Last updated: July 19, 2023
Person
Stanley Hart White
Quick Facts
Significance:
Landscape Architect in Olmsted Firm
Place of Birth:
Brooklyn, NYC, NY
Date of Birth:
February 15, 1891
Place of Death:
Denver, CO
Date of Death:
1979
Notable Projects while at the Olmsted Firm:
H.F. Ostrander Estate, Seattle, Washington
Stanley Hart White entered the Olmsted Brothers in 1916 after obtaining his Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture from Harvard the year before. He left the firm in 1920 to begin a teaching career at the University of Illinois from 1922 to 1959. During that time, he developed a reputation as one of the most innovative—and influential—instructors of landscape architecture in the United States. He was fascinated by design, but adhered to no single school, instead choosing to explore new ideas with his students—the idea being, in his words, “something between magic and philosophy.”
White believed the “right” design was one that enhanced site and that fit with the natural character of the land. He is also known as the inventor of the “green wall” or as he called his invention “Botanical Bricks”. These units are building blocks made out of organic material that can create an instant wall of green both indoors and outdoors. His brother, author E.B. White said of the invention, “I think perhaps he has got hold of something.”