public venues born out of a desire for social equity. Olmsted was an early voice for parks as democratic spaces that could be reached on foot by a large percentage of any city’s populace. He viewed parks as restorative places—what he termed “the lungs of a city.” Brimming with contemporary and archival photography as well as original drawings and plans, this truly remarkable record brings these places to vivid life.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Birnbaum, Levee, and Tasse-Winter, members of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, celebrate in this gorgeous tome the 200th birthday of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. Birnbaum writes in the introduction that "the Olmsted firm literally shaped the nation from coast to coast," a position bolstered by the survey that follows. In New York City, there's Central Park, where Olmsted's career began, as well as the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, which captures the firm's "vision of the pastoral." Washington, D.C., boasts his work on the White House grounds; Torrington, Conn., features the Hillside cemetery, which has a "verdant tranquility"; Asheville, N.C., is home to the Vanderbilts' Biltmore estate; and the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial in Gatlinburg, Tenn., was never fully completed but still met its goal to "provide views on both sides of the notch." Abundant photographs, both vintage and contemporary, come alongside fascinating blueprints, drawings, and maps. The authors make a strong case for just how influential Olmsted's firm was, as he created and promoted "the comprehensive park system... parkways... and performative, ecologically driven design." The result is a beautiful look at how some landmarks came to be.
