Last updated: July 16, 2023
Person
Herbert J Kellaway
Quick Facts
Significance:
Draftsman in the Olmsted Firm
Place of Birth:
Kent, England
Date of Birth:
1867
Place of Death:
Bath, ME
Date of Death:
1947
Notable Projects while at the Olmsted Firm:
Boston and Brookline Park System, Boston, Massachusetts
Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts
Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts
Kellaway joined the Olmsted firm as a draftsman in 1892, remaining until 1906 when he opened his own office. While at the firm he worked on early designs for the Metropolitan Park Commission and for the Muddy River portion of the Boston/Brookline Park System, as well as on numerous college and school campuses. These experiences influenced his later career as a landscape architect, conservationist, and town planner. Linking of green spaces became a theme along with a strong desire to protect natural waterways.
This was reflected in his later public work, such as that for Merrymount Park in Quincy, Massachusetts, where acres of protected native salt marshes and woodlands gave it a distinctly New England character. Additionally, his interest in garden design resulted in the 1907 publication of "How to Lay out Suburban Home Grounds" to aid those planning modest home sites; while in his own practice, he was also responsible for many great estates, such as Henry Ford's "Fair Lane" in Dearborn, Michigan. Together with noted rosarian, Harriett Foote, he designed several significant rose gardens, some of which were inserted into Olmsted firm designed estates. Following the Olmsteds’ model he worked to promote the profession, helping to found the Massachusetts chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and writing articles explaining the importance of landscape architecture in daily life.