Last updated: June 22, 2024
Place
Commonwealth Avenue
Olmsted Archives
Quick Facts
Location:
Boston, MA
Significance:
Olmsted Designed Landscape
While Commonwealth Avenue’s Mall was designed in the French Boulevard style in 1856 by Arthur Gilman, Frederick Law Olmsted was asked to extend the mall westward from Massachusetts Avenue to Charlesgate. Partnering with his Arnold Arboretum collaborator Charles Sprague Sargent, the pair began providing advice on tree planting patterns.
In the Mall’s thirty-two additional acres, Olmsted and Sargent suggested that the design must “obtain . . . the uniformity which seems to us essential to the future beauty and dignity of the finest street in the city." The pair also suggested removing existing trees and replacing them with two single rows of European Elms.
Fearing public outcry from removing existing trees, Boston City Council rejected that suggestion. Despite this, Commonwealth Avenue Mall is still known for its American Elms, some of which are able to survive Dutch Elm Disease, which has devastated the species. Despite much of Olmsted and Sargent’s design being redesigned, it followed the original suggestions.
Source: "Commonwealth Avenue," Olmsted Online
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr
In the Mall’s thirty-two additional acres, Olmsted and Sargent suggested that the design must “obtain . . . the uniformity which seems to us essential to the future beauty and dignity of the finest street in the city." The pair also suggested removing existing trees and replacing them with two single rows of European Elms.
Fearing public outcry from removing existing trees, Boston City Council rejected that suggestion. Despite this, Commonwealth Avenue Mall is still known for its American Elms, some of which are able to survive Dutch Elm Disease, which has devastated the species. Despite much of Olmsted and Sargent’s design being redesigned, it followed the original suggestions.
Source: "Commonwealth Avenue," Olmsted Online
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr