The City of Palos Verdes Estates will be celebrating the birthday of Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr July 24
The City of Palos Verdes Estates will be celebrating the birthday of Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr July 24, 2022
The City of Palos Verdes Estates will be celebrating the birthday of Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr July 24, and with good reason. His father, Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr founded the pre-eminent American landscape architecture firm after the American Civil War, where he helped organized medical services for the Union Army and designed such a New York’s Central Park, UC Berkley and Stanford University, . His legacy was assured with the birth of his son, whose birthday the City is celebrating, in 1870.
The breadth and notoriety of Junior’s achievements nearly equal his father’s, including laying out the 1893 Chicago World Columbian Exposition, and the Vanderbilts’ Biltmore estate in North Carolina, the largest privately owned residence in the country. After that he worked with President Theodore Roosevelt on the National Parks and worked on designs for the National Mall, Jefferson Memorial, White House grounds, and Rock Creek Park. The projects he directed are so vast, geographically diverse, and notable that his design for Palos Verdes Estates gets relatively little mention; but the City and its residents have been the beneficiaries of the talent of this giant of American landscape architecture.
It is significant that he chose Palos Verdes Estates as the place he wanted to live, building his personal residence on Rosita Place between 1925 and 1927. He lived there until his retirement in 1949.
Dana Graham, real estate expert, historian, PV Native and you can find Dana at www.danagraham.com
Dana is President of the Palos Verdes Historical Society. http://palosverdeshistoricalsociety.org/