Boston Flora

Tag: Friends of Fairsted

  • Tuesday, November 28, 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm – The Olmsted in All of Us

    This past year marked the bicentennial of Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr.’s birth. Although many still do not know that there is no “A” in his name, and that there were actually three Olmsteds (news flash: he didn’t live from 1822-1957), generally speaking, his impact on the profession – and the public – from coast-to-coast – is still only superficially understood. Olmsted-designed landscapes are more than picturesque scenery and public grounds for society’s use and enjoyment.

    This November 28 Friends of Fairsted presentation by Charles A. Birnbaum draws on forty years of professional practice – incorporating big ideas and anecdotes, and aims to lift the veil on those in Olmsted’s practice and his successor firms from 1857-1979 (beyond those named Olmsted). Additionally, the presentation will address how the Olmsted practice served as the definer and proselytizer of the professional discipline that Sr. named, how the firm came to define what a corporate practice should look like and how it should function (including support for the “grand tour,” the idea of preparing multiple alternatives to sell your ideas, leveraging one’s position as both a practitioner and an academic to cultivate and import the best and brightest students, the need to nurture and cultivate patrons, the critical nature of well-organized archives and dedicated staff for collections management), and how landscape architects need to seize the opportunity to lead and orchestrate from the planning of cities and campuses to getting involved early and siting the building architecture.

    Olmsted introduced new typologies (parkway, park system), he recognized that landscape was infrastructure and that a thorough understanding of soils and water (from watersheds and hydrology to soil remediation) was essential. He understood landscapes and cities to be dynamic, possessing intertwined systems that could be guided and shaped, and the idea of managing change.

    Finally, the presentation concludes with reflections of how we can steward Olmsted’s ideas and built works today – from a deeper and broader cultural context (e.g. race, gender) to supporting and collaborating with individuals and organizations who are working in their communities to engage with Olmsted and his legacy. The talk will take place at Hawes Hall, 43 Hawes Street in Brookline. Register at https://www.tclf.org/olmsted-all-us-friends-fairsted

    Charles A. Birnbaum, FASLA, FAAR, is President & CEO of The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF). Prior to creating TCLF, he spent fifteen years as Coordinator, National Park Service Historic Landscape Initiative and a decade in private practice in NYC with a focus on cultural landscapes and urban design. In 2023, TCLF was awared The Olmsted Medal from the American Society of Landscape Architects.

    Birnbaum has authored/co-edited numerous publications including Modern Landscapes: Transition and Transformation (Princeton Press), Shaping the American Landscape (UVA Press), Design with Culture (UVA Press), Preserving Modern Landscape Architecture (Spacemaker Press), and Experiencing Olmsted (Timber Press). Birnbaum was a Loeb Fellow at Harvard’s GSD, and a Rome Prize recipient. He was awarded ASLA’s LaGasse Medal in 2008, President’s Medal in 2009, and the ASLA Medal (The Society’s highest honor in 2018). He serves as a Lecturer in Landscape Architecture at Harvard’s GSD (2020-); served as a Visiting Professor, Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture (2011-16); and Glimcher Distinguished Professor, Ohio State University (2007). From 2010-18 he was a frequent contributor to The Huffington Post. In 2021, TCLF unveiled the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize, a permanently endowed prize that includes a $100,000 (USD) award.

  • Thursday, November 7, 6:00 pm – Climate Change and Urban Landscapes: Extending Olmsted’s Legacy

    This November 7 Friends of Fairsted lecture will address the contemporary challenges and implications of climate change on cities and urban landscapes. Chris Reed will explore how Olmsted’s work in the 19th century can act as a model for multifunctional urban parks, and how new versions of these parks and park systems might best take on the climate challenges and social equity issues we face today. Examples of current work in Boston by Reed’s firm Stoss Landscape Urbanism will demonstrate how climate change has renewed Boston’s leadership in imagining open space systems that respond to contemporaneous social and environmental challenges.

    Chris Reed is Founding Director of Stoss Landscape Urbanism as well as Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture and Co-Director, Master of Landscape Architecture in Urban Design Program, at Harvard Graduate School of Design. He is recognized internationally as a leading voice in the transformation of landscapes and cities, working alternately as a researcher, strategist, teacher, designer, and advisor. Chris is particularly focused on creating resilient social spaces that foster vitality, equality and community within the public realm. His work collectively includes urban revitalization initiatives, climate resiliency efforts, adaptations of former industrial sites, and the creation of vibrant public spaces that act as a catalyst for change—environmentally, culturally and economically. Chris is a recipient of the 2012 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award in Landscape Architecture, a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and the 2017 Mercedes T. Bass Landscape Architect in Residence at the American Academy in Rome.

    The event takes place at 43 Hawes Street, corner of Hawes and Monmouth Streets in Brookline. Limited street parking is available, and public parking is not allowed in the Wheelock parking lot. A reception begins at 6 pm and the lecture begins at 7. Free, but reservations are essential at https://friendsoffairsted.org/programs/register/

    Chouteau Greenway, St. Louis

  • Wednesday, May 30, 7:00 pm – Renewal of the Blue Garden in Newport, Rhode Island

    Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., with the Olmsted Brothers firm, designed the Blue Garden from 1912 – 1918 for the Newport, Rhode Island estate of Arthur Curtiss James and his wife, Harriet. The garden room featured a unique planting palette of blues and purples “with some whites”, and shades of green foliage, and was surrounded by an evergreen enclosure to screen the garden from view. The garden was opened to friends in August 1913 with a celebration called “The Blue Masque”, and was heralded with numerous magazine articles and photographs depicting its architectural and horticultural riches. By 2012 the garden was almost forgotten, subsumed under a thick covering of weeds and invasive trees. This Arnold Arboretum lecture on Wednesday, May 30 at 7 pm in the Hunnewell Building will present the story of the people who originally created the Blue Garden and how the restoration team used original plans, drawings, and photographs from the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site Archives to reinterpret the design and rebuild the garden in all its glory, while meeting contemporary sustainable standards. Free, but registration required; Reception to follow.

    Offered with Friends of Fairsted. Featured speakers are Sarah Vance, MLA, Director, The Blue Garden, and Arleyn A. Levee, Landscape Historian, Hon. ASLA

    Arleyn A. Levee is a landscape historian and preservation consultant, specializing in the work of the Olmsted firm. For many years, she has worked with various non-profit preservation groups and landscape architecture firms doing the research and evaluations needed for rehabilitation and protection of Olmsted-designed historic landscapes, both public and private. She is the author of The Blue Garden: Recapturing an Iconic Newport Landscape, published in 2016, and many articles about Olmsted firm commissions and the various firm designers responsible for this work. She received a Bachelor of Arts from Wellesley College, Master of Arts in Teaching from Harvard University, and a Certificate from the Radcliffe Seminars Program in Landscape Design.

    Before assuming the position as Director of the Blue Garden, Sarah Vance was a senior associate with Reed Hilderbrand Landscape Architecture, part of the team that developed the rehabilitation plan for the garden and supervised its construction. Her role included analyzing the original drawings and developing planting plans for the garden and surrounding planted enclosure. As Director, she now works with a dedicated group of gardeners to ensure the design intent of the garden’s plan and to maintain it as an accessible and sustainable landscape. She takes special pleasure in sharing the story of this once-forgotten landscape and experiencing the appreciation, surprise and delight of its many visitors. Sarah received a Master in Landscape Architecture with Distinction from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

    Register at http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.

    Image result for The Blue Garden: Recapturing an Iconic Newport Landscape

  • Thursday, December 7, 6:00 pm – Beyond Drawings: The Olmsted Archives as Muse and Vision

    Lucinda Brockway, noted garden designer, landscape historian, and preservation specialist, began her career with an internship at Fairsted as it moved from a design office to part of the National Park Service. The Olmsted Archives play an invaluable role in her current work as Cultural Resources Program Director for The Trustees of Reservations, as they did in her previous private design practice. In this Friends of Fairsted presentation, Lucinda will bring her research stories to life, illustrating the relevance of the Archives to historic preservation projects and design work, both present and future. 6:00pm Reception | 7:00pm Lecture, to be held at Wheelock College, Brookline Campus, 43 Hawes Street, corner of Hawes and Monmouth Streets, Brookline. Seating is limited and reservations are required. Visit http://friendsoffairsted.org/programs/ for more details.

  • Thursday, June 15, 6:00 pm – Warren Manning: Landscape Architect and Environmental Planner

    Warren H. Manning’s (1860–1938) practice comprised more than 1,600 design and planning projects throughout North America, from small home grounds to estates, cemeteries, college campuses, parks, and new industrial towns. Trained as a horticulturist and apprenticed with the Olmsted firm, Manning went on to mentor important designers such as Fletcher Steele and Dan Kiley. Under Robin Karson’s direction, contributors to the Warren H. Manning Research Project have worked for more than a decade, locating and assessing current conditions of his built projects. Karson, who is Executive Director of the Library of American Landscape History, will reveal the scope and significance of Manning’s career, showing how his approach to design and planning projects distinguished him from his early twentieth century colleagues. The event will take place in the Weld Hill Research Building of the Arboretum on Thursday, June 15 with the lecture beginning at 6, followed by reception and book signing. Fee Free, but registration requested. Seating is limited. Offered with Friends of Fairsted. Register at my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.

  • Thursday, March 9, 6:00 pm – Lewis Mumford’s Green Urbanism

    The Friends of Fairsted Lecture Series continues on Thursday, March 9 at 6 pm at the Wheelock College Brookline Campus 43 Hawes Street, Brookline, with a talk by Aaron Sachs, Professor of History and American Studies, Cornell University.

    In his early writings, Mumford accompanied his critique of modern cities with a positive, constructive vision for how people might design and occupy urban spaces more sustainably. This talk reconsiders Lewis Mumford’s writings of the 1930s as an early exemplar of green urbanism, in line with current trends in urban ecology and design.

    An environmental historian, Aaron Sachs investigates nature and culture from multi-disciplinary perspectives, looking at how ideas about nature have changed over time and how those changes have mattered in the western world. He is the author of The Humboldt Current: Nineteenth-Century Exploration and the Roots of American Environmentalism (2006) and Arcadian America: The Death and Life of an Environmental Tradition (2013). Sachs supports innovative history writing with co-editor Jonathan Demos through Yale University Press’s New Directions in Narrative History series, and serves as the faculty sponsor of Historians Are Writers (HAW), bringing together Cornell graduate students who believe that academic writing can be moving on a deeply human level. Seating is limited and reservations are required. Reserve online at http://friendsoffairsted.org/programs/ or 617-566-1689, ext. 265.

  • Thursday, March 9, 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Lewis Mumford’s Green Urbanism

    Friends of Fairsted present Lewis Mumford’s Green Urbanism with Aaron Sachs, Professor of History and American Studies, Cornell University. Seating is limited and reservations are required. The event takes place at Wheelock College, Brookline Campus, 43 Hawes Street, Brookline, MA 02446.

    Reserve online at http://friendsoffairsted.org/programs/register/or 617-566-1689, ext. 265.

  • Thursday, December 1, 6:00 pm – From the Granite Garden to West Philadelphia (with a nod to the Fens): Restoring Nature & Communities

    The Friends of the Public Garden and the Friends of Fairsted will host a lecture on December 1 at the Wheelock College Brookline Campus, 43 Hawes Street on the corner of Hawes and Monmouth Streets in Brookline beginning at 6 pm. Anne Whiston Spirn has raised awareness of the segregation of ecology from urban planning ever since her publication of The Granite Garden: Urban Nature and Human Design in 1984. For thirty years, Spirn has directed the West Philadelphia Landscape Project, an award-winning program dedicated to restoring nature, rebuilding inner-city communities, and empowering youth. She will describe this research-in-action, its impact on Philadelphia’s planning policies, and its lessons for more equitable and sustainable communities. Seating is limited and reservations are required. Call 617-566-1689, ext 265, or visit http://friendsoffairsted.org/programs/register/

  • Sunday, August 9, 10:00 am – 11:00 am – Planting the Seed for Our National Parks

    Planting the Seed for Our National Parks, The 150th Anniversary of Frederick Law Olmsted’s Yosemite Report, will be celebrated Sunday, August 9, 10:00–11:00am.
    Location: Outdoors, by a giant sequoia, Conifer Collection of the Arnold Arboretum, honoring the 150th anniversary of Olmsted’s Yosemite and the Mariposa Grove: A Preliminary Report, 1865 and its vision for national parks

    Known to many for creating public parks in cities, Frederick Law Olmsted was also an important advocate for scenic preservation across America. In his 1865 report, Olmsted articulated – some say for the first time by anyone – the role of government in protecting and making accessible our nation’s scenic landscapes for the enjoyment of all people in a democracy. Join us in the landscape by a giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) as we read aloud portions of the report with Olmsted’s eloquent and prescient prose on the actual anniversary of its first public reading by its author.

    Special guest reader: Dayton Duncan, Emmy Award-winning producer/writer of PBS’s The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. Performers: Maliotis Chamber Players, flute ensemble; Diane Edgecomb & Margot Chamberlain, Celtic harp and spoken word.

    Parking: Park on Bussey Street. Enter the Arboretum through the Bussey Street or Walter Street Gates and follow signs for Conifer Path to the giant sequoia.

    Public Transportation: Take the T to Forest Hills. Exit the T station on the upper level. Cross Washington Street and enter the Arboretum through the Washington Street Gate. Follow Blackwell Foot Path to South Street. Cross South Street to reenter the Arboretum. Turn left at the intersection on Hemlock Hill Road and follow signs to the event.

    Note: bring a low chair or cushion to sit upon. Wear comfortable walking shoes as Conifer Path traverses a steep incline. For general information: www.nps.gov/frla, 617-566-1689

    For directions and parking information: www.arboretum.harvard.edu, 617-384-5209. Co-sponsored by Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, and the Emerald Necklace Conservancy. This program is made possible in part by generous support from the Friends of Fairsted.

  • Thursday, March 12, 6:00 pm – Perspectives on Place

    The Friends of Fairsted present their spring lecture, Perspectives on Place, on Thursday, March 12 with a reception beginning at 6 pm and lecture at 7 pm at Wheelock College, 43 Hawes Street in Brookline.  Gary Hilderbrand, Principal, Reed Hilderbrand Landscape Architecture, will be the featured speaker. What you see: the tangible, reduced, edited, straightforward reality we build. What you don’t see: what came before, what’s beneath the surface, what’s behind the shapes or patterns, below the horizon, past the view, beyond our capacity to see. Gary Hilderbrand will discuss his firm’s work in the context of their monograph, Visible | Invisible. Moderated by Keith Morgan.  Free but reservations are requested. Seating is limited. Reserve with Friends of Fairsted by emailing friendsoffairsted@gmail.com.