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Frederick Law Olmsted: Plans and Views of Public Parks (The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted) Hardcover – April 15, 2015
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A superb visual overview of the major public parks designed by the foremost landscape architect in American history.
Winner, John Brinkerhoff Jackson Book Prize, Foundation for Landscape Architecture, FY16
Lavishly illustrated with over 470 images―129 of them in color―this book reveals Frederick Law Olmsted's design concepts for more than seventy public park projects through a rich collection of sketches, studies, lithographs, paintings, historical photographs, and comprehensive descriptions. Bringing together Olmsted's most significant parks, parkways, park systems, and scenic reservations, this gorgeous volume takes readers on a uniquely conceived tour of such notable landscapes as Central Park, Prospect Park, the Buffalo Park and Parkway System, Washington Park and Jackson Park in Chicago, Boston's "Emerald Necklace," and Mount Royal in Montreal, Quebec. No such guide to Olmsted's parks has ever been published.
Frederick Law Olmsted (1822–1903) planned many parks and park systems across the United States, leaving an enduring legacy of designed public space that is enjoyed and defended today. His public parks, the design of which he was most proud, have had a lasting effect on urban America.
This gorgeous book will appeal to landscape professionals, park administrators, historians, architects, city planners, and students―and it is a perfect gift for Olmsted aficionados throughout North America.
- Print length448 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherJohns Hopkins University Press
- Publication dateApril 15, 2015
- Reading age18 years and up
- Dimensions11.2 x 1.4 x 11.1 inches
- ISBN-101421410869
- ISBN-13978-1421410869
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Editorial Reviews
Review
―Garden Design Online
Peer into the mind of the nation’s most prolific park maker with this book, which showcases more than 70 public spaces designed by Frederick Law Olmsted . . . Plans and Views of Public Parks is a visual compendium of Olmsted’s work, taking readers on a visual tour through some of America’s most significant public landscapes.
―Eryn Carlson, Boston Globe
Enlightening and lavishly illustrated . . . Whether your interest is in Olmsted and his work, landscape architecture in general, the development of nature-based recreation, or American history, Frederick Law Olmsted: Plans and Views of Public Parks can provide a substantial expansion and deepening of your thoughts in your area of interest, as well as help connect it to other related (and perhaps even previously unconsidered) areas of study.
―Well-read Naturalist
A welcome addition to Olmsted scholarship and an excellent companion to the series documenting his extensive papers.
―Library Journal
A treasure trove of visual materials, with surprises for even the Olmstedian aficionado.
―Landscape Architecture Magazine
Beveridge, the preeminent Olmsted scholar . . . gathers in a sumptuous, gorgeous volume of the designs that defined what made many American cities great, and livable.
―Harvard Magazine
These visual documents will generate historical evidence and interpretive questions alike, surely the mark of an important contribution.
―New England Quarterly
Had Olmsted never existed, someone else surely would have applied the moral force of this ethic to landscape design, making parks the vehicle of social reform. But it is inconceivable that anyone else would have had the same deep cistern of human sympathy to drawn on.
―First Things
Book Description
A superb visual overview of the major public parks designed by the foremost landscape architect in American history.
About the Author
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.
Product details
- Publisher : Johns Hopkins University Press
- Publication date : April 15, 2015
- Edition : First Edition
- Language : English
- Print length : 448 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1421410869
- ISBN-13 : 978-1421410869
- Item Weight : 5.28 pounds
- Reading age : 18 years and up
- Dimensions : 11.2 x 1.4 x 11.1 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #656,663 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #244 in Landscape Architecture (Books)
- #422 in Individual Architects & Firms
- #784 in Architectural History
- Customer Reviews:
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- Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2015I am so impressed by the book that I have ordered four as gifts and one for myself. It's gorgeous and informative. Johns Hopkins University Press did us all a service by publishing it and thanks to Amazon for making it available.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2019Just what I was looking for.
- Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2016Purchased for boyfriend who has an astounding knowledge of public park infrastructure. He confirms it did not disappoint.
- Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2016Excellent!
- Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2016American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is popularly considered to be the father of American landscape architecture. Olmsted was famous for co-designing many well-known urban parks with his senior partner Calvert Vaux, including Prospect Park and Central Park in New York City,[2] as well as Elm Park (Worcester, Massachusetts), considered by many to be the first municipal park in America.
Other projects that Olmsted was involved in include the country's first and oldest coordinated system of public parks and parkways in Buffalo, New York; the country's oldest state park, the Niagara Reservation in Niagara Falls, New York; one of the first planned communities in the United States, Riverside, Illinois; Mount Royal Park in Montreal, Quebec; the Emerald Necklace in Boston, Massachusetts; Highland Park in Rochester, New York; Belle Isle Park, in the Detroit River for Detroit, Michigan; the Grand Necklace of Parks in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Cherokee Park and entire parks and parkway system in Louisville, Kentucky; the 735-acre (297 ha) Forest Park in Springfield, Massachusetts, featuring America's first public "wading pool";[3] the George Washington Vanderbilt II Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina; the master plans for the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University near Palo Alto, California as well as for The Lawrenceville School; and Montebello Park in St. Catharines, Ontario. In Chicago his projects include: Jackson Park; Washington Park; the Midway Plaisance for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition; the south portion of Chicago's "emerald necklace" boulevard ring; Cadwalader Park in Trenton, New Jersey; and the University of Chicago campus. In Washington, D.C., he worked on the landscape surrounding the United States Capitol building.
- Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2019This book was given to me by my mother in law. It may be being sold anywhere on Amazon. It was stolen from my home by someone who took a l ot of things over a long period of time. If you are selling my books (it might have an inscription begun by my mother in law -Agnes she was having trouble writing it and I may have finished it) If you see this please let me know, this and two other Olmstead books were STOLEN FROM MY HOME by someone I trusted. Thank you.
Top reviews from other countries
MarflieReviewed in Canada on January 6, 20165.0 out of 5 stars Worth it!
Wonderful illustrations, interesting text full of fascinating information. A pricey book but worth it for anyone who knows the Olmstead parks. We gave it as a present to people who live in Boston, home to several Olmstead parks as well as his home base.







