In 1903, commissioned by the city of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, the

Olmsted Brothers The Olmsted Brothers company was a landscape architectural firm in the United States, established in 1898 by brothers John Charles Olmsted (1852–1920) and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (1870–1957), sons of the landscape architect Frederick Law O ...

landscape architects A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manage ...

planned many of the parks in the City of Seattle as part of a comprehensive plan to create a

greenbelt A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which h ...

throughout the city. The planning continued in several phases, culminating in the final Olmsted-planned park, Washington Park Arboretum in 1936. The existing

Seattle Parks and Recreation Seattle Parks and Recreation (officially the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR)) is the government department responsible for maintaining the parks, open spaces, and community centers of the city of Seattle, Washington. The department mainta ...

system has been described as "one of the best-preserved Olmsted park systems in the country". In 2016, the Olmsted parks system was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

as a

multiple property submission The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

1903 plan

*Sunset Hill Park * Green Lake Park * Ravenna & Cowen Park * Woodland Park *Magnolia Bluff * Interlaken Park * Volunteer Park *

Cal Anderson Park Cal Anderson Park is a public park on Seattle, Washington's Capitol Hill that includes Lincoln Reservoir and Bobby Morris Playfield. Features The north end of the open park features ''Waterworks'', a large mountain-shaped water fountain feeding ...

* Madrona Park * Frink Park *

Colman Park Colman Park is a park in the Mount Baker neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, located just south of the Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge (Interstate 90) along Lake Washington and inland to 31st Avenue S. It was listed on the National Register ...

* Mount Baker Park * Jefferson Park * Seward Park

1908 plan

* Hiawatha Playfield * Schmitz Park * Lincoln Park

Other

* Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (current

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

main campus) The City of Seattle Parks and Recreation department lists a number of other parks, playgrounds, and playfields "influenced or recommended" by the Olmsteds, including the city's largest park: Discovery Park.

1903 plan

1908 plan

Other

References

Further reading