Landscape Designers

BEATRIX JONES FARRAND (1872-1959)

One of the founding members of the American Society of Landscape Architects, Farrand referred to herself as a “landscape gardener.” Her best-known surviving work is at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C. Her Woodlawn projects include the Harkness Memorial Garden (1927) and the Milliken Memorial (1949).

 


 

CHARLES WELLFORD, JR. LEAVITT (1871-1928)

In 1897, Leavitt started his own firm in New York, calling himself a “landscape engineer.” His commissions included many civic projects including parks, cemeteries and college campuses. Among the projects he designed and construction-supervised were the Belmont, Empire City, Saratoga, Sheepshead Bay and Toronto race tracks. Leavitt designed the cemetery’s main gates and entrance at Webster Avenue (ca. 1900) as well as the Egyptian Revival garden for the Jules Bache Mausoleum (1916).

 


 

OLMSTED BROTHERS: FREDRICK LAW, JR. OLMSTED(1870-1959) AND JOHN CHARLES OLMSTED (1852-1920)

The Olmsted Brothers followed in the footsteps of their father, Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. (FLO, Sr.), who is largely credited with establishing the first full-scale professional office for landscape architects in the United States. They worked on the McMillan Commission, designing many Washington, D.C., landmarks including the White House grounds, the Federal Triangle, the Jefferson Memorial, Roosevelt Island and Rock Creek Parkway. Their Woodlawn lot designs include those of Frederick Constable (1905) and Ernest Stauffen (1922).

 


 

ELLEN BIDDLE SHIPMAN (1869-1950)

Shipman thought of landscape architecture as an art. Her most famous works include Rynwood, the Samuel Salvage estate in Glen Head, New York, and Penwood, the Carl Tucker estate in Mount Kisco, New York. Lake Shore Boulevard in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and Aetna Life in Hartford, Connecticut, are examples of her non-residential commissions. Shipman designed the landscapes for the James Keltas Hackett (1927), Benjamin Arnold (1909) and Millie Kuhn (1938) mausoleums.

 


 

JAMES C. SIDNEY (c.1819-1881)

Sidney is best known for his work on Philadelphia’s first rural cemetery, Laurel Hill, as well as on the city’s Fairmount Park. His initial layout for The Woodlawn Cemetery resulted in a “striking, romantic landscape.” In 1863, Sidney was hired by the cemetery’s trustees to prepare a marketing plan in the tradition of rural cemeteries that included a curvilinear road system, plots, a receiving tomb, a central lake and entrances.

 


 

FERRUCCIO VITALE (1875-1933), INCLUDING A.F. BRINKERHOFF AND ALFRED GEIFFERT

Vitale was born in Florence, Italy, where he received training in engineering at the Royal Military Academy of Modena. His most famous projects include the Anthony Campagna estate in Riverdale, New York, Clarence Dillion’s residence in Far Hills, NJ, and the Zalman G. Simmons residence in Greenwich, Connecticut.