The Other Olmsteds: Planning for Connecticut's Future

Join CT SHPO, Preservation Connecticut, and ASLA Connecticut for a program all about the projects of the Olmsted Brothers and Olmsted Associates firm here in Connecticut! This program will focus on the dozens of projects that were planned and built across the state.

Lucy Lawliss and Liz Sargent from The Red Bridge Group will be sharing their work on documenting these sites. Next, we will have a panel discussion featuring Susan Fiedler of CT DOT; Keith Simpson of Keith E. Simpson Associates, and Eliza Valk. Additionally, we are pleased to have Wickham Park's Jeff Maron with us to share his insights. The full schedule is available below.

9:45am                 Arrivals and check-in

10:00am               Welcome and Opening Remarks    ASLA Connecticut      

10:05am               Overview of Olmsted in CT Documentation Project   Preservation Connecticut & SHPO 

10:20am               What Do We Know About the Olmsted Legacy in Connecticut? Red Bridge Group

11:15am                After the Olmsteds: Plans, Principles, and Perseverance    Fiedler, Simpson, Valk

12:20pm               Lunch

1:00pm                 Presentation of CT Olmsted Award    ASLA Connecticut

1:15pm                  How Great Estates Become Great Places: A Wickham Park Tour   Jeff Maron

2:45pm                 Departures

During this program, both CT SHPO and Preservation Connecticut will be jointly recognized with the Connecticut Olmsted Award for their efforts in expanding the public conscience and appreciation of Olmsted sites in the state.

Registration includes the daily parking fee as well as catered lunch. Please feel welcome to stay after the event and tour the grounds until closing time! Food will consist of assorted sandwich wraps and bottled drinks. Please kindly indicate if you have any dietary restrictions or food allergies when you register.

Presenters:

Lucy Lawliss has twenty-five years of experience as a historical landscape architect with the National Park Service.

As a registered landscape architect, she worked in the private sector from 1979 to 1991 when she joined the NPS. She is a co-editor of the award winning NAOP publication, The Master List of Design Projects of the Olmsted Firm 1857–1979 and author of the Southern Garden History Society's first Magnolia Essay: Residential Work of the Olmsted Firm in Georgia, 1893–1937. Lawliss obtained her BA, MLA and a master's certificate in Historic Preservation from the University of Georgia.

Liz Sargent is a landscape architect based in Charlottesville, Virginia. She provides expertise in the areas of historical landscape architecture, preservation planning, and conceptual design. She collaborates with various professionals including architects, landscape architects, historians and archeologists and offers flexibility and collegiality, attention to detail, and the ability to visualize holistic and comprehensive solutions as part of problem solving.

Sue Fiedler is a Transportation Landscape Designer for the Connecticut Department of Transportation. She has been involved in many projects involving historic landscapes, including the restoration of the Olmsted Firm’s Beardsley Park after a safety project along Rt. 127 in Bridgeport. That effort featured extensive coordination with other State Agencies, the City of Bridgeport, and a variety of stakeholders. Before joining the Department in 2004, Susan worked as a landscape architect in the private sector on retail developments. Susan worked with the Connecticut Olmsted Heritage Alliance on the concept of an Olmsted Trail in Connecticut, which includes not only projects by the firm, but also the vernacular landscapes of the mid 1800’s.

Keith Simpson, FASLA, is a landscape architect, registered in the State of Connecticut and New York. He is the president of Keith E. Simpson Associates, Inc., located in New Canaan, Connecticut. Since founding the firm in 1982, Mr. Simpson and his staff have provided landscape architectural and environmental site planning services on properties located predominantly in Connecticut and New York. 

Eliza Valk was born in New York City and moved to the suburbs of Kansas City when she was nine. Once she returned to NYC, she continued training in dance, theatre and performance, turning to landscape architecture and city planning after the fall of the World Trade Center. In New Haven, she collaborated with the city to develop the design and construction of the Mill River Trail, a non-vehicular route connecting New Haven’s geological features to the Long Island Sound. Not far from the river, Eliza runs a studio exploring the intersection of light and form in large-scale installations. She is an active member of the board of directors at the Edgerton Park Conservancy where she serves as Vice-President and Co-Chair of the Grounds.

Jeff Maron enjoyed over 44 years of working at Wickham Park, serving most recently as its Executive Director before retiring in 2021. His decades of tinkering with its facilities, gardens, access drives, and open spaces has given him a healthy appreciation for the strength of the original Olmsted Associates plan for the park and its capacity to grow the site from a private estate to a cherished part of Manchester's community green space.

Learning Objectives:

Upon attending this program, attendees will be able to:

1. Interpret findings and preservation recommendations from a cultural landscape report.
2. Work with the State Historic Preservation Office to assess and document cultural landscapes using new reporting forms and processes.
3. Develop criteria for evaluating design interventions on cultural landscapes.
4. Describe successful programming models for repurposing historic landscapes.

This program has been approved for 4.0 hours of LA CES HSW credits appropriate for landscape architects.