Interactive maps, original Olmsted drawings, photos, archival data and current landscape reports may soon be linked and made searchable as NAOP undertakes GIS-based mapping of the boulevards, parkways and park systems designed by the Olmsted Brothers firm in the greater Seattle area.
The project, Olmsted Online—in partnership with the Friends of Seattle Olmsted Parks—is funded through a $235,000 grant under the 2010 Washington State Transportation Enhancement Program. It will develop and link online maps, geo-referenced Olmsted drawings, navigation tools, archival data, and NAOP online advocacy and technical guidance materials through a single website.
If you are a fan of the Olmsteds or possibly an historic preservation specialist, you have probably asked one of these questions:
- Where can I visit an Olmsted landscape near my home?
- How can I learn about the history of an Olmsted-designed park?
- Which of the Olmsted projects in my area were built and which were not built?
- What did this Olmsted-designed park used to look like?
- Have the Olmsted landscapes in my state been placed on the National Register or state historic register? Can I use the information on Olmsted Online to help protect these landscapes?
If you are a transportation planner, environmental protection specialist or researcher, you need answers to these questions:
- What are Olmsted “design principles”? What ideas and techniques did the Olmsteds use in their designs?
- Which parks and boulevards should be restored?
- How do Olmsted parks in this state compare with similar ones elsewhere in the country?
- Which individual projects are the work of a particular principal or assistant in the Olmsted firm?
- Where are the Olmsted park destinations and what traffic loads do they create or absorb?
To encourage broader public use and stewardship of Olmsted landscapes, NAOP is developing Olmsted Online, a web portal that can be used to answer these questions for the parks and park systems in the state of Washington. The project will also be the model for a nationwide map and database of Olmsted-designed landscapes, as funding in other states becomes available.
The Olmsted Online web portal will bring together interactive maps, original drawings connected to landscape locations, navigational tools, archival data, images, reports and NAOP’s online advocacy and technical guidance materials.
Integrating contemporary maps with archival databases and geo-referenced historic drawings will show links among transportation, recreation and scenic resources, facilitating transportation design, preservation planning, and on-the-ground maintenance.
Olmsted Online will offer the ability to:
- navigate to Olmsted sites within a state or locality;
- view and download plans and maps and connect them with information now found in the Olmsted Research Guide Online ORGO;
- view and download historic photographs;
- follow links to existing Cultural Landscape Reports, National Register nominations, photographs, and other landscape preservation tools and records.
NAOP has formed a national steering committee of Olmsted scholars, landscape and preservation professionals, and representatives from the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department, Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, Olmsted National Historic Site and Friends of Seattle Olmsted Parks. NAOP will engage other local partners to assist with field verification and community outreach, and to draw on their knowledge of the region’s Olmsted Brothers-designed park system. Applied Geographics, Inc. of Boston, Massachusetts, GreenInfo Network of San Francisco, California and a team of consultants are providing project support and technical assistance.
Watch this space for news and updates about Olmsted Online!
Olmsted Brothers Work in Washington State
The Olmsted Brothers brought a remarkable capacity to integrate transportation systems and landscape design. Parks became origin and destination points within a larger system of tree and shrub lined boulevards and parkways. Two notable Washington examples of these systems are Seattle and Spokane. In each instance the Olmsted Brothers spanned multiple neighborhoods and often municipalities to link the core urban center with surrounding residential, commercial, industrial and recreation areas. This framework provided a foundation for subsequent transportation planning and development efforts.
The Seattle area is fortunate to have a strong concentration of Olmsted Brothers-designed boulevards, parkways and park systems, including Lake Washington, Magnolia and Cheasty Boulevards and their circulation network links to and through parks such as Washington Park Arboretum, University of Washington and Volunteer Park. Examples such as Lake Washington Boulevard provide highly used corridors for pedestrians, bicyclists and automobiles.
The Olmsted Brothers in their studies for Seattle in the early 1900s pushed for development and acquisition of public right-of-way along scenic corridors and overlooks to provide a public amenity; to emphasize connections with the region’s natural environment; and to create linkages for a system of origin/destination parks. The original designs for these systems emphasized views of the Puget Sound’s natural features, such as Lake Washington and Mount Rainier, and presented a key planning tool towards preservation of these features.
Though not fully implemented, the extant developed corridors and destinations provide important precedents for urban design and quality of life enhancements.
