From Deseret News archives:

Capitol idea

Architects revive original landscape plans but give them a modern twist

Published: Friday, Aug. 6, 2004 12:12 a.m. MDT
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At any rate, the company became Olmsted Brothers in 1895, and although John died in 1920, Frederick Jr. lived until 1957. All in all, the three Olmsteds are responsible for more than 100 years of urban landscape design. They created and supervised more than 6,000 projects.

In addition to Central Park, Frederick Sr. designed the grounds for the U.S. Capitol, headed up the first Yosemite commission, lead the fight to protect Niagara Falls, started the first experiments in scientific forestry on the grounds of the Biltmore Estate and planned the Boston green space known as the Emerald Necklace.

According to Beveridge and Rocheleau, John helped on the Boston plan and also on the urban parkways of Rochester and Louisville. He planned the campuses of Smith, Mount Holyoke, the University of Chicago and the University of Washington. He designed parks all over the West, including Seattle's park system, with its beautiful views of Mount Rainier and Lake Washington and the ocean.

Frederick Jr. did the parks in the District of Columbia, including Rock Creek; planned the residential communities of Forest Hills in Queens and Palos Verdes near Los Angeles; and drew up city plans for Newport, R.I., Boulder, Colo., Pittsburgh, Pa. and more.


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In 1911, John Olmsted stopped in Utah. He met with the men who were planning to build the state's Capitol. Olmsted drew a site plan, classical in nature, which included an oval pathway intersecting with other curved paths. His plan called for the state to buy up and remove all the houses on Capitol Hill.

But, of course, the houses to the west of the Capitol are still there, notes Martha Bradley. Bradley is an architectural historian who helped prepare the Capitol's historic structure report for the current renovation. Bradley said at the time Olmsted was hired, some of Utah's most influential citizens were living on Capitol Hill. They probably didn't want to move. They probably liked the view.

In the end, they hired local architect Richard Kletting to design the Capitol and its grounds.

Bradley wrote, "For some reason — perhaps his inconvenient distance from Salt Lake City, or the desire to use local designers — Olmsted was not engaged to finish a landscaping plan. Instead, eventually architect Richard K.A. Kletting was asked to prepare landscape designs. It was an awkward situation, for as late as December 1914, Olmsted wanted to complete his work with a planting plan and collect the balance of his fee. Kletting was not only aware of Olmsted's work, his own 1912 site plan was influenced by Olmsted's, but locates the building in a more southern spot. The completed site was different from either designers' plan."

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As part of $200 million, four-year renovation, landscapers will redesign the Utah State Capitol grounds.

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