Olmsted Brothers
The Olmsted Brothers company was a landscape architectural firm in the United States, established in 1898 by brothers John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., sons of the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.
History
The Olmsted Brothers inherited the nation's first landscape architecture firm from their father Frederick Law Olmsted. This firm was a successor to the earlier firm of Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot after the death of their partner Charles Eliot in 1897. The two brothers were among the founding members of the American Society of Landscape Architects and played an influential role in creating the National Park Service. Prior to their takeover of the firm, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. had worked as an apprentice under his father, helping to design projects such as Biltmore Estate and the World's Columbian Exposition before graduating from Harvard University. With Charles Eliot, they also designed the gardens of Cairnwood House in Pennsylvania and Lady Meredith House in Montreal.The firm employed nearly 60 staff at its peak in the early 1930s. Notable landscape architects in the firm included James Frederick Dawson, Arthur Asahel Shurcliff and Percival Gallagher. After becoming an associate partner in 1904 Dawson became a full partner in 1922. Gallagher become an associate partner in 1906 and a partner in 1927, until his death in 1934. Edward Clark Whiting became an associate partner in 1920 and partner in 1927. In that same year Henry Vincent Hubbard became a partner and remained with the firm until his death in 1947. William B. Marquis became a partner in 1937.
The last Olmsted family member in the firm, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., retired from active practice in 1949, but remained a partner until 1957. The firm itself remained in operation, with Carl Rust Parker, Partridge Richardson and Charles Scott Riley becoming partners in 1950. By 1958 Joseph George Hudak had also become a partner.
In 1962 the firm changed its name to Olmsted Associates to reflect the retirement of Parker in 1960, Riley in 1961, Marquis in 1962, and the death of Whiting in 1962, leaving the firm to continue under Richardson and Hudak with Erno J. Fonagy joining them as an associate. Olmsted Associates was dissolved in 1979. Afterwards Richardson continued to practice under the name The Olmsted Office from Brookline in 1980 and continuing in Fremont, New Hampshire until 2000. This created one continuous firm from 1858 to 2000.