New York, New York! (It's greener thank you think) - Part 3: Central Park and Olmsted

SHAPER OF THE AMERICAN LANDSCAPE

Perhaps more than any other person, Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) affected the way America looks. He is best known as the creator of major urban parks, but across the nation, from the green spaces that help define our towns and cities, to suburban life, to protected wilderness areas, he left the imprint of his fertile mind and boundless energy. Out of his deep love for the land and his social commitment he fathered the profession of landscape architecture in America.

Olmsted's unique contributions stemmed in part from the conjunction of strongly felt personal values and the needs of a young nation. America was experiencing unprecedented growth in the mid-19th century, making the transition from a rural people to a complex urban society. City life became more stressful as the crowds grew, the pace quickened, and the countryside was pushed into the distance. Olmsted and others saw the need for preserving green and open spaces where people could escape city pressures, places that nourished body and spirit. His intuitive understanding of the historical changes he was living through and his rare combination of idealism, artistry, intelligence, and practical knowledge enabled him to help soften the shocks of industrialization. Unable to separate his love and respect for the land from his belief in democracy, Olmsted saw parks as bastions of the democratic ideals of community and equality. He confronted a period of rapid mechanization and unabashed materialism with a natural sensibility and the old Jefferson virtues of restraint and rural simplicity, values still represented in his parks.

Olmsted was a true renaissance man whose many interests and ceaseless flow of ideas led him into experimental farming, writing and publishing, public health administration, preservation, and urban and regional planning. With other reformers, he pushed for the protection of Yosemite Valley. His 1864 report on the park was the first systematic justification for public protection of natural areas, emphasizing the duty of a democratic society to ensure that the "body of the people" have access to natural beauty.

Situated between 59th street and 110 streets in the heart of New York City, Central Park is arguably the most well known of all the parks that Olmsted had a hand in. Although he was the park's superintendent, he had no hand in the call for a park. Andrew Jackson Downing was the original force behind the park. He and his partner, Calvert Vaux were to submit a design for the park. In 1852 Downing died in a riverboat accident and Vaux asked Olmsted to take his place. In 1858 they entered the competition to design the park, with an entry they called Greensward, which was chosen as the park's design. The design of the park had many aspects that would become trademarks of Olmsted's designs. There were winding paths, scenic views and large open areas for people to relax in. Olmsted served as the chief architect from 1858-1861, which allowed him to supervise the construction and to make any changes that he felt necessary.

Olmsted and Vaux worked off and on with the Park's Commission on the park. Serving as the chief architect from 1858-1861 Olmsted was a presence at the construction site to make sure the collaborative vision was fulfilled. Theirs would be a park conforming to the real contours of nature with rich woodlands, winding paths and hills and valleys. Theirs would be a park replete with Vaux’s architectural vision, which united design and nature with the human spirit. Olmsted was fastidious in his attention to detail and both fought the ugly demon of political infighting to make sure events conformed to their original plan. They succeeded heroically against a succession of negativity until 1877 when the team was dismissed from the project. Olmsted and Vaux devoted twenty years of their lives to the hoped for realization of a dream only to fall victims to the city bureaucracy and petty political infighting. There is no single tribute or monument in the Park to their collaborative effort. Their memory for most is simply a footnote in history.

In what he created and what he preserved for the future, Olmsted's legacy is incalculable. The informal natural setting he made popular characterizes the American Landscape. Beyond the hundreds of parks enjoyed by millions of people, Olmsted and his firm set the standard for hospital and institutional grounds, campuses, zoos, railway stations, parkways, private estates, and residential subdivisions across the country. Olmsted's principles of democratic expansion and public access still guide and inspire urban planners. From the broadest concepts to the smallest details of his profession, the sign of Olmsted's hand is everywhere in our lives.

(Information gleaned from Wikipedia, The Central Park website and fan sites)

We recently spent a late summer weekend in NewYork City and got to experience Olmsted's vision