Charles Eliot (landscape architect)

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Charles Eliot
Born(1859-11-01)November 1, 1859
Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedMarch 25, 1897(1897-03-25) (aged 37)
Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S.
Resting placeMount Auburn Cemetery
EducationHarvard University
OccupationLandscape architect
Known forMetropolitan Park System of Greater Boston, The Trustees of Reservations
Spouse
Mary Yale Pitkin
​
(m. 1886)​
Parent
Relatives
FamilyEliot family

Charles Eliot (November 1, 1859 – March 25, 1897) was an American landscape architect. Known for pioneering principles of regional planning, naturalistic systems approach to landscape architecture, and laying the groundwork for

conservancies across the world. Instrumental in the formation of The Trustees of Reservations, the world's first land trust, playing a central role in shaping the Boston Metropolitan Park System, designing a number of public and private landscapes, and wrote prolifically on a variety of topics.[1][2][3][4][5]

History

Eliot was born in

Eliot family
originating from Boston.

In 1878 he was admitted to Harvard College.

In 1880 Charles organized a group of college classmates who would sail to

Northeast Harbor.[6][7][8][9][10][11]

On graduation from Harvard in 1882, Eliot pursued

Bussey Institute
at Harvard to prepare himself for the profession of landscape architecture.

In 1883 Eliot became an apprentice for

Belle Isle Park (1884) in Detroit. In 1885, on Olmsted's advice, Eliot traveled to Europe to observe natural scenery as well as the landscape designs of Capability Brown, Humphry Repton, Joseph Paxton, and Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau. Eliot's travel diaries provide one of the best visual assessments of European landscapes in the late 19th century.[12]

Returning to Boston in 1886, Eliot opened his own office. His commissions included the First Parish Church in Weston, Massachusetts (1888) White Park (1888) in Concord, New Hampshire, Youngstown Gorge (1891), now called Mill Creek Park, in Youngstown, Ohio, and Salt Lake City's plan for a new town (1890).

In 1888 Charles married Mary Yale Pitkin from Philadelphia; this marriage produced four daughters: Ruth, Grace, Ellen, and Carola. She was a member of the Yale family of Yale University.[13] Mary's father was Horace Wells Pitkin, a successful businessman in Tennessee, Louisville and Philadelphia; his sister Emily would marry the artist

Seth Cheney; and her mother was Lucy Tracy Yale, Lucy's sister would marry a Mr. Beadle.[14][15] Mary Yale Pitkins' brother was Yale missionary Horace Tracy Pitkin; her grandnephew was NY Senator Mortimer Yale Ferris. Her grandfather was Reverend Cyrus Yale who graduated from Williams College in 1811 and was a minister for 40 years at the Town Hill Church in New Hartford Connecticut. The Yale, Pitkin, and Beadle Families would spend their summers at their farm called "Eaglesnest" on Town Hill Road in New Hartford Connecticut.[16][17]

On March 5, 1890, Eliot published an article entitled "Waverly Oaks" to defend a stand of

National Trust
was created along these lines.

Charles Eliot, Brush Hill, Milton MA ca. 1895
Eliot Bridge - Cambridge, MA - Memorial Plaque

After the death of their partner

Vanderbilts, and Lady Meredith House in the Golden Square Mile, Montreal.[18]

In 1895, the Massachusetts legislature ordered the taking of nearly three miles of private seacoast land on what is now Revere Beach Reservation. The Metropolitan Park Commission was entrusted with the land in 1896. Eliot was chosen by the Park Commission to design Revere Beach Reservation for the best use by the public. Eliot stated in November 1896, "We must not conceal from visitors the long sweep of the open beach which is the finest thing about the reservation." Revere Beach would become "the first to be set aside and governed by a public body for the enjoyment of the common people."[citation needed]

Over the next year, some 300 structures were cleared from on and around the beach, the train tracks were moved approximately 400 yards away from the water, a boulevard was put in place to separate buildings and houses from the sand, and a bandstand and pavilions were constructed. An estimated 45,000 people showed up on opening day to enjoy the first public beach in the United States. Fittingly, the small rotary at the start of the beach's southern end is named "Eliot Circle."

Eliot died March 25, 1897, at age 37 from spinal meningitis.[19]

Legacy

Eliot's work has left a lasting mark on

Arthur Shurcliff (1936).[20] In 1883, he designed Longfellow Park between the Cambridge home of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and the Charles River. Up until his death he was the partner in charge of the firm's work at Fresh Pond
in Cambridge.

In addition to his practice, Eliot became a regular contributor of professional articles to Garden and Forest Magazine.[21]

After Eliot's death, Olmsted's son and stepson reconstituted their partnership as the Olmsted Brothers, which continued for a half-century as one of the best-known landscape design firms in the United States, and went on to design thousands of parks, gardens, and landscapes in the 20th century.

Eliot's writings have been characterized as the inspiration behind the establishment of Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island in Maine.[22][23]

Monuments and memorials

See also

References

  1. ^ "Trustees of Reservations History".
  2. ^ "The Trustees of Reservations".
  3. ^ "National Park Service".
  4. ^ Charles W. Eliot (1999). Charles Eliot, Landscape Architect (PDF). p. 7 of Introduction by Keith N. Morgan.
  5. ^ "National Association of Olmsted Parks".
  6. ^ "Mount Desert Historical Society".
  7. ^ Charles W. Eliot (1999). Charles Eliot, Landscape Architect. p. 27.
  8. ^ Charles W Eliot II (1982). Eliot's and Asticou Foreside, Northeast Harbor. p. 1, Appendix A.
  9. ^ "The Maine Community Heritage Project (MCHP)".
  10. ^ "Friends of Acadia". Archived from the original on 2017-04-08. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
  11. ^ "Southwest Harbor Public Library, Digital Archive".
  12. ^ "National Association of Olmsted Parks".
  13. ^ Rodney Horace Yale (1908). "Yale genealogy and history of Wales. The British kings and princes. Life of Owen Glyndwr. Biographies of Governor Elihu Yale". Archive.org. Milburn and Scott company. pp. 312–313.
  14. ^ Rodney Horace Yale (1908). "Yale genealogy and history of Wales. The British kings and princes. Life of Owen Glyndwr. Biographies of Governor Elihu Yale". Archive.org. Milburn and Scott company. p. 209.
  15. ^ Rodney Horace Yale (1908). "Yale genealogy and history of Wales. The British kings and princes. Life of Owen Glyndwr. Biographies of Governor Elihu Yale". Archive.org. Milburn and Scott company. pp. 312–313.
  16. ^ Charles W. Eliot (1903). Charles Eliot, Landscape Architect. Houghton, Mifflin & Company. p. 237.
  17. ^ Carola Eliot Goriansky (1968). Mary Yale Eliot's Early Life. Privately Printed. pp. 1–2.
  18. ^ 1893 - 1897, Olmsted, Olmsted & Eliot, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, connecting people to places
  19. ^ Charles W. Eliot (1999). Charles Eliot, Landscape Architect (PDF). p. 7 of Introduction by Keith N. Morgan.
  20. ^ Inventing the Charles River, Karl Haglund, 2003
  21. S2CID 128232676. Archived from the original
    on 2016-04-27.
  22. ^ "Hancock Country Trustees of Public Reservations". National Park Service. Retrieved 2013-01-04. The story of Acadia National Park's creation begins a hundred years ago on a cold winter day in the Boston home of Charles W. Eliot, president emeritus of Harvard University, and a summer resident of Mount Desert Island.
  23. ^ "National Park Service".
  24. ^ "Charles Eliot Memorial - Charles River Esplanade - Boston".
  25. ^ "Esplanade Association".
  26. ^ "Eliot Memorial Bridge - Blue Hill - Milton MA".
  27. ^ "Eliot Memorial Bridge".
  28. ^ "Eliot Memorial Bridge, Blue Hill Reservation".
  29. ^ "Eliot Bridge". 30 December 2016.

Further reading

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