THE LEGACY OF FREDERICK LAW OLMSTED, SR.

The Olmsted Brothers' project for the development of the Palos Verdes Ranch had its basis in the "harmonious" landscape design philosophy advocated by the firm's founder, Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. (1822-1903). The design philosophy was continued in the work of his stepson John C. Olmsted (1852-1920) and son, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. (1870-1957).^Ref.3

Figure 2: Map of Riverside, Olmsted, Vaux and Co., Landscape Architects

Architecture in an Olmsted landscape is often considered subservient to or integrated with the picturesque effects sought in the carefully controlled vistas, usually seen from distances or various elevations. One of the most cited of the suburban plans done by the senior Olmsted and his partner Calvert Vaux (1824-1892) is the development of the 1600 acre suburb of Riverside, Illinois (1869). (Fig.2) The suburb, planned for commuters, has been considered a precedent for American suburban planning as well as for English Garden Cities. Many of Riverside's design elements are evident in modern-day American suburbs, the Palos Verdes Ranch project being no exception. Design elements for Riverside and its picturesque effects are a result of attention to details as well as to the overall plan. Riverside's design characteristics are exemplified by the following: use of the natural topographical features along the meandering Des Plaines River as park areas; land set aside for outdoor recreational facilities such as playing fields and bridle paths; division of property and streets by groves and rows of trees; placement of adjoining houses at a minimum distance (150 feet) with two trees required for the front of the lot; restrictions on use of land, prohibiting industrial and other non-residential purposes; the organic curvilinear pattern created for streets, blocks, and lots; control of vehicle access to neighborhoods; avoidance of the gridiron plan; and the arrangement of a main street, i.e., "parkway," connecting residential area streets. ^Ref.4

The heritage of the senior Olmsted's work, the use of deed restrictions, expression of picturesque design concepts, and conservation and enhancement of the natural landscape, was continued in the work of his progeny well into the twentieth century.^Ref.5 The Palos Verdes Ranch project was the most extensive suburban community commission the firm ever undertook and initially involved 16,000 acres of the 20 square mile Palos Verdes Peninsula, located 25 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles.

The Brookline, Massachusetts-based Olmsted firm was no stranger to the California environment; the elder Olmsted did plans for campuses at the University of California, Berkeley (1866) and Stanford University (1888) and Olmsted Brothers worked on the development of Golden Gate Park and subdivisions in San Francisco. In Southern California, Olmsted Brothers worked on planning the company town of Torrance (1911), located to the immediate north of Palos Verdes, and over the years had several commissions for planning parkways, parks, subdivisions and suburban communities in the Los Angeles area.^Ref.6

THE PALOS VERDES RANCH PROJECT AND ITS PLAYERS

In December of 1913, John C. Olmsted, the head of Olmsted Associates, was contacted by James Dawson, one of his landscape architects working on the west coast. Dawson related that W. H. Kiernan, a Los Angeles representative of the Palos Verdes Ranch Syndicate, headed by Frank A. Vanderlip Sr. (1864-1937), contacted him about design development for a suburban community on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, land recently purchased by the syndicate. It appears that John C. Olmsted initially took up leadership for developing the project from 1914 until the eve of World War I, when the planning more-or-less ceased. ^Ref.7 After his death in 1920, his stepbrother Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. headed the design team for the project.^Ref.8

The Olmsted Brothers were known to Vanderlip since they were the landscape architects, beginning in 1913, for Beechwood, his 147 acre estate at Scarborough-on-the-Hudson, New York. Vanderlip was a self-made man, an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under President McKinley, president of the National City Bank of New York, and socially connected to prominent Eastern financiers, civic, educational, and political figures. The syndicate Vanderlip formed to finance purchase of the Palos Verdes Ranch consisted of over fifty wealthy men including Harry P. Davidson of J. P. Morgan and Company; Benjamin Strong, president of the Bankers' Trust Company of New York; and Frank Trumbull, chairman of the board of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. Members of the syndicate underwrote the $1,500,000 needed for the purchase of 16,000 acres of Rancho de los Palos Verdes, a former Spanish land grant which was previously owned by Anglo-American ranchers and farmers. It appears that the syndicate had little input into the development of the Palos Verdes Ranch project. Rather, it was Vanderlip who suggested to Olmsted Brothers the direction for its design program, and the landscape architecture firm took the lead, apparently with the full confidence of the syndicate.

Vanderlip writes glowingly in his biography about a visit in 1916 to the Palos Verdes Peninsula and the property he bought unseen three years earlier. He describes his vision for the development, likening the geographical location to Italy where he took vacations:

I found myself reminded vividly of the Sorrentine Peninsula and the Amalfi Drive: Yet the most exciting part of my vision was that this gorgeous scene was not a piece of Italy at all but was here in America, an unspoiled sheet of paper to be written on with loving care.^Ref.9 (Fig.3)

Figure 3: View of Scala di Anacapri

When the Vanderlip Syndicate liquidated the Palos Verdes Ranch holdings after World War I, the property was bought and managed from 1921 to 1923 by Edward G. Lewis, a developer originally from St. Louis. After Lewis' schemes for Trust Indenture Notes met with distrust by the Los Angeles Title Insurance Company, the Palos Verdes project was again under the financial management of Vanderlip who formed a new trust. The future community was called Palos Verdes Estates and had decreased in development area by one-fifth, from the original 16,000 acres to 3225 acres. Eight-hundred acres were set aside for conserving natural parks and beaches and for developing country clubs and other outdoor recreational areas. Vanderlip held onto 13,000 acres in the southern portion of the peninsula for future development. Ninety percent of the development was zoned for single-family residential architecture.

The developmental phase of the project began in earnest about 1921 and construction of major streets and buildings began in 1923. A management team for sales and design was assembled for the project and the headquarters for the general manager Jay Lawyer, and the sales manager Donald K. Lawyer, were located in downtown Los Angeles. At this time Olmsted Brothers became Directors of Design, with Charles H. Cheney (1884-1943), consultant in city planning and Myron H. Hunt (1868-1952), architect. Olmsted's staff had offices in nearby Redondo Beach. Frequent correspondence and reports between the general management took place via telegram and mail with Olmsted's staff at the project site and with Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. at the firm's office in Brookline, Massachusetts.

The project's city planner, Charles H. Cheney, was the second most important man, next to Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., on the team. Cheney arrived on the scene about 1921, brought by the then-developer Edward G. Lewis, with whom he developed a scheme for a City Beautiful at Atascadero (San Luis Obispo County, California, 1913). Cheney was a leader in city planning, Director of the National Conference on City Planning, and had experience in California at places such as Riverside, Santa Barbara, Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Berkeley.

Figure 4: Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino, California

Figure 5: Palos Verdes Public Library, Myron Hunt and H. C. Chambers, Architects

The other key player of the Palos Verdes Ranch project was Myron Hunt, a distinguished Los Angeles architect who worked on important Southern California planning and architectural commissions which included plans for Beverly Hills and Pasadena and residential architecture in Pasadena and San Marino for real estate tycoon Henry E. Huntington, among others. Hunt's 1910 design for Huntington's San Marino estate was neo-classical in style and demonstrates his skill with Beaux Arts architecture. (Fig.4) The only two buildings Hunt did at Palos Verdes Estates were the residence of Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. (1928) and the Palos Verdes Public Library (1930). (Fig.5) They reveal forms more in keeping with Latin vernacular architecture than the formalism of the Huntington estate. Hunt's leadership in the Southern California A.I.A. and the Allied Architects of Los Angeles undoubtedly benefited the Olmsted Brothers with professional and social connections. The first project Hunt executed for Palos Verdes was in 1914, with Howard Van Doren Shaw, a plan for the unrealized Mission-style county club located on the northeastern elevations of the peninsula.