CHAPTER VII
SEPTEMBER 1892–MAY 1893

The letters in this chapter document Olmsted’s attempts to resume work on a number of projects after his lengthy European journey. The first letter, to William Hammond Hall regarding a proposed residential subdivision near Riverside, California, shows Olmsted’s continued interest in design work in the far West. Soon after, Olmsted departed for a tour of western work, and his letters to John Charles Olmsted in October 1892 reveal his sense of pressing obligations as he tried to help an ailing Henry Sargent Codman in Chicago, considered the opening of a western office for the firm, and planned trips to projects in Kansas City, Louisville, and Milwaukee. Olmsted’s letter to William Stiles explains the temporary nature of the World’s Columbian Exposition, making it impossible to retain its significant landscape features when the fair closed. Olmsted’s letter to Mariana Griswold Van Rensselaer reveals his delight at the collaborative spirit of the artists involved in creating the exposition. From Chicago, Olmsted traveled to Biltmore, where no member of the firm had been for nine months. Olmsted’s letter to John Charles Olmsted of November 27, 1892, reveals his frustration with some of the work that had been done at Biltmore in his absence, principally by James Gall, Jr., and also the careful attention he paid to the firm’s work on the Boston parks even as he was traveling for other projects. Upon his return to Brookline, Olmsted finalized plans for the federal government’s reservation in Hot Springs, Arkansas, sending Robert R. Stevens a report describing the firm’s innovative plan for a promenade beneath an arcade.

Following Henry Sargent Codman’s tragic death in mid-January, Olmsted found himself obligated to take a more active role in the firm’s business outside the Boston area, even after the hiring of new partner Charles Eliot. [568]His letter to John C. Graves regarding The Parade in Buffalo reveals the importance Olmsted placed on well-groomed turf in parks. A February 1893 letter to John Charles Olmsted expresses Olmsted’s despair at the fragile state of the firm, with Codman’s death, his own health problems, and an overwhelming amount of work in Chicago, Biltmore, Atlanta, Detroit, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. The death of his former collaborator Jacob Weidenmann distressed Olmsted as well. Nevertheless, by early March Olmsted had recovered sufficiently to resume his active work schedule. A March letter to George W. Vanderbilt reports on the progress of the firm’s hopes to plant espaliered fruit trees at the Biltmore estate. A March 11 letter to Rudolph Ulrich cautions him against taking on any tasks not directly related to the landscape of the Columbian exposition and offers reminders of the key effects Olmsted wished to emphasize at the exposition. Finally, a series of letters to John Charles Olmsted from April 13 through May 10, 1893, chronicle Olmsted’s efforts to oversee the final stages of construction of the exposition, despite poor weather, illness, unreliable subordinates, and chaotic working conditions.