The partnership of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux pioneered American landscape architecture. Their work in Manhattan’s Central Park, Brooklyn’s Prospect Park and Boston’s Franklin Park set new standards for outdoor spaces which some Upstate New York cities such as Buffalo sought to emulate, albeit on a reduced scale. [Read more…] about Genesee Valley Park & The Barge Canal: Roman Arches Over Indian Rivers
Frederick Law Olmsted
Central Park Casino: The Epitome of Jazz Age New York City
The Central Park Casino, situated at Fifth Avenue and 72nd Street, was a premier New York City restaurant and nightclub, epitomizing the era of the Jazz Age. The Casino, with its grand dining room and perfectly polished dance floor, entertained some of the most prominent names in New York, from Tammany Hall politicians to Broadway stars and even royalty. Yet this exclusive, glamorous, and somewhat dangerous, appeal that was the Casino’s trademark, led to its demise during the darkest days of America’s great financial crisis. [Read more…] about Central Park Casino: The Epitome of Jazz Age New York City
Work Begins On Bayard Cutting Arboretum Visitors Center
A $9.3 million construction project has begun on a new Visitor Center, improved parking, and enhanced exhibits at Bayard Cutting Arboretum State Park in Suffolk County on Long Island. [Read more…] about Work Begins On Bayard Cutting Arboretum Visitors Center
A Proposed Memorial at Newburgh’s Downing Park
In light of The Cultural Landscape Foundation’s advocacy for Downing Park in Newburgh, NY, and the proposed reinterment at the historic designed landscape of remains from a former African American burial site, I thought I would weigh in with some thoughts of my own on the subject. [Read more…] about A Proposed Memorial at Newburgh’s Downing Park
Olmsted’s Elmwood: Buffalo’s Parkway Neighborhood
The new book Olmsted’s Elmwood: The Rise, Decline and Renewal of Buffalo’s Parkway Neighborhood, A Model for America’s Cities (City of Light Publishing, 2022) by Clinton E. Brown and Ramona Pando Whitaker takes a look at the fascinating story of Buffalo‘s the historic Elmwood District, named one of America’s top ten neighborhoods. [Read more…] about Olmsted’s Elmwood: Buffalo’s Parkway Neighborhood
Nationally Significant Olmsted Landscapes Threatened
The Cultural Landscape Foundation today released Landslide 2022, an annual thematic report and exhibition about threatened and at-risk landscapes, focusing on twelve sites designed by Frederick Law Olmsted Sr., and his successor firms, a founder of the discipline of landscape architecture best known as the co-designer of Central Park in New York City.
This year marks the bicentennial of the birth of Olmsted Sr. (1822-1903). The sites feature the involvement of one or more of all three Olmsteds: Olmsted Sr., his son Olmsted Jr. (1870-1957), and stepson John Charles Olmsted (1852-1920). [Read more…] about Nationally Significant Olmsted Landscapes Threatened
Under Threat: Genesee Valley Park in Rochester, NY
Genesee Valley Park in Rochester, NY was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1890, and it remains a well-used and defining community landscape. An original aspect of the park’s design is a woodland buffer that runs from Elmwood Avenue to the Erie Canal next to the University of Rochester. [Read more…] about Under Threat: Genesee Valley Park in Rochester, NY
Frederick Law Olmsted: Abolitionist, Conservationist, Activist
Da Capo Press has republished Genius of Place: The Life of Frederick Law Olmsted (Da Capo Press reprint, 2012) by Justin Martin, the author of biographies of Alan Greenspan and Ralph Nader.
Frederick Law Olmsted is arguably the most important historical figure that the average American knows the least about. Best remembered for his landscape architecture, Olmsted was also an influential journalist, early voice for the environment, and abolitionist credited with helping dissuade England from joining the South in the Civil War. [Read more…] about Frederick Law Olmsted: Abolitionist, Conservationist, Activist