Frederick Law Olmsted

Father of Landscape Architecture

Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) is best known for his design, in collaboration with Calvert Vaux, of Central Park in New York City. He has been widely credited with establishing the concept of the public park as a common green space to be preserved and enhanced for everyone to enjoy. He was instrumental in the late-nineteenth century transformation of "landscape gardening," which primarily meant the design of flower gardens for wealthy landowners, into a broader profession of landscape architecture in which the practitioners were akin to traditional architects.

The Legacy of Frederick Law Olmsted

Rochester is one of just four cities nationwide that boasts a park system designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. He designed Highland Park, Genesee Valley Park and Seneca Park. Olmsted and the firm that continued his work after his retirement also designed several parkways and small neighborhood parks

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“What artist, so noble, has often been thought, as he, who with far-reaching conception of beauty and designing power, sketches the outline, writes the colors, and directs the shadows of a picture so great that Nature shall be employed upon it for generations, before the work he has arranged for her shall realize his intentions.”
— Frederick Law Olmsted

Genius of Place: The Life of Frederick Law Olmsted

courtesy of liza charlesworth (taken in highland park)

Justin Martin, the guest speaker for HPC’s 2022 Annual Meeting and the Olmsted bicentennial, brings a unique depth of understanding of our Olmsted heritage. He is the author of Genius of Place: The Life of Frederick Law Olmsted (Da Capo Press, 2011). He and his family live in Forest Hills Gardens, a landmark New York City neighborhood designed by Olmsted Jr. His wife, Liza Charlesworth, grew up in Rochester near Highland Park.

Martin’s specialty is American history, meticulously researched but delivered in a narrative style that’s akin to fiction. His other books include: A Fierce Glory: Antietam—The Desperate Battle That Saved Lincoln and Doomed Slavery (2018); Rebel Souls: Walt Whitman and America’s First Bohemians (2014); Nader: Crusader, Spoiler, Icon (2002); and Greenspan: The Man Behind Money (2000).

Martin is a former staff writer at Fortune. His articles have appeared in Newsweek, Money, and Conde Nast Traveler, as well as The New York Times, Cleveland Plain Dealer, San Francisco Chronicle, and Lawrence (KS) Journal World. He is a graduate of Rice University, Houston, class of ’87.

Frederick Law Olmsted / Designing America • Video

To Olmsted, a park was both a work of art and a necessity for urban life. Olmsted's efforts to preserve nature created an "environmental ethic" decades before the environmental movement became a force in American politics. With gorgeous cinematography and compelling commentary, this film presents the biography of a man whose parks and preservation are an essential part of American life.