John Charles Olmsted

John Charles Olmsted (* 1852 in Vandeuvre, Switzerland, † 1920) was the nephew and adopted son of Frederick Law Olmsted and was just like this a well-known American landscape architect. With his stepbrother Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., he founded that specializes in landscaping companies Olmsted Brothers in Brookline. The company is best known for designing many urban parks, college campuses and other public places. For over 40 years John Olmsted worked in his profession, leaving visible traces today in the American urban landscape.

Early life

The childhood and youth of John Charles Olmsted were filled with extraordinary and sometimes traumatic events that shaped his later shy personality as well as his wide range of interests. He was born in 1852 in the Swiss Vandeuvre at Geneva, the son of Dr. John Hull Olmsted and Mary Cleveland Perkins Olmsted. At the age of five he had already crossed the Atlantic twice and lost his father by tuberculosis. In 1859 he was adopted by his uncle Frederick Law Olmsted and brought his life more orderly.

But the shaky stability of the situation was quickly interrupted - first by the American Civil War, in the course of which his stepfather with his family in 1862 to Washington DC moved and later. by a further move to Mariposa in California, where Frederick Law Olmsted 1863-1865 ushered in a gold mining operation By the middle stays in Yosemite National Park and surrounded by redwood trees John Charles learned how to read the landscape through its flora and fauna, as well as fossils and minerals. This laid the foundation for the skills that proved to be very valuable in his later works.

Career

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

Olmsted designed beyond individual parks in New Orleans, Watertown and Chicago. His successful work led to a number of other contracts for school yards, residential building, State Capitol, and also designs for large residential areas including roads and schools. Especially his plans for cities near industrial plants and factories are considered particularly noteworthy.

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

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

Selected works

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