Emanuel Tillman Mische

Emanuel Tillman Mische

Quick Facts

Significance:

Horticulturist at Olmsted Firm

Place of Birth:

Syracuse, NY

Date of Birth:

1870

Date of Death:

1934

Notable Projects while at the Olmsted Firm:
Biltmore Estate, Asheville, North Carolina
Essex County Parks, New Jersey
Fort Tryon Park, New York City, New York
Louisville Park System, Louisville, Kentucky

Trained as a horticulturist at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, England, Mische had a highly productive career both with and outside the Olmsted firm. During his first stint with the Olmsted firm (1898-1906), he received broad-based training in design and managing landscape projects, all enhanced by his horticultural expertise. The firm at the time considered him one of the country’s foremost horticulturists.  John Charles Olmsted recommended Mische for his next position, Park Superintendent in Madison, Wisconsin (1906 to 1908). From there Mische went on to become Portland, Oregon’s Park Superintendent and later that city’s landscape architect (1908-1914).

He remained in private landscape architecture practice in Portland focusing mostly on private estates several of which he worked on with the Olmsted firm, such as the Peter Kerr estate. He then moved briefly to Los Angeles to work on park acquisition and on management policies for state parks, and was particularly active in saving the redwoods. In the final phase of his career (1930 to 1934) he returned to the Olmsted firm, working on campus and park projects such as Fort Tryon Park in New York City and Seneca Park, Louisville. Mische was a prolific writer, contributing articles to Park and Cemetery and Parks and Recreation magazines, serving for a time as an editor at the latter.