Frederick Law Olmsted Film and Presentation

View the 2014 PBS special, a full length biography of Frederick Law Olmsted and then enjoy a follow-up lecture by the originator, contributing producer and principal researcher of the film, Laurence Cotton.

Frederick Law Olmsted is the most significant landscape architect in American history and the master park designer of many of the most beautiful parks in America, including most famously New York City’s Central Park. Olmsted is also responsible for the protection of Niagara Falls and was the first to propose the permanent protection of Yosemite Valley. Olmsted designed the grounds for America’s largest private estate, Biltmore, in Asheville, N.C. and also designed the grounds for the glittering “White City” of Chicago’s 1893 World Columbian Exposition. Olmstead also left a legacy across Florida including, perhaps most importantly for our area, the fact that John Nolen, a student of Olmsted, created the original master plan for Venice.