Frederick Law Olmsted Park

Frederick Law Olmsted Park
Type	Park
Location	Newport, Rhode Island

Stoneacre (1884), the three acres opposite Vernon Court, the location of The National Museum of American Illustration, is named for the mansion, by architect William Potter for John W. Ellis, which once occupied that site. Potter recommended Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) to Mr. Ellis as “a garden designer.” Stoneacre became Olmsted’s first commission after naming the new profession of “landscape architecture,” thusly, it was the first professional landscape architectural commission. The Stoneacre mansion was demolished in 1963 to reduce taxes and the grounds then lay dormant for decades, the last private open space on Bellevue Avenue. Stoneacre was purchased in 1998, by Judy and Laurence S. Cutler with the vision to create a memorial park honoring Frederick Law Olmsted, America’s first and most noted landscape architect.

In 1883, Olmsted conceived of a “parklike setting” with a variety of exotic trees to protect the Ellis family from viewers. From the onset, Stoneacre was furnished with both native and exotic trees including London Plane (Platanus acerifolia), Fern Leaf Beech (Fagus sylvatica laciniata) Japanese Maple, Zelkovas (serrata and sinica), European Linden (Tilia europacea pendulua), English Oaks, and Tulip Trees, as well as Silver Maples (Acer saccharinum), Cucumber, (Magnolia acuminata) and Sweet Gum (Liquidambar styraciflua). Artificial earthen contours were designed to give a rolling perspective and more interesting elevation changes. Lucius D. Davis opined on Stoneacre in the December 1895 Gardens and Gardening that “The design was almost wholly for park effects and it was pretty thoroughly carried into execution.”

In 1980, Richard Champlin wrote an article in Newport History, entitled ‘Newport Estates and their Flora,’ he stated “To surround his Bellevue Avenue villa, John Ellis aimed at creating a park furnished with trees both native and exotic…a notable specimen of Cucumber tree stands near Bellevue Avenue…this subdued member of the magnolia clan puts forth dozens of bluish greenish blossoms from top to bottom…Cucumber tree is North American by birth. Not so the evergreen equidistant from Bellevue which strikes the eye with a startling contrast in needles, dark, glossy, blue-green above and gleamingly silver-white beneath. This Yeddo Spruce (Picea jezoensis) hails from Japan. Viewed in full sunlight, it displays the contrasting hues on a grand scale up and down its height.…Along the Victoria Avenue bound…grow trees with special significance in Rhode Island. Also from Japan, these Zelkovas first came to this country through the efforts of a Bristol physician, Dr. George Hall, who practiced in Japan during the early part of the nineteenth century… The species at Stoneacre (Zelkova serrata and Z. sinica) put in a sturdy appearance with trunk diameters of three feet… touted as natural replacements of the vanishing American elms.” It is said that these Zelkovas are the oldest extant in the United States.

Olmsted designed the nations most beloved parks and grounds including New York’s Central Park, the United States Capitol, Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, The 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, The Biltmore, Winterthur, Detroit’s Belle Isle, Boston’s famed Franklin Park, Newport’s Master Plan, and many estate grounds. He conceived of Boston’s first park system-The Fenway, known as ‘The Emerald Necklace.’ Olmsted’s office went on to create the National Park System and designed a plethora of campus plans including Stanford University. Frederick Law Olmsted was a social activist and reformer, an artist and engineer and a man of epic vision. His work during the thirty years following the Civil War, created an American landscape which is enjoyed by millions every day and forevermore.

Judy Goffman Cutler and Laurence S. Cutler, founders of The National Museum of American Illustration, honor Frederick Law Olmsted’s legacy with his design for a small private park as a perpetual memorial, The Frederick Law Olmsted Park.

References

http://americanillustration.org/