Last updated: June 11, 2024
Place
Planting Fields
Olmsted Archives
Quick Facts
Location:
Oyster Bay, NY
Significance:
Olmsted Designed Landscape
MANAGED BY:
When William Coe needed the landscape of his estate designed, he reached out to Boston architect Guy Lowell and his partner Andrew Sargent, son of superintendent of Arnold Arboretum, Charles Sprague Sargent.
When Sargent died in 1918, Coe immediately hired Olmsted Brothers to complete the design, which would happen over a ten-year period. Olmsted Brothers worked closely with the architects of the estate to create a proper setting for the house. They even transplanted two forty-foot copper beech trees from Coe’s wife’s childhood home in Fairhaven, Massachusetts.
Olmsted Brothers created a series of charming vistas on the downhill slope of the property. Vistas were created by artfully scattering oaks around the property. Huge trees were already growing in abundance on the property, so Olmsted Brothers incorporated those into their design as well.
Despite being the second landscape architects to work at Planting Fields, Olmsted Brothers had the longest lasting contribution, including key landscape features such as the greenhouses, Surprise Pool, Italian Garden, and the original entrance drive.
Source: "Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park," The Cultural Landscape Foundation
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr
Olmsted Online
When Sargent died in 1918, Coe immediately hired Olmsted Brothers to complete the design, which would happen over a ten-year period. Olmsted Brothers worked closely with the architects of the estate to create a proper setting for the house. They even transplanted two forty-foot copper beech trees from Coe’s wife’s childhood home in Fairhaven, Massachusetts.
Olmsted Brothers created a series of charming vistas on the downhill slope of the property. Vistas were created by artfully scattering oaks around the property. Huge trees were already growing in abundance on the property, so Olmsted Brothers incorporated those into their design as well.
Despite being the second landscape architects to work at Planting Fields, Olmsted Brothers had the longest lasting contribution, including key landscape features such as the greenhouses, Surprise Pool, Italian Garden, and the original entrance drive.
Source: "Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park," The Cultural Landscape Foundation
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr
Olmsted Online