Place

Missouri Botanic Gardens

Black and white of flat grassy area with cows on it and fence and trees in distance
Missouri Botanic Gardens, Job #00081, St. Louis, MO

Olmsted Archives

Quick Facts
Location:
St. Louis, MO
Significance:
Olmsted Designed Arboretum
In 1896, Olmsted Brothers became the first landscape architects hired to work on the Missouri Botanical Garden, calling for a comprehensive arrangement of plant material and the removal of the Linnaean House, then being used as an orangery. Little of John Charles and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr.’s plan was implemented- the Linnaean House is still used as a public greenhouse.

Olmsted Brothers' most intact design element of the Missouri Botanical Garden was an 1899 recommendation for a 220-acre addition, known as the North American Tract, executed in 1905. Another Olmsted Brother addition, carried out in 1909, included a complex serving as an herbarium, library, and administrative building.

Source: "Missouri Botanical Garden," The Cultural Landscape Foundation

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Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site

Last updated: June 8, 2024