Enjoyed the opportunity to learn about Frederick Law Olmsted and the history of landscape... read more
Enjoyed the opportunity to learn about Frederick Law Olmsted and the history of landscape... read more
I agree with the reviewer below who recommended the tour. It was very rich with information and... read more
Free enternce and free tour. Within walking distance of Holiday Inn, Brookline. A great introduction to landscape planning and the thoughts of Fredrick Law Olmstead. There is a short 7 minute video of his life works. Our guide was very good and interesting. Any age can do the tour just mind the stairs.
It was very interesting to learn more about Frederick Law Olmsted's life and the amazing volume of his work in landscape architecture. Definitely worth a visit if you're interested in history and the design of Boston's Emerald Necklace and Central Park.
It's fitting that the National Park Service has taken over and preserved the home and office of one of its biggest original proponents and designers. Throughout his life, Frederick Law Olmsted designed such famous landmarks as Central Park in New York, Belle Isle Park in Detroit, several national parks, and the park systems of several major cities including Boston.
This national historic site, housing over a million documents detailing Olmsted's design plans, was once the first full time, professional landscape architecture office in the country. The building is a federal style farmhouse with attached grounds, and it makes for an impressive walk through! I arrived in the early morning before the site opened, so I was only able to walk through the grounds. However, I was impressed with the attention to detail in the grounds, which have been preserved to reflect Olmsted's personal design for them. I will definitely be back for the tour!
Hope you'll return and be able to come inside to see how all these "outside places" were designed. We'll be open Wed-Sun at 9:30am for the next month and then when our school programs start we switch to a Friday/Saturday schedule. Call us if none of this works and we can try to get you a tour at an other time.
I'm not sure if thus would have been a stellar experience without the tour, but with the free guided tour it was great.
1) Olmsted was a fascinating and important person
2) the house and grounds are fabulous
3) the tour brought it all together
Highly recommended
Frederick Law Olmsted, maker of America's parks. If you like spending time in urban greenspace, consider visiting this historic site maintained by the National Park Service. You can take a guided tour of the house and grounds, or you can just walk around on your own. You can walk to the house from the T's green line, Brookline Hills stop on the D line. If it's a nice day be sure to go to the nearby Brookline Reservoir Park on Rte 9, especially during the first few weeks of May when the cherry blossoms are in bloom.
The house and office are the stars, but you feel the design genius of Olmsted all around. Just like San Gaudens or Weir Farm, this national park does a great job of immersing you in the art and designs of Olmsted.
You get to wander the house, seeing exhibits of landmark projects Olmsted did. Then there's a guided tour of the offices, and I highly recommend. They're set up exactly as they were during Olmsted's life, so you can see the process and the various moving parts behind the famous American landscapes.