888 PARK AND CEMETERY. 
AMERICAN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS and their WORK 
Who have been and who are the ablest 
landscape architects in America? This 
question was asked by Prof. F. A. 
Waugh of about fifty landscape archi- 
tects, park men and teachers and the 
following summary of the answers ap- 
peared in a recent issue of the Country 
Gentleman ; 
A few of those who were asked de- 
clined to give any opinion ; a few were 
rather non-committal; a majority, how- 
ever, spoke 1heir minds freely. Some 
confined their estimates to men not now 
living, while others gave confidential 
judgments of present-day workers, ac- 
companied sometimes with discriminat- 
ing criticism. 
By almost unanimous consent Fred- 
erick Law Olmsted, Sr., is given the 
primacy, a single eminent correspond- 
ent awarding first place to Calvert 
Vaux. Andrew Jackson Downing is 
plainly entitled to second place, though 
most correspondents agree that his work 
was accomplished through his writings, 
rather than through his gardening. Cal- 
vert Vaux is almost always mentioned 
in the same class. 
These three, Olmsted, Downing and 
Vaux, are evidently regarded apart, 
largely because they are of a past gen- 
eration. The fact that Charles Eliot’s 
career is closed brings his name some- 
times into the same list, where he is 
always mentioned with praise. 
The difficulty of passing judgment on 
men now living and working is every- 
where recognized, yet there is evidently 
a fair agreement of opinion as to some 
of these. 
A majority of correspondents are in- 
clined to place V/arren Manning and the 
Olmsted Brothers at the top of the list. 
The difficulty of separating the work 
and the reputation of the Olmsted broth- 
ers from the work and reputation of the 
elder Olmsted is frequently recognized; 
and Mr. Manning is often mentioned as 
the pupil and successor of Olmsted 
senior. O. C. Simonds receives warm 
praise, especially from western men. 
Samuel Parsons is often mentioned, and 
Chas. A. Platt is usually named as the 
leading exponent of the Italian style. 
Several park men are mentioned in 
the replies, but G. Parker of Hart- 
ford is evidently most highly regarded 
as a man of taste and ability. Other 
workers who are favorably named sev- 
eral times are H. P. Kelsey, H. W. S. 
Cleveland, Percival Gallagher, Geo. 
Kessler, E. W. Bowditch, Frederick G. 
Todd and Chas. N. Lowrie. Thirty or 
forty other workers received occasional 
mention. 
In the way of criticism, agreement 
was naturally less general. Olmsted 
senior is commended for his reports 
and for his parks ; Downing for his 
writings; Vaux for his architectural de- 
tails ; Charles Eliot for his reports and 
for the social breadth of hjs work. 
Warren Manning is commended for 
his natural style and his intimate knowl- 
edge of plants, though there is some 
objection to an alleged over-elaboration 
of his style in small places. John C. 
Olmsted is thought to be strong on or- 
ganization and administration of parks 
and municipal projects generally. F. L, 
Olmsted, Jr., is credited with unusual 
artistic gifts. Chas. A. Platt is thought 
to be a master of design, in the Italian 
method, but weak in a knowledge of 
gardening. Simonds is praised for his 
naturalistic work, but is criticised for 
holding too closely to one method. 
In response to the inquiry of a corre- 
spondent as to where the chief works 
of these men could be seen, the follow- 
ing is given in a later date of the Coun- 
try Gentleman ; 
It is rather difficult to give a fair 
and comprehensive review of the work 
of leading landscape gardeners. The 
work of the different men is widely 
scattered, and furthermore much of it 
is practically anonymous. In many 
places no effort has been made to retain 
the names of the original designers. In 
fact in some places considerable care is 
exercised to keep these names from the 
public. A still more unfortunate fact 
is that many of the best designs have 
been imperfectly executed. In such 
cases they do not fairly represent the 
ideas of the landscape gardener. After 
taking all these difficulties and quali- 
fications into account, however, a few 
of the works of these landscape garden- 
ers may fairly be mentioned. 
Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., has left 
a number of famous works behind, and 
while no one of these probably ex- 
presses his ideas fully, all of them 
taken together may be said to repre- 
sent him fairly. Central Park, New 
York, is doubtless the most famous of 
his designs. It is the one which first 
gave him his reputation. Still, this does 
not represent his work at the best; the 
design was only partly his ; and the work 
has not been always carried out accord- 
ing to Olmsted’s ideas. 
In many ways the most representative 
thing which Olmsted ever did in 
America was the landscape design of the 
world’s fair at Chicago. The landscape 
gardening problems of the world’s fair 
were all from his hands, and his ad- 
vice was largely followed in the general 
layout of the agricultural portions. This 
piece of work was artistically much 
more successful than Central park. But 
perhaps the best example of all of Olm- 
sted’s work is to be found at Mount 
Royal Park, Montreal. This is a fine 
natural park on mountain top and side 
where the artist’s ideas have been pretty 
well carried out. Another very excellent 
example is to be found in Franklin Park, 
Boston, and in the riverway between 
Franklin Park and Commonwealth ave- 
nue. 
Calvert Vaux is best known for his 
help on Central Park. Many of the 
most satisfactory arrangements there 
are said to be due to his suggestions. 
The architectural details in particular 
were worked out by him. 
Charles Eliot’s greatest project was 
undoubtedly the Metropolitan Park res- 
ervation in the neighborhood of Boston. 
While many of the final plans contain 
suggestions from the elder Olmsted, 
and even from other sources, the gen- 
eral scheme was pretty well worked out 
by Eliot. A number of private places 
were also designed by him, but none of 
these are now very well known. A 
fairly complete account of his work is 
to be found in the memorial entitled 
“Charles Eliot, Landscape Architect,’’ by 
his father, the president of Harvard 
University. 
The work of Warren Manning is to 
be found in a great many different 
places in the country. Many of his 
