Project Details Page

synopsis

The University of Chicago requested the assistance of the Olmsted Brothers in 1905 to improve the 50 acres of grounds surrounding the existing Yerkes Observatory. Located within the Assessor's Subdivision of William Bay in Lake Geneva, WI, the observatory’s building was seen by the firm “as a very dignified and handsome one”

The University of Chicago requested the assistance of the Olmsted Brothers in 1905 to improve the 50 acres of grounds surrounding the existing Yerkes Observatory. Located within the Assessor's Subdivision of William Bay in Lake Geneva, WI, the observatory’s building was seen by the firm “as a very dignified and handsome one”, however they stated the “bare and neglected condition of the surrounding grounds is deplorable in the extreme.” Therefore, when discussing the planting plan they proposed the planting of surplus trees from neighboring properties and “aside from a very restricted amount of shrubbery at the base of the building, with a few very small-growing trees where they can never interfere with windows or the use of the telescopes, we expect to plant trees at some distance from the building, in groups and as scattering individuals, for the sake of general landscape effect.” [J.C. Olmsted to Henry Ives Cobb_11-05-1905_LOC-OAR-B-R162_im.7&8]

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