Join lecture with the Garden Club of Darien: Celebrating 200 years of Frederick Law Olmsted

Celebrating 200 Years of Frederick Law Olmsted

The 200th celebration of Frederick Law Olmsted’s birth is causing reflection and discourse about his work all over the country. The famed “Father of American Landscape Architecture,” and his family firm, had a definitive hand in over 500 commissions, that included 100 public parks and recreation areas, 200 private estates, 50 residential communities, and campuses for about 40 academic institutions. Among them, the creation of New York’s Central Park (1857), the Buffalo Park System (1868), Boston Park System (1870) and the United State Capitol (1874), are standouts in American landscape design. When he went on to do Belle Isle Park in Detroit, the 1880s, Lawrenceville School in 1883, and Stanford University in 1886, his fame caused his firm to win the bid for the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, Bryn Mawr College in 1895 and the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina from 1895 to 1900.

Therefore, it is our privilege to welcome Jonathan Olmsted, one of Frederick’s descendants, to highlight the life and works of his vaulted ancestor, illustrated with stunning visuals including photos and plans. Both Frederick Law Olmsted, commonly referred to as FLO, and Jonathan Olmsted, were descended from James Olmsted, who came to America from England in 1632, and was one of the founders of Hartford, Connecticut, where FLO was later born.

Jonathan Olmsted was born in Boston in 1942, attended Phillips Exeter Academy, graduated from Stanford University in 1964, and for the last 45 years has lived in Darien, Connecticut with his wife Janet. He was a banker in New York, London, and San Francisco for 15 years. Then he was President of Cameron Communications, a small presentation consulting firm for 30 years before he retired. His scintillating presentation will highlight at least a dozen of Olmsted’s major projects. Please join us for this event celebrating Olmsted's remarkable legacy.