"No
one has yet researched the exact contribution
of Frederick Law Olmsted himself to the
plan of the college, and it is difficult
to determine at what point the fater left
off and the son took over." (12)
J.C.
Olmsted carefully follows his fathers design
principles so it
is very difficult to tell where Frederick
Law Olmsted left off and his son John C.
Olmsted took over.
In
The 1880's,
J.C. Olmsted traveled to Mount Holyoke
College at the request of Treasurer Williston,
presenting
a general plan for
Mount Holyoke's Campus. The plan, pictured above,
was characteristic of an Olmsted design with
its meandering paths and use of the design
principles characteristic of Olmsted's work.
In
the Mount
Holyoke College Archives copies of some
of the corespondance between the Olmsted
Firm and Mount Holyoke can be viewed. These
letters span nearly three decades. Among
the objects disgusted in the letters is Goodnow
Park. Speaking about Goodnow Park, J.C.
Olmsted worried that the college was not
following the exact plans.
Our
plans for walks and grading have been
followed more or less in places, but
in some places entirely different ideas
have prevailed and in other places nothing
has been completed. (16)
A
postcard of "A Drive in Goodnow Park" (1917)
Image from Mount Holyoke College Archives
(17)
In
a letter dated March 30, 1910 J.C. Olmsted
details a trip he took to Mount Holyoke.
During the trip he discussed a gate with
Mr. Williston. He stressed how the location
of the gate was important to control the
view when exiting the college as well as
the importance of the gate being met by meandering
paths.
"It
seemed to me that the entrance drive might
better be moved north to the space between
the trees because in going out one would
have a distant view across the street betwen
the two buildings... I said there should
be a curved walk swinging to the right
of Mary Brigham Hall and another to left
to Mary Lyon Hall." (16)
The
Olmsted firm was the training ground for Arthur
A. Shurcliff the
founder of the firm Shurcliff, Merrill & Footit
who worked with the college in the 1920s
and again in the 1970's. However, it seemed
that Arthur may have discarded some of
the Olmsted
design
principles
when he suggested his plan for Mount Holyoke.
It was Sidney N. Shurcliff, Arthur's son,
who
ran the
firm
when they
began work
in
the 1970's and who took the campus back to its
Olmsted roots.
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