Olmsted Brothers

Olmsted Brothers was the landscape-architecture firm formed by John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., who carried forward and expanded the practice established by their father. The firm planned parks, campuses, residential districts, and civic landscapes across the United States, frequently treating green space as an interconnected public system. In 1902 Baltimore’s Municipal Art Society and park leadership commissioned a comprehensive study of the city’s future grounds. Report upon the development of public grounds for greater Baltimore appeared in 1904 after work led by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. with assistance from John Charles Olmsted, P. R. Jones, and Percival Gallagher. The 120-page document proposed linked stream-valley parks, parkways, playgrounds, and larger reservations responsive to population growth and local topography. Its recommendations shaped Baltimore’s park system for decades and were supplemented by a later 1926 report. The publication exemplifies the firm’s broader planning method: preserve distinctive landscapes, connect them through circulation routes, and distribute recreation beyond isolated ornamental parks.