Last updated: June 18, 2024
Place
Alta Vista
Olmsted Archives
Quick Facts
Location:
Louisville, KY
Significance:
Olmsted Designed Estate
Many subdivisions the Olmsted firm worked on often start as private estates, with a wealthy landowner wanting to profit off their estate. That is the case with Louisville’s Alta Vista, which began as John B. McFerran’s private estate. Olmsted Brothers were hired in 1900 to prepare a subdivision on McFerran’s trotting farm above Bear Grass Creek near Frederick Law Olmsted Sr.’s Cherokee Park.
Today, principal roadways Olmsted Brother laid out, like Maple Road and Alta Vista Road, retain their form, with the exception of a straightened portion of Alta Vista Road, caused by Interstate 64 cutting through part of the property. From McFerren’s time, only Garden Court, also designed by Olmsted Brothers, remains within the subdivision.
Source: "J.B. McFerran," Olmsted Online
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr
Today, principal roadways Olmsted Brother laid out, like Maple Road and Alta Vista Road, retain their form, with the exception of a straightened portion of Alta Vista Road, caused by Interstate 64 cutting through part of the property. From McFerren’s time, only Garden Court, also designed by Olmsted Brothers, remains within the subdivision.
Source: "J.B. McFerran," Olmsted Online
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr