Full of original plans and historic photographs, this beautifully illustrated collection is the first comprehensive presentation of Olmsted's design concepts for communities and private estates. Silver Winner of the 2021 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award for Best Coffee Table Book Master landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) is renowned for his public parks, but few know the extent of his accomplishment in meeting other needs of society. Lavishly illustrated with over 500 images, this book presents Olmsted's design commissions for a wide range of projects. The rich collection of studies, lithographs, paintings, and historical photographs depicts Olmsted's planning for residential communities, regional and town plans, academic campuses, grounds of public buildings, zoos, arboreta, and cemeteries. Focusing on living spaces designed to promote physical and mental well-being, the book showcases more than seventy of Olmsted's designs, including the community of Riverside, IL; the Stanford University campus; the U.S. Capitol grounds; the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893; the National Zoo; and George W. Vanderbilt's Biltmore estate. Illuminating Olmsted's design theory, this volume displays the beautiful plans and reveals the significance of each commission within his entire body of work. Readers concerned with the quality of the environment in which we live and work, as well as architects, landscape architects, urban planners, historians, and preservationists, will find stimulating insights in Plans and Views of Communities and Private Estates.

Lavishly illustrated with over 470 images - 129 of them in color, this book reveals Frederick Law Olmsted's design concepts for more than seventy public park projects through a rich collection of sketches, studies, lithographs, paintings, historical photographs, and comprehensive descriptions. Bringing together Olmsted's most significant parks, parkways, park systems, and scenic reservations, this gorgeous volume takes readers on a uniquely conceived tour of such notable landscapes as Central Park, Prospect Park, the Buffalo Park and Parkway System, Washington Park and Jackson Park in Chicago, Boston's "Emerald Necklace," and Mount Royal in Montreal, Quebec. No such guide to Olmsted's parks has ever been published. Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) planned many parks and park systems across the United States, leaving an enduring legacy of designed public space that is enjoyed and defended today. His public parks, the design of which he was most proud, have had a lasting effect on urban America. This gorgeous book will appeal to landscape professionals, park administrators, historians, architects, city planners, and students-and it is a perfect gift for Olmsted aficionados throughout North America.