Last updated: June 5, 2024
Place
Elm Bank
Olmsted Archives
Quick Facts
Location:
Wellesley, MA
Significance:
Olmsted Designed Estate
MANAGED BY:
Olmsted Brothers were commissioned by William Hewson Baltzell and his wife Alice, who had just acquired two hundred acres of land after the death of Alice’s father, to design picturesque landscaping to be viewed from a large manor.
Between 1914 and 1928, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and John Charles worked on the landscape at Elm Court. While their design included a tree-lined drive meandering through curves, the centerpiece of their design was the Italianate Garden.
Elm Bank was occupied by families until the 1940s, when a religious organization bought the property to use for seminary housing and as a summer camp. It was used very briefly for this purpose, and after which it remained empty and neglected for over thirty years.
Despite the neglect, the landscape elements designed by Olmsted Brothers still help historic significance, and in 1987, Elm Bank was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1999, Elm Bank became home to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, leasing thirty-six acres of land within Elm Bank.
In the years since Olmsted Brothers’ work on the Italianate Garden, it has seen some deterioration. Like many Olmsted designs that meet this fate, restoration work is based on the original plans still stored at Olmsted NHS. To restore the Italianate Garden at Elm Bank, numbered plant lists and receipts from the original trees and flowers planted in the garden were reviewed.
Source: "History of Elm Bank," Massachusetts Horticultural Society
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr
Between 1914 and 1928, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and John Charles worked on the landscape at Elm Court. While their design included a tree-lined drive meandering through curves, the centerpiece of their design was the Italianate Garden.
Elm Bank was occupied by families until the 1940s, when a religious organization bought the property to use for seminary housing and as a summer camp. It was used very briefly for this purpose, and after which it remained empty and neglected for over thirty years.
Despite the neglect, the landscape elements designed by Olmsted Brothers still help historic significance, and in 1987, Elm Bank was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1999, Elm Bank became home to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, leasing thirty-six acres of land within Elm Bank.
In the years since Olmsted Brothers’ work on the Italianate Garden, it has seen some deterioration. Like many Olmsted designs that meet this fate, restoration work is based on the original plans still stored at Olmsted NHS. To restore the Italianate Garden at Elm Bank, numbered plant lists and receipts from the original trees and flowers planted in the garden were reviewed.
Source: "History of Elm Bank," Massachusetts Horticultural Society
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr