Last updated: July 16, 2023
Person
James Frederick Dawson
Quick Facts
Significance:
Partner in the Olmsted Firm
Place of Birth:
Boston, MA
Date of Birth:
January 3, 1874
Date of Death:
April 23, 1941
Place of Burial:
Sherborn, MA
Cemetery Name:
Pine Hill Cemetery
Notable Projects while at the Olmsted Firm:
Seattle Park System, Seattle, Washington
Alaska-Pacific-Yukon Exposition, Seattle, Washington
Palos Verdes Estates, California
St. Francis Wood, San Francisco, California
State Capitol, Olympia, Washington
"La Siguanea" Community, Isle of Pines, Cuba, for Andorra Realty, Colorado
James Frederick Dawson was born in 1874 at the Arnold Arboretum in Boston where his father, Jackson Dawson, served as superintendent of plantings. After a decade as a staff member at the Olmsted firm, in 1906 he became the first associate partner on the Olmsted Brothers letterhead. He would spend his entire career at the firm, working on almost every major Olmsted project from New Jersey to California and from Canada to Cuba. He worked closely with his mentor, John Charles Olmsted on his numerous projects, eventually taking over major design responsibilities for the park and residential work in the Louisville, Kentucky area and in the Pacific Northwest, particularly around Seattle and extending into Canada.
During the difficult Depression years, the extensive developments for A.J.T. Taylor and British Pacific Properties around West Vancouver, supervised by Dawson, kept the Olmsted firm afloat. Dawson was a skilled designer and an excellent plantsman, well-liked by clients, who called upon him to develop their great estates, whether on Long Island, New York; around Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania; or in Newport, Rhode Island. He also designed many residential communities, which included home sites for both the affluent and the modest home-owner. Dawson was a principal in the Olmsted western office, opened to supervise the Palos Verdes, California residential development. He also was a key consultant to Duncan McDuffie, for whom the Olmsted firm designed St. Francis Wood in San Francisco and other elegant residential developments.