Last updated: June 5, 2024
Place
Cornell University
Olmsted Archives
Quick Facts
In 1685, Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White joined together and founded Cornell University. By May 1867, Cornell and White were disagreeing on what their campus should look like, and so White contacted Frederick Law Olmsted to consult on the appearance for a new campus.
Cornell pushed for a design around a quadrangle, which Olmsted recommended they abandon. Olmsted urged the University to lean towards a freer disposition with the buildings. Olmsted didn’t want to fight with the rugged topography of the site but rather worked it into his plan.
As with many of his designs, Olmsted predicted that Cornell University would continue to grow, and that the campus they made today needed to handle the unforeseeable demands of later generations. As is sometimes the case, Olmsted’s recommendations came in too late, as planning was already underway with Ezra Cornell’s plan around a quadrangle.
After learning the building site he recommended wasn’t chosen, Olmsted wrote to White stating “The site of your second building having been determined against my judgement, it seems to me to be very important that nothing should be done which shall make the suggestion which I offered to you in regard to a terrace impracticable”.
Source: "Campus Planning," The History of Cornell's College of Architecture, Art, and Planning
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr
Cornell pushed for a design around a quadrangle, which Olmsted recommended they abandon. Olmsted urged the University to lean towards a freer disposition with the buildings. Olmsted didn’t want to fight with the rugged topography of the site but rather worked it into his plan.
As with many of his designs, Olmsted predicted that Cornell University would continue to grow, and that the campus they made today needed to handle the unforeseeable demands of later generations. As is sometimes the case, Olmsted’s recommendations came in too late, as planning was already underway with Ezra Cornell’s plan around a quadrangle.
After learning the building site he recommended wasn’t chosen, Olmsted wrote to White stating “The site of your second building having been determined against my judgement, it seems to me to be very important that nothing should be done which shall make the suggestion which I offered to you in regard to a terrace impracticable”.
Source: "Campus Planning," The History of Cornell's College of Architecture, Art, and Planning
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr