Last updated: June 11, 2024
Place
Riverside Park
Olmsted Archives
Quick Facts
Location:
New York City, NY
Significance:
Olmsted Designed Park
MANAGED BY:
During his time working on New York City parks, Frederick Law Olmsted Sr. clashed several times with Andrew Haskell Green, who often wouldn’t give in to Olmsted’s requests for more money. Despite this, Green does deserve credit for often introducing the bill to legislature in support of a park.
In 1866, that’s exactly what Green did, and in 1872, the original 191 acres was acquired as the first segment of what would become Riverside Park. That same year, Olmsted Sr. began preparing a conceptual plan for the new park and accompanying road. After 2 years of gathering information, Olmsted Sr. submitted his report, proposing a combined park and parkway adhering to the curves of the landscape.
In his report, Olmsted Sr. wrote that Riverside Park “presented great advantages as a park because the river bank had been for a century occupied as the lawns and ornamental gardens in front of the country seats along its banks. Its foliage was fine, and its views magnificent”.
Alongside that river Olmsted Sr. planned Riverside Drive, a treelined roadway winding through the rocky landscape. Though Olmsted Sr. would be out as the park superintendent a few years into construction, his vision lived on in those chosen to take on his work, Calvert Vaux and Samuel Parsons, both of whom had worked closely with Olmsted Sr.
Source: "Riverside Park- NYC," The Cultural Landscape Foundation
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr
Olmsted Online
In 1866, that’s exactly what Green did, and in 1872, the original 191 acres was acquired as the first segment of what would become Riverside Park. That same year, Olmsted Sr. began preparing a conceptual plan for the new park and accompanying road. After 2 years of gathering information, Olmsted Sr. submitted his report, proposing a combined park and parkway adhering to the curves of the landscape.
In his report, Olmsted Sr. wrote that Riverside Park “presented great advantages as a park because the river bank had been for a century occupied as the lawns and ornamental gardens in front of the country seats along its banks. Its foliage was fine, and its views magnificent”.
Alongside that river Olmsted Sr. planned Riverside Drive, a treelined roadway winding through the rocky landscape. Though Olmsted Sr. would be out as the park superintendent a few years into construction, his vision lived on in those chosen to take on his work, Calvert Vaux and Samuel Parsons, both of whom had worked closely with Olmsted Sr.
Source: "Riverside Park- NYC," The Cultural Landscape Foundation
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr
Olmsted Online