Olmsted in Newport

Frederick Law Olmsted (1822 – 1903 ) and his renowned landscape architecture firm, designed 25 civic and 36 private projects in Newport over eight decades from 1883 to 1970. The work encompassed every facet of life from public parks, to picturesque roadways, land development, urban planning, massive private estates and even burial plots. Today, many streets and landscapes in Newport, both public and private evoke Olmsted’s ten principles of design and are a lasting legacy for generations to come.

Olmsted 10 Principles

1. Respect “the genius of place.”
2. Subordinate details to the whole.
3. The art is to conceal.
4. Aim for the unconscious.
5. Avoid fashion for fashion’s sake.
6. Formal training isn’t required.
7. Words matter.
8. Stand for something.
9. Utility trumps ornament.
10. Never too much, hardly enough.

Beacon Hill House, Blue Garden, Arthur Curtiss James estate, Summer 1914. Photograph by Frances Benjamin Johnston. Courtesy Library of Congress.