Last updated: June 8, 2024
Place
Mount Baker Park
Olmsted Archives
Quick Facts
As with many designs in the Pacific Northwest that the Olmsted Firm worked on, John Charles Olmsted was often in charge, and Mount Baker Park is no exception. Overlooking Lake Washington, John Charles developed a subdivision that left the shoreline untouched from development, later being used as a park and boulevard, which John Charles had suggested in his 1903 plan.
Aside from saving land and views for residents, Mount Baker Park accomplished other aspects of the 1903 plan. By connecting the subdivision to several boulevards in Seattle, wide, winding swaths of green space were set aside for the community.
John Charles saw the potential in Seattle to thoughtfully integrate a subdivision with open green space. Writing to one of his contacts in Seattle while discussing Mount Baker Park, John Charles stated that "I can say, and I do it with pleasure, that the project as a whole seems to be intelligently conceived, and if the proposed park features are finally adopted, it will certainly be to your credit in respect to the liberal treatment of the public in park matters, as well as in providing for future residents lands to be used in common, and in which remarkably beautiful views of and across Lake Washington, not to mention views of the Olympic Mountains in the other direction, can be enjoyed."
Source: "Mount Baker," Olmsted Online
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr
Aside from saving land and views for residents, Mount Baker Park accomplished other aspects of the 1903 plan. By connecting the subdivision to several boulevards in Seattle, wide, winding swaths of green space were set aside for the community.
John Charles saw the potential in Seattle to thoughtfully integrate a subdivision with open green space. Writing to one of his contacts in Seattle while discussing Mount Baker Park, John Charles stated that "I can say, and I do it with pleasure, that the project as a whole seems to be intelligently conceived, and if the proposed park features are finally adopted, it will certainly be to your credit in respect to the liberal treatment of the public in park matters, as well as in providing for future residents lands to be used in common, and in which remarkably beautiful views of and across Lake Washington, not to mention views of the Olympic Mountains in the other direction, can be enjoyed."
Source: "Mount Baker," Olmsted Online
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr