Charles Eliot - Definition

Another Charles Eliot was British ambassador to Japan. See Charles Eliot (diplomat)

Charles Eliot (1859-1897) was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He died at the age of 38, from spinal meningitis. His father was president of Harvard University. Under Eliot’s father's 40-year administration, Harvard expanded from a small college with attached professional schools into a great modern university. Eliot's father wrote a complete biography of his sons life. On graduation from Harvard in 1882, Eliot pursued special horticultural courses at Bussey Institute at Harvard to prepare himself for the profession of landscape architecture. In 1883 he became an apprentice for Frederick Law Olmsted and Company, where he worked on designs for Franklin Park (1884), the Arnold Arboretum (1885)http://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/ and the Fens (1883) in Boston and Belle Isle Park (1884)http://www.ci.detroit.mi.us/recreation/centers/M/belle_isle/belleM.htm in Detroit. Frederick Law Olmsted and John Charles Olmsted pleaded with Eliot to join their firm. In March 1893 Eliot agreed, and the name was changed to Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot. Within a few months, because of the elder Olmsted's failing health, Eliot assumed the leadership role in the partnership. The firm was appointed landscape architect for the Boston Metropolitan Park Commission. On Olmsted's advice, Eliot traveled to Europe in 1885 to observe natural scenery a well as the landscape designs of Capability Brown, Humphry Repton, Joseph Paxton and Prince Pückler-Muskau. Eliot's travel diaries provide one of the best visual assessments of European landscapes in the late 19th century.

Eliot pioneered many of the fundamental principles of regional planning and laid the conceptual and political groundwork for The Trustees of Reservations, the first statewide land conservancy in the country. He played a central role in shaping the Boston Metropolitan Park System, designed several public and private landscapes, and wrote prolifically on a host of topics.

In addition to his practice, Eliot became a regular contributor of professional articles to Garden and Forest Magazine. In February 1890 he wrote a landmark article entitled "Waverly Oaks" to defend a stand of virgin trees in Belmont, Mass. He made a plea for preservation of the oaks and outlined a strategy for conserving other areas of scenic beauty in the same way that the Boston Public Library held books and the Museum of Fine Arts pictures.

Because of all of thee things Charles Eliot can be considered a huge contributor to the proffesion of landscape architecture. His achievements in developing a methodology that moved the profession of landscape architecture from the era of intuitive design to a scientific, natural-systems approach has changed the way everyone builds now. Eliot's work in creating the Boston Metropolitan Parks System was one of the first such systems in the world. Eliot was such a great designer because of the influences in his life. His father must have been a great inspiration seeing as though he was the president of Harvard University. Eliot also worked with Frederick Law Olmsted and John Charles Olmsted, two great landscape architects. Due to his early death we were not able to get all that we could from Eliot.

References

[1] (http://www.umass.edu/umpress/fall_99/eliot.html) [2] (http://www.olmsted.org/olmsteds/charles_eliot.htm) [3] (http://www.bartleby.com/65/el/Eliot-Ch.html)