Boults Е. Illustrated history of landscape design

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197

ﬁ rst national park, “for the beneﬁ t and

enjoyment of the people.”

The landscape of Yosemite Valley was

equally valued as an icon of American

identity. During a sabbatical from his

work on Central Park, Olmsted accepted

a post with the Mariposa Mining Com-

pany to oversee operations in the Sierra

Nevada. From 1863–1865 Olmsted

undertook a series of commissions in

northern California. Most signiﬁ cant

was his appointment by the governor to

develop a management plan for Yosemite

Valley, which was designated a state

park in 1864.

YOSEMITE

The public’s ﬁ rst glimpse of Yosemite

Valley was through the photographs

of Carleton Watkins, the drawings of

Thomas Ayres, and the large-format

paintings of Albert Bierstadt. Many

artists depicted the same view, creating

iconographic images of humans dwarfed

by the great mountains, trees, and wa-

terfalls. American character came to be

deﬁ ned by the idea of rugged individual-

ism—by wilderness unlike any other in

the world.

The 1890 census declared the frontier

ofﬁ cially closed.

Suddenly, Americans

sought to retain the wilderness areas

that had become critical to their

national identity. The Romantic senti-

ment of the 19th century planted the

seeds of a conservation and wilderness

ethic.

Opinions differed on how the landscape

should be preserved. John Muir, a

naturalist, environmental observer, and

founder of the Sierra Club, advocated a

preservation ethic and concluded that

nature should be left alone. He support-

ed public ownership of wilderness areas.

Gifford Pinchot, a forester, advocated

a conservation ethic based on the wise

use and management of resources

through scientiﬁ c principles such as

sustained yield of forests.

Muir’s relationship with President

Theodore Roosevelt was key to the

setting aside of public lands to be

established as national parks. Early

20th-century environmental legisla-

tion created the National Forest

Service, in 1905, and the National

19th CENTURY

AMERICA

Park Service, in 1916. Stephen Mather,

the first chief of the Park Service,

determined criteria for designat-

ing park land (scenic value, scientific

value, or historic value) and developed

master plans for the management of

each site.

THE GRAND CANYON OF THE YELLOWSTONE RIVER, 1871: Thomas Moran’s paint-

ings introduced the majesty of the American West to the public.

VALLEY OF THE YOSEMITE, 1864: Albert Bierstadt’s paintings were known for

their luminous atmospheric effects.

198

The conceptualization and representa-

tion of America’s unique wilderness

helped the nation compete culturally

with Europe. In addition to artistic pro-

duction, countries sought to showcase

on the world stage their industrial and

technological advancements. Interna-

19th CENTURY / AMERICA

tional expositions and world’s fairs were

popular 19th-century attractions.

America had emerged as an agricultural

and economic leader, and by the second

half of the 19th century, a political and

industrial power. The World’s Columbian

WORLD’S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION OF 1893

Exposition was held in 1893 to showcase

American progress since Columbus’s

arrival 400 years earlier. The City of

Chicago beat out St. Louis, New York

City, and Washington, DC, to host the

event. It became known as the Chicago

World’s Fair.

MEETING OF THE MINDS: The World’s Columbian Exposition brought together artists, sculptors, archi-

tects, and landscape designers, initiating a collaborative approach to design.

199

Chicago World’s Fair

CASE STUDY:

Olmsted’s site plan for the fairgrounds helped establish a new

language of urban design.

200

BEAUX-ARTS

IDEALS

Olmsted collaborated with Beaux-

Arts-trained designer Daniel Burnham

(1846–1912) to create the master

plan for the fairgrounds. A neoclassi-

cal design vocabulary was adhered to

by most of the architects invited to

design the temporary structures. The

pavilions were all 60 feet high and made

out of nondurable materials; the plaster

19th CENTURY /AMERICA

and stucco ﬁ nishes created a uniform

complex known as the White City. Olm-

sted showed the monumental buildings

located around a central basin of water

called the Court of Honor. The buildings

framed a powerful rectangular void; open

space organized architecture. Although

Gilded Age grandeur was antithetical

to Olmsted’s ideal of pastoral urban

open space, he did offer a naturalistic

escape—he created a tree-lined island

with curvilinear pathways in the free-

form lagoon north of the Court of Honor.

The Chicago World’s Fair was a great

success and very well attended. Its

lasting impact was the new spirit of

multidisciplinary collaboration and

the growing sense of civic pride that

inspired the City Beautiful move-

ment in the early 20th century. Many

civic beautiﬁ cation projects adopted

the same neoclassical idiom. Modern

conceptions of urban planning emerged

from this inﬂ uential exposition of art

and technology.

A DAY AT THE FAIR: Spectators could purchase blue-tinted glasses to cut down on the glare from the White City.

201

19th CENTURY / CONCLUSION

SUMMARY

The Industrial Revolution brought widespread change to the landscape and to society. The shift from an agricultural to an indus-

trial economy created a new class of low-wage workers in European and American cities. Social reformers lobbied to improve the

living conditions of the urban poor by providing public parks. The aesthetic language of the English landscape garden was adopted

as a model for the parks, and persists in the Western imagination as an icon of nature. The physical and social structures that

have come to deﬁ ne city life took shape in the 19th century.

The Romantic sentiment of the 19th century contributed to a conception of nature as being restorative. People understood the

political, economic and social value of the landscape, and campaigned to access its beneﬁ ts. By the end of the century, landscape

architecture was established as a profession in America.

ACCESSIBILITY

An awareness of

social factors is criti-

cal to a successful

design. The ﬁ rst public

parks opened in the

19th century.

IDENTITY

Space becomes place

when it has iden-

tiﬁ able character.

Alphand’s design

vocabulary deﬁ ned

Second Empire Paris.

TRANSFORMATION

Landscapes, both

built and natural, are

capable of altering

emotional states.

Transcendental philos-

ophers helped create a

wilderness myth about

the American West.

OBSERVATION

Urban environments

create opportunities

for social exchange.

Parisian boulevards

accommodated a vari-

ety of interactions.

COLLABORATION

Design is a collab-

orative and iterative

process. A multi-

disciplinary team of

experts assembled

to design the Chicago

World’s Fair.

DESIGN PRINCIPLES

202

19th CENTURY / CONCLUSION

DESIGN VOCABULARY

BOOKS

COLD MOUNTAIN, by Charles Frazier

HE DEVIL AND THE WHITE CITY, by Erik Larson

REAT EXPECTATIONS, by Charles Dickens

HE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, by James Fennimore Cooper

ITTLE WOMEN, by Louisa May Alcott

Y ANTONIA, by Willa Cather

OBY DICK, by Herman Melville

ATURE, by Ralph Waldo Emerson

ASSAGE TO INDIA, by E.M. Forster

HE RAVEN, by Edgar Allan Poe

ALDEN, by Henry David Thoreau

UTHERING HEIGHTS, by Emily Bronte

FILMS

AMISTAD (1997)

NGELS AND INSECTS (1995)

AISY MILLER (1974)

HE GANGS OF NEW YORK (2002)

N IDEAL HUSBAND (1999)

ANE EYRE (1996)

SCAR AND LUCINDA (1997)

HE SWAN (1956)

WEENEY TODD (2007)

PAINTINGS AND SCULPTURE

THE THIRD OF MAY, by Francisco Goya (1804)

HE HAYWAIN, by John Constable (1821)

CHROON MOUNTAIN, ADIRONDACKS, by Thomas Cole (1838)

UR TRADERS DESCENDING THE MISSOURI, by George Caleb

Bingham (1845)

OCTURNE IN BLACK AND GOLD, by James McNeil Whistler

(1874)

E MOULIN DE LA GALETTE, by Auguste Renoir (1876)

HE THINKER, by Auguste Rodin (1879)

HEAT FIELD AND CYPRESS TREES, by Vincent Van Gogh

(1889)

ENGLAND

Beds and Borders

FRANCE

Place and Promenade

AMERICA

Mountains and Monuments

r further exploration

203

20th CENTURY

ver the course of a century, the world saw the biggest wars ever fought, the fastest speeds ever

achieved, an enormous growth in population and migration, a revolution in manufacturing, the great-

est economic catastrophe and recovery, the formation of “superpowers,” and massive devastation to

the Earth in terms of species extinction and climate change. The magnitude of change is almost incompre-

hensible. The institutions and foundations that structured and supported human life advanced, but not with-

out consequence. While communication and transportation systems seemingly shrunk the world, the distance

between industrialized societies and developing nations remained great.

Western culture reached new heights of complexity in the 20th century. Inﬂ uences on the built landscape were

tremendously diverse. No single style or approach represents the age. The development of the profession of

landscape architecture accelerated in the early 20th century, particularly in America. Signiﬁ cant movements

that affected American landscape design include the Country Place Era, the City Beautiful Movement, Mod-

ernism, Land Art, Environmentalism, Postmodernism and Ecological Design. The following chapter is organized

according to these themes, through a discussion of key people and representative projects.

204

20th CENTURY / A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY

1900

1930 1940 1950

1911

1914

1935–1943

1939–1945

1939

1935

1914–1918

1913

HOLLYWOOD

PANAMA CANAL

NEW DEAL

WORLD WAR II WORLD OF TOMORROW

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

WORLD WAR I

CARS

1910

205

20th CENTURY / A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

1920

1922

1928

1956

1973

1970 1989

1994

1969

1915

SUFFRAGE

RADIO

TELEVISION

HIGHWAY ACT

OIL CRISIS

EARTH DAY

FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL

END OF APARTHEID

MOON LANDING

SPACE / TIME

GANDHI

206

1911 HOLLYWOOD

Nestor Company opened the ﬁ rst movie

studio on the corner of Sunset Boule-

vard and Gower Avenue. Film became a

major industry in southern California.

In the second half of the 20th century,

consumerism and popular entertain-

ment became the industries that

changed the face of the landscape.

1913 CARS

Henry Ford invented an assembly-line

process for the mass production of

automobiles. Cars became the dominant

form of transportation and had the

greatest single effect on the landscape.

1914–1918 WORLD WAR I

The assassination of the heir to the

Austro-Hungarian Empire led to war in

Europe, which grew to involve countries

on all continents. The redrawn map of

Europe and the subsequent shift of

power set the stage for the next world

war. Resources were scarce at the end

of the war; food crops were planted in

homeowner’s front yards as “victory

gardens.”

1914 PANAMA CANAL

The Atlantic and Paciﬁ c Oceans were

now connected.

1915 SPACE/TIME

Albert Einstein published his general

theory of relativity.

1915 MAHATMA GANDHI

Mohandas Gandhi became known as

“mahatma,” or great soul, because of his

efforts to eradicate poverty and help

India gain independence from Britain.

He returned to India from South Africa

in 1915 and led nonviolent protests and

other acts of civil disobedience.

1920 SUFFRAGE

The Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S.

Constitution gave women the right to

vote.

1922 RADIO

KDKA in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, was

the ﬁ rst radio station to broadcast to

the public. At the time, radio had a more

widespread inﬂ uence on culture than the

Internet has today.

1928 TELEVISION

Milo T. Farnsworth invented the ﬁ rst

working television in 1928. The technol-

ogy evolved over the next decade. The

ﬁ rst commercial television transmission

was in 1941. Cultural trends were initi-

ated and spread through mass media,

feeding a consumerist society.

1935–1943 NEW DEAL

U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

initiated the Works Progress Admin-

istration (WPA), employing millions of

workers and artists in the repair and

adornment of public properties. The

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) main-

tained forests, beaches, and parks.

1935 BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

Landscape architect Stanley W. Abbott

planned the 500-mile scenic byway be-

tween North Carolina and Virginia, linking

the Great Smoky Mountains National

Park and Shenandoah National Park. The

CCC constructed the project.

1939–1945 WORLD WAR II

Germany’s attempt to reorganize

Europe according to Fascist doctrine re-

sulted in a war of unprecedented dimen-

sions. More than 55 million people died,

including millions who perished in Nazi

concentration camps. The ﬁ rst atomic

bomb was dropped by the U.S. on Japan.

The United States and the Soviet Union

emerged as world superpowers. Ideo-

logical differences led to the Cold War

and the establishment of Eastern and

Western blocs.

1939 THE WORLD OF TOMORROW

The 1939 World’s Fair held in Queens,

New York, presented a vision of America

in the future. One of the attractions

was Futurama, where people rode above

a model of “Democracity”—an urban

environment consisting of residential,

commercial, and industrial regions sepa-

rated by a superhighway.

1956 HIGHWAY ACT

To facilitate rapid evacuation of cities

during the Cold War, the U.S. govern-

ment funded the construction of an

Interstate Highway system. The super-

highways and expressways facilitated

suburban growth and led to dependence

on the automobile.

1969 MOON LANDING

Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz

Aldrin walked on the moon. The Apollo VIII

mission (1968) transmitted the ﬁ rst

images of the Earth seen from space.

1970 EARTH DAY

The efforts of U.S. Senator Gaylord

Nelson to raise the environmental

consciousness of the country led to the

declaration of the ﬁ rst Earth Day, which

is now celebrated worldwide.

1973 OIL CRISIS

America’s dependency on foreign oil was

brought to the attention of the public

when the Organization of Petroleum

Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil embargo

ended shipment of oil to America, in pro-

test of the country’s support of Israel.

1989 FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL

East and West Germany were reunited.

The dissolution of the Eastern Bloc in

1991 ended the Cold War. Globalization

had begun.

1994 END OF APARTHEID

In 1990, political activist Nelson Man-

dela was released from prison in South

Africa, after 27 years. The ﬁ rst demo-

cratic elections, open to all races, were

held in the country in 1994. Mandela was

elected president.

20th CENTURY / A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY