UW professor David Streatfield will chat with the author of Greenscapes: Olmsteds Pacific Northwest, about John Charles Olmsted (1852-1920), who famously designed many of our city’s great parks. Stepson to Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903), who counts New York’s Central Park among his jewels, the younger designer first visited Seattle in 1903. His master plan for the city was responsible, in whole or in part, for Lake Washington Boulevard, Seward Park, the Arboretum, Volunteer Park, Ravenna Boulevard, and Green Lake. He and his firm weren’t responsible for every element and every park in the city (as they were built over several decades), but John Charles Olmsted essentially designed the map for today’s precious green spaces. He also had a hand in the design for the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, which in turn underlies the modern University of Washington campus. BRIAN MILLER
Tue., Aug. 18, 7 p.m., 2009
