“We go over all . . . ”: The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted, Vol. V, The California Frontier, 1863–1865, ed. Victoria Post Ranney (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992), 55.
“ ‘The Nation’ is a weekly comfort . . .”: Letters of Charles Eliot Norton, ed. Sara Norton and M. A. DeWolfe Howe (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1913), 297.
“Olmsted, Vaux & Co., . . . ”: The Nation, May 1, 1866: 560.
“We regard Brooklyn . . . ”: Olmsted, Vaux & Co., “Preliminary Report to the Commissioners for Laying Out a Park in Brooklyn, New York: Being a Consideration of Circumstances of Site and Other Conditions Affecting the Design of Public Pleasure Grounds,” Landscape into Cityscape: Frederick Law Olmsted’s Plans for a Greater New York City, ed. Albert Fein (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1967), 99.
“the ground might be . . . ”: Olmsted, Vaux & Co., “Report of the Landscape Architects & Superintendents,” January 1, 1867, FLOP.
“The city of New York is, . . . ”: Olmsted, Vaux & Co., “Report of the Landscape Architects and Superintendents to the President of the Board of Commissioners of Prospect Park, Brooklyn,” Landscape into Cityscape: Frederick Law Olmsted’s Plans for a Greater New York City, ed. Albert Fein (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1967), 153.
“the present street system, . . . ”: Ibid., 133.0
“On a level plain, . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted, “Preliminary Report in Regard to a Plan of Public Pleasure Grounds for the City of San Francisco,” March 31, 1866, FLOP.
“the house lots of these streets . . . ”: Olmsted, Vaux & Co., “Report of the Landscape Architects and Superintendents to the President of the Board of Commissioners of Prospect Park, Brooklyn,” Landscape into Cityscape: Frederick Law Olmsted’s Plans for a Greater New York City, ed. Albert Fein (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1967), 161.
“. . . connection may thus be had . . . ”: Ibid., 126–27.
Chapter Thirty-Nine: A stopover in Buffalo
“The business opened at once . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to Mary Cleveland Olmsted, August 23, 1868, FLOP.
“to hear an address . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to Mary Cleveland Olmsted, August 25, 1868, FLOP.
“with tolerable smoothness . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to Mary Cleveland Olmsted, August 26, 1868, FLOP.
“I did a deal of talking . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to Calvert Vaux, August 29, 1868, FLOP.
“We should recommend . . . ”: Olmsted, Vaux & Co., “Mr. Olmsted’s Report,” Preliminary Report Respecting a Public Park in Buffalo and a Copy of the Legislature Authorizing Its Establishment (Buffalo: Matthews & Warren, 1869), 18.
Chapter Forty: Thirty-nine thousand trees
“The motive is like this . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to Mary Cleveland Olmsted, August 23, 1868, FLOP.
“a big speculation”: Frederick Law Olmsted to Calvert Vaux, August 29, 1868, FLOP.
“to be selected by Olmsted, . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted, “Draft of Proposed Agreement Between the Development Company and the Landscape Architects,” Landscape Architecture 22, no. 4, July 1931: 278–79.
“at best affords . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted, “Preliminary Report Upon the Proposed Suburban Village at Riverside Near Chicago, by Olmsted, Vaux & Co., Landscape Architects,” Landscape Architecture 21, no. 4, July 1931: 263.
He recommended acquiring . . .: “Prospectus of the Riverside Improvement Enterprise,” Landscape Architecture 21, no. 4, July 1931: 280.
“Having a means of communication . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted, “Preliminary Report Upon the Proposed Suburban Village at Riverside Near Chicago, by Olmsted, Vaux & Co., Landscape Architects,” Landscape Architecture 21, no. 4, July 1931: 266.
“I propose to lay . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to Calvert Vaux, March 12, 1865, FLOP.
“The essential qualification . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted, “Preliminary Report Upon the Proposed Suburban Village at Riverside Near Chicago, by Olmsted, Vaux & Co., Landscape Architects,” Landscape Architecture 21, no. 4, July 1931: 275.
“We should recommend . . . ”: Ibid., 268–69.
“ruralistic beauty . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to Mariana Griswold Van Rensselaer, June 11, 1893, FLOP.
If a stranger were blindfolded, . . . ”: Howard K. Menhinick, “Riverside Sixty Years Later,” Landscape Architecture 22, no. 2, January 1932: 109.
Chapter Forty-One: Best-laid plans
“It should be well thought . . . ”: Olmsted, Vaux & Co., “Mr. Olmsted’s Report,” Preliminary Report Respecting a Public Park in Buffalo and a Copy of the Legislature Authorizing Its Establishment (Buffalo: Matthews & Warren, 1869), 12.
“Let your buildings be . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted, “Public Parks and the Enlargement of Towns,” Frederick Law Olmsted, Civilizing American Cities: Writings on City Landscapes, ed. S. B. Sutton, (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1971), 81.
“We cannot judiciously attempt . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted, “Preliminary Report Upon the Proposed Suburban Village at Riverside Near Chicago, by Olmsted, Vaux & Co., Landscape Architects,” Landscape Architecture 21, no. 4 (July 1931): 274.
“Nothing is decided as yet, . . . ”: The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted, Vol. V, The California Frontier, 1863–1865, ed. Victoria Post Ranney (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986), 723.
“Rich men and poor men, . . . ”: Ibid., 763.
“The recent rapid enlargement . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted, “Public Parks and the Enlargement of Towns,” Frederick Law Olmsted, Civilizing American Cities: Writings on City Landscapes, S. B. Sutton, ed. (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1971), 64.
“Compare advantages in respect . . . ”: Ibid., 58.
“to realize familiar . . . ”: see Richard Hofstadter, The Age of Reform: From Bryan to F.D.R. (New York: Random House, 1955), 215.
“the best planned city, . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to George E. Waring Jr., April 13, 1876, FLOP.
“which will be completed . . . ”: “Riverside (Progress Prospectus),” Landscape Architecture 21, no. 4 (July 1931): 286.
“We have had to commence . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to Edward Everett Hale, October 21, 1869, FLOP.
“the most interesting . . . ”: Ibid.
“Both Colfax and Olmsted . . . ”: Chicago Times, February 20, 1867.
“I am shocked and pained . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to Emery E. Childs, October 28, 1869, FLOP.
“There is but one object . . . ”: Olmsted, Vaux & Co., “Report Accompanying Plan for Laying Out the South Park,” Frederick Law Olmsted, Civilizing American Cities: Writings on City Landscapes, ed. S. B. Sutton (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1971), 156–57.
“I don’t see, Mr. Olmsted, . . . ”: General Superintendent of South Park to Theodora Kimball, December 8, 1922, FLOP.
“After my excitement . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to Ignaz Anton Pilat, September 26, 1863, FLOP.
“You certainly cannot set . . . ”: Olmsted, Vaux & Co., “Report Accompanying Plan for Laying Out the South Park,” Frederick Law Olmsted, Civilizing American Cities: Writings on City Landscapes, ed. S. B. Sutton (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1971), 164.
Chapter Forty-Two: Henry Hobson Richardson
“That is all I wanted, . . . ”: Mariana Griswold Van Rensselaer, Henry Hobson Richardson and His Works (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1888), 18.
“The most beguiling . . . ”: Ibid., 118–19.
he probably recommended Richardson . . .: see Jeffrey Karl Ochsner, H. H. Richardson: Complete Architectural Works (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1982), 54.
“He was of good height, . . . ”: “A Great Artist’s Struggle,” Boston Evening Transcript, October 8, 1886.
“the district is much less healthy, . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted et al., “Report to the Staten Island Improvement Commission of a Preliminary Scheme of Improvements,” Landscape into Cityscape: Frederick Law Olmsted’s Plans for a Greater New York
City, ed. Albert Fein (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1967), 190.
“suburban district of great beauty, . . . ”: Ibid., 189.
“If the interior land . . . ”: Ibid., 203.
“three gentlemen, residents . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to William Butler Duncan, September 22, 1870, FLOP.
“a gentleman trained . . . ”: Ibid.
generally considered a breakthrough.: Henry-Russell Hitchcock, The Architecture of H. H. Richardson and His Times (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1966), 111.
Chapter Forty-Three: Olmsted’s dilemma
“I am poorly qualified . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to Frederick J. Kingsbury, April 20, 1871, FLOP.
“I am longer at breakfast . . . ”: Ibid.
“I feel myself so nearly desperate . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to Samuel Bowles, June 2, 1871, FLOP.
“not tied to any architectural firm. . . . ”: Samuel Bowles to Frederick Law Olmsted, May 3, 1871, FLOP.
“You write in view . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to Samuel Bowles, June 2, 1871, FLOP.
“I am looking in earnest . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to Frederick J. Kingsbury, October 8, 1871, FLOP.
“important papers, contracts, . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted, “Chicago in Distress,” The Nation, November 9, 1871: 305.
“The appointment of Stebbins . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to Charles Loring Brace, November 24, 1871, FLOP.
“The Park has suffered . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to Columbus Ryan, February 27, 1872, FLOP.
“At the Dairy . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted, “To Those Having the Care of Young Children,” Frederick Law Olmsted: Landscape Architect, 1822–1903, ed. Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and Theodora Kimball (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1928), 418.
“It appeared to me . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to James Miller McKim, June 28, 1872, FLOP.
“It is hereby mutually agreed . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted: Landscape Architect, 1822–1903, ed. Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and Theodora Kimball (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1928), n. 1, 94.
Chapter Forty-Four: Alone
“Why! Who’s this? . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to Frederick J. Kingsbury, January 28, 1873, FLOP.
“He was a very good man . . . ”: Ibid.
“May my last end . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to Charles Loring Brace, December 21, 1873, FLOP.
“Mr. Olmsted and Mr. Weidenmann . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted: Landscape Architect, 1822–1903, ed. Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and Theodora Kimball (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1928), 18.
“The barriers and hedges of society . . . ”: New-York Times, October 9, 1860.
Chapter Forty-Five: “More interesting than nature”
“what has been considered . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to Edward Clark, October 1, 1881, Annual Report of the Architect of the United States Capitol (Washington, 1882), 14–15.
“diffidence in my ability . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted, Mount Royal (New York: G. P. Putnam, 1881), 8.
“I would observe . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to the Commissioners of Mount-Royal Park, November 21, 1874, Canadian Institute for Historical Microproductions.
“It would be wasteful . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted, Mount Royal (New York: G. P. Putnam, 1881), 42.
“so that a good horse, . . . ”: John Nolen, “Mount Royal, Montreal: A Mountain Park,” House & Garden, February 1906: 83.
“Regard the work . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted, Civilizing American Cities: Writings on City Landscapes, ed. S. B. Sutton (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1971), 203.
“You can shape . . . ”: Ibid., 207.
“They address the other members . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted, Mount Royal (New York: G. P. Putnam, 1881), 14.
“the term park, . . . ”: Ibid., 9.
“one of the most successful designs . . . ”: John Nolen, “Mount Royal, Montreal: A Mountain Park,” House & Garden, February 1906: 83.
“prophylactic and therapeutic . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted, Mount Royal (New York: G. P. Putnam, 1881), 22.
Chapter Forty-Six: Olmsted in demand
“wedding journey, . . . ”: Mariana Griswold Van Rensselaer, Henry Hobson Richardson and His Works (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1888), 27.
“Mr. Olmsted . . . was . . . ”: Ibid., 74.
“If a proposed cathedral, . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted and J. James R. Croes, “Preliminary Report of the Landscape Architect and the Civil and Topographical Engineer, upon the Laying Out of the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Wards,” Landscape into Cityscape: Frederick Law Olmsted’s Plans for a Greater New York City, ed. Albert Fein (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1967), 352–53.
“There are many houses . . . ”: Ibid., 355.
“Even on a flat alluvial site, . . . ”: Ibid., 356–57.
“What is meant . . . ”: Ibid., 365.
“A judicious laying out . . . ”: Ibid., 357.
“The most fantastic plat . . . ”: Glenn Chesney Quiett, They Built the West; an Epic of Rails and Cities (New York: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1934), 414.
“the plan of a Metropolis; . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted and J. James R. Croes, “Preliminary Report of the Landscape Architect and the Civil and Topographical Engineer, upon the Laying Out of the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Wards,” Landscape into Cityscape: Frederick Law Olmsted’s Plans for a Greater New York City, ed. Albert Fein (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1967), 352.
Chapter Forty-Seven: “I shall be free from it on the 1st of January”
“The Park is still a prize . . . ”: New-York Times, April 28, 1875.
“There were symptoms . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted, “The Spoils of the Park: With a Few Leaves from the Deep-Laden Note-Books of A Wholly Unpractical Man,” Frederick Law Olmsted: Landscape Architect, 1822–1903, ed. Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and Theodora Kimball (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1928), 136–37.
“to be read over and committed substantively . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted, “Instructions,” undated, JCOC.
“I know that it is feasible . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to John Charles Olmsted, September 14, 1877, JCOC.
“[Your letters] are . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to John Charles Olmsted, October 7, 1877, JCOC.
“drifting with the currents . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to John Charles Olmsted, December 1, 1877, JCOC.
“You are not a man of genius . . . ”: Ibid.
“Don’t be so cowardly . . . ”: Ibid.
“It is evident that there was little occasion . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to John Charles Olmsted, December 18, 1877, JCOC.
“I agree to what you say . . . ”: John Charles Olmsted to Frederick Law Olmsted, December 27, 1877, JCOC.
“with the understanding . . . ”: John Charles Olmsted to Frederick Law Olmsted, December 3, 1877, JCOC.
“Mr. F. L. Olmsted, . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted: Landscape Architect, 1822–1903, ed. Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and Theodora Kimball (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1928), 110.
“It will not be thought . . . ”: Ibid., 137.
“I shall go at once . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to John Charles Olmsted, December 15, 1877, JCOC.
“after 10 days at sea . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to John Charles Olmsted, December 16, 1877, JCOC.
“I shall be free from it . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to John Charles Olmsted, December 25, 1877. JCOC.
“Think it well out . . . ”: Ibid.
“It is therefore Resolved, . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted: Landscape Architect, 1822–1903, ed. Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and Theodora Kimball (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1928), 110–11.
“I am glad you are going abroad . . . ”: Charles Eliot Norton to Frederick Law Olmsted, January 5, 1878, FLOP.
“He seems to have enjoyed . . . ”: John Charles Olmsted to Mary Cleveland Olmsted, February 7, 1878, JCOC.
“If ever an art
ist . . . ”: Edouard André, Traité général de la composition des parcs et jardins (Paris: Masson, 1879), 188. Author’s translation.
“the disease, whatever it is, . . . ”: John Charles Olmsted to Mary Cleveland Olmsted, March 16, 1878, JCOC.
“He has formed no idea . . . ”: Ibid.
“chivying English disposition”: Mary Cleveland Olmsted to John Charles Olmsted, February 24, 1878, FLOP.
“Father thinks Mr. Vaux’s letter . . . ”: Ibid.
STANDING FIRST
Chapter Forty-Eight: An arduous convalescence
“I am doing but little professionally . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted: Landscape Architect, 1822–1903, ed. Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and Theodora Kimball (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1928), 23.
“No aid I could give . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to Charles Henry Dalton, May 13, 1878, FLOP.
“The central purpose of this work . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted, “Paper on the Problem and Its Solution Read Before the Boston Society of Architects,” April 2, 1886, FLOP.
“The object of this crookedness, . . . ”: Ibid.
“What are your plans . . . ”: Ibid.
Chapter Forty-Nine: Fairstead
“You can have no idea . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to Charles Loring Brace, March 7, 1882, FLOP.
“The president once notified me . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted, “The Spoils of the Park,” Frederick Law Olmsted: Landscape Architect, 1822–1903, ed. Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and Theodora Kimball (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1928), 135.
“Consideration of the responsibility . . . ”: Ibid., 155.
“borderland”: see John R. Stilgoe, Borderland: Origins of the American Suburb, 1820–1939 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988).
“I enjoy this suburban . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to Charles Loring Brace, March 7, 1882, FLOP.
“having the general appearance . . . ”: Frederick Law Olmsted to S. H. Wiley, June 29, 1866, FLOP.
“Mr. Richardson . . . was constantly . . . ”: American Architect and Building News, January 7, 1888: 4.
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