Architects of an American Landscape: Henry Hobson Richardson, Frederick Law Olmsted, and the Reimagining of America’s Public and Private Spaces

Historian Howard (Architecture’s Odd Couple) provides a solid dual biography of pioneering landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted (1882–1903) and his influential friend, neighbor, and frequent collaborator, building architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). Howard believes that the pair’s joint efforts, including the Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane, were notable for “unifying buildings and grounds” in a manner that influenced Frank Lloyd Wright’s “organic architecture” and other modern trends. Though Howard briskly and lucidly chronicles both men’s professional and private lives, and notes the important role they played in each other’s careers (Olmsted coordinated the publication of Richardson’s biography—“the first book devoted to an American architect”—after his death from complications of Bright’s disease), there are few specifics about the manner in which they collaborated or how they actively influenced one another’s approaches. Both men’s greatest achievements—Central Park and the Vanderbilt family’s Biltmore estate for Olmsted; Boston’s Trinity Church and Chicago’s Marshall Fields wholesale store for Richardson—were done without the other’s involvement. Still, Howard succeeds in shining a spotlight on the lesser-known Richardson and documenting Olmsted’s innovations as “a democratic designer of places that belonged to everyone.” Architecture buffs will be engrossed. (Jan.)