Olmsted decided to move to Brookline, a Boston suburb, one wintery morning while visiting his friend and architect, H.H. Richardson in his home there. It had snowed the night before. As Frederick stood by the window, drinking his black coffee, he was amazed and impressed to see that work crews were already out, clearing the streets. There was only one word for it:“Civilized.”
Though he had grown up in Hartford, CT, Olmsted had considered New York his home as an adult. He owned a small farm on the south shore of Staten Island, and to be near the parks he designed across the city, he and his family rented rooms in various locations across Manhattan. Deciding to buy a house and establish his business in Massachusetts was a dramatic and deliberate step in an already illustrious career. He took his time looking for the perfect spot.
The home on 99 Warren Street met his needs perfectly. He arranged with the sisters living in the 1810 farmhouse to build them another home next door. Richardson (who lived a short walk away) had built his architectural studios adjacent to his home, and Olmsted did the same, providing a space for employees to work and his business to grow. His stepson, John Charles, would also have an office, as he and Olmsted were now working as partners. Designing public parks had become a family business.
In addition to parks, the firm designed college campuses, the grounds for various government institutions (like the U.S. Capitol), private homes, cemeteries, and memorials. Fairsted—as Olmsted dubbed his new home—was meant to work as a kind of show room for the services the business offered. Whatever the circumstances, Olmsted worked hard to emphasize the natural world and to design spaces that were more than decorative, but that actually invited exploration, quiet contemplation, and helped elevate us. Above all, he sought a marriage between buildings and the environments where they stood that honored both the environment and those who spent time there.
From this lovely, yet unassuming address, the look and feel of the American outdoors was dreamed up and realized for nearly a century. Though many consider Olmsted “the father of landscape architecture,” it’s not a term he particularly liked. Rather than merely shaping the grounds we cherish, he hoped his work would help shape the lives of the democracy he had watch stumble and falter during the Civil War.
The lessons Olmsted and his predecessors taught from their headquarters in Brookline changed the way the world looked and worked.
This tour will be a book published by Leveller’s Press. Coming fall 2025!
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