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Learn more about the different eras of the Olmsted Firm, from Olmsted and Vaux, F.L. and J.C. Olmsted, Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot, to Olmsted Brothers and Olmsted Associates.
Positions and Years at Firm: Apprentice: 1884-1887, Partner: 1889-1893 Notable Projects while at the Olmsted Firm:
Even before becoming Olmsted's second apprentice (after Charles Eliot), Henry Sargent "Harry" Codman, had developed solid roots in the business of landscape architecture. His uncle, Charles Sprague Sargent, was the founding director of the Arnold Arboretum in Boston and was the editor of the influential magazine, "Garden and Forest." A gradute of MIT, he apprenticed for a few years with the Olmsted firm before touring with his uncle through Europe, keeping copious notes about whom and what he saw. Codman stayed on in Europe and studied landscape architecture with Edouard Andre, France's premier landscape architect. He would write a number of articles about his time on the continent, which he hoped would advance the nascent profession of landscape architecture in the United States. In 1889, he returned to the Olmsted firm as a partner. Working with Olmsted Sr., he became the Olmsted firm's main representative on the design and construction supervision of the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. Here he would work alongside the country's most famous architects and artists. Tragically, while recovering from an appendectomy, he died suddenly on January 13, 1893. The chief of construction of the World's Fair, Daniel Burnham, said of Codman, "Harry Codman's knowledge of formal settings was greater than that of all the others out together...he never failed." |
Last updated: February 26, 2024