Charles Eliot

Black and white portrait of white man in his 30s with a beard, Charles Eliot
Charles Eliot

Olmsted Archives/NPS

Birth and Death: 1859- 1897
Positions and Years at the Firm: Apprentice: 1883-1887; Partner: 1893-1897
Notable Projects while at the Olmsted Firm:
Boston/Brookline Park System, Boston, MA
Boston Metropolitan Park System, MA
World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, IL


Charles Eliot was Frederick Law Olmsted's first apprentice. While Olmsted traveled across the country studying project sites, Eliot, along with fellow apprentice Harry Codman, worked in the office under the supervision of John Charles Olmsted. Eliot eventually left to eing his own practice, but returned to the firm as a partner in 1893 when Codman's sudden death left the Olmsteds understaffedd in the middle of the work at the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago. During the 1890s, he worked on significant office commissions such as the Boston and Cambridge park systems and Biltmore Estate, but his major focus was on the development of a visionary regional park concept for Greater Boston. He identified and assessed diverse landscapes of woodland, river basins, and beaches with special scenic features in the Boston metropolitan area, and worked with the various municipalities to acquire these lands for a regionally managed system of public reservations with linking parkways. This original concept formed one of Eliot's most enduring landscape legacies. Eliot died unexpectedly at age 37 in 1897, and in his honor the first formal degree program in landscape architecture was established at Harvard University in 1900.

Learn more about the different eras of the Olmsted Firm, from Olmsted and Vaux, F.L. and J.C. Olmsted, Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot, to Olmsted Brothers and Olmsted Associates.

Last updated: February 21, 2024

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