Last updated: June 12, 2024
Place
University of Pennsylvania
Olmsted Archives
Quick Facts
Location:
Philadelphia, PA
Significance:
Olmsted Designed School
MANAGED BY:
In 1912, Olmsted Brothers were contacted by the University of Pennsylvania, who requested that they collaborate with architect Paul Philippe Cret to create a plan for the campus as it grew in student population. With both teams agreeing to the partnership, one year later they had created their preliminary report. To avoid the danger and noise caused by traffic in bustling Philadelphia, they proposed an elevated subway line.
On the campus grounds, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. suggested that they “open through the heart of this territory and in its least expensive part a Mall or College Avenue… one hundred feet wide facing which could be built a number of University buildings.” Unfortunately, the Olmsted and Cret plan was never realized, though eighteen years later Olmsted Jr. would be invited back, playing a minor role in the planning of the University’s Morris Arboretum.
Source: "University of Pennsylvania," The Cultural Landscape Foundation
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr
Olmsted Online
On the campus grounds, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. suggested that they “open through the heart of this territory and in its least expensive part a Mall or College Avenue… one hundred feet wide facing which could be built a number of University buildings.” Unfortunately, the Olmsted and Cret plan was never realized, though eighteen years later Olmsted Jr. would be invited back, playing a minor role in the planning of the University’s Morris Arboretum.
Source: "University of Pennsylvania," The Cultural Landscape Foundation
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr
Olmsted Online