Last updated: June 18, 2024
Place
A.S. Kerry Estate
Olmsted Archives
Quick Facts
Location:
Seattle, WA
Significance:
Olmsted Designed Estate
OPEN TO PUBLIC:
No
Civic leader and businessman Albert Kerry hired Olmsted Brothers to landscape the grounds of his estate in the Seattle neighborhood of The Highlands on a triangular wooded lot. Olmsted Brothers created their landscaping plan in partnership with the architects, occasionally influencing the estate’s orientation and building placement, as well as designing exterior structures, the approach drive, and extensive plantings.
Olmsted Brothers included a graceful oval loop drive to go through the forest from the street, opening at the estate’s front entrance. To separate the formal garden and rose garden, a wooden arch was installed. To not distract from nature, the arch “should be covered with vines which have been chosen with care and thought on the one side to combine with the colors of the flowers in the flower garden, and on the other side to harmonize with the rose garden. Plants…are to be set in the planting beds between the posts in the pergola, which gives a charming effect.”
Source: "A.S. Kerry," Olmsted Online
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr
Olmsted Brothers included a graceful oval loop drive to go through the forest from the street, opening at the estate’s front entrance. To separate the formal garden and rose garden, a wooden arch was installed. To not distract from nature, the arch “should be covered with vines which have been chosen with care and thought on the one side to combine with the colors of the flowers in the flower garden, and on the other side to harmonize with the rose garden. Plants…are to be set in the planting beds between the posts in the pergola, which gives a charming effect.”
Source: "A.S. Kerry," Olmsted Online
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr