Frederick Law Olmsted

b 1822 d 1903

Olmsted is famous as the designer of central park and 'the father of American landscape architecture'. He was born in Hartford, Connecticut, Before taking up landscape architecture as a profession he worked as a farmer, a seaman, a journalist and social reformer. His winning design for the Central Park competition was done with Calvert Vaux, an English architect who had also been A J Downing's partner, Olmsted set up a prosperous firm which designed some 50 public parks and 550 other commissions, many of them gardens and residential projects. Olmsted's style drew from Downing, from natural scenery, from visits to European parks, and from reading landscape theorists, including Gilpin, Price, Loudon and Repton. Price and Repton were the most significant influences and Olmsted favoured the landscape style, with a transition from a regular terrace to a natural landscape. This is clearly seen at Biltmore.

 F L Olmsted's entry for the Central Park competition is on the CD.