April 26, 2022, marks the 200th birthday of Frederick Law Olmsted — author, journalist, public official, urban planner and founder of American landscape architecture. Olmsted and his successor firms designed thousands of landscape projects across the country. His democratic vision of public parks and their capacity to bring communities together is more important than ever.
A Southern California Chapter project in celebration of Olmsted’s birthday, the 2007 video is based on chapter member, Don Marquardt’s popular live stage presentation of Frederick Law Olmsted’s life and accomplishments. The 37-minute video concentrates on Olmsted’s early life influences, many failures trying to find a successful career, and then his providential partnering with architect Clavert Vaux and their wonderful creation of New York City’s Central Park. This fascinating and frustrating project not only created one of the most popular parks in the world, but finally launched Olmsted’s glorious career-which he and Vaux named Landscape Architecture.”
Don Marquardt is an Emeritus member after 40 years and retired instructor from UCLA. The chapter is pleased to be able to share this performance with you all.
