CGLHS Lecture: The Olmsted Brothers: Innovative Ecological Designs for California

Christine Edstrom O’Hara presents a lecture on the Olmsted Brothers' prescient approach to planning in California, with innovative landscape designs that addressed both issues of on-going water shortage and water inundation. Founded by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. (1870–1957) and his brother John Charles Olmsted (1852–1920), the firm was at the forefront of sustainable design, following design principles that connected people to nature within the city, responding to the regional conditions of a site, and, when possible, affecting environmental restoration. Expanding the legacy of their father Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., in many ways the brothers defined the profession of American landscape architecture, incorporating ecological principles within their designs and applying those principles from their office in Palos Verdes. As a teaser for our postponed annual conference, Christine will discuss the Olmsted Brothers' 1930 design for a Los Angeles park and parkway system that would have kept the rivers in Los Angeles unchanneled.  

ABOUT OUR SPEAKER:

Christine is a professor of landscape architecture at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and is president of the California Garden & Landscape History Society.  She lectures on landscape history, historic preservation, and sustainable landscape design and construction. A graduate of Stanford University, she received a master’s in landscape architecture and preservation planning from the University of Washington, and PhD in landscape architecture at the University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses on the work of the Olmsted Brothers landscape architecture firm. She has published in The Journal for the Society of Architectural Historians, Pacific Horticulture, Eden, Landscape Journal and Pioneers in Landscape Architecture and is thrilled to share this talk with you.

PHOTO: Entrance to Palos Verdes in the 1920s. Credit: Palos Verdes Library District Local History Collection