This year is a celebration of parks across the country. 2022 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frederick Law Olmsted - the American landscape designer widely considered the father of American landscape architecture.
Over the course of his career, Frederick Law Olmsted designed a total of 100 public parks and recreation grounds. Among them, New York City's beloved Central Park. He is also recognized for designing Prospect Park in Brooklyn, New York, Emerald Necklace in Boston, Massachusetts, the three-mile approach road to the grand Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, the Washington Park in Chicago, Illinois, and the grounds of the United States Capitol and White House. Frederick Olmsted's work set a standard of excellence that continues to inspire landscape architects throughout the United States. Last week, I attended the Olmsted Bicentennial Gala at the Central Park Loeb Boathouse to honor this great innovator and social reformer. The event was part of the year-long "Olmsted 200: Parks for All People" Celebration. Please go to Olmsted200.org to learn about other celebrations in your area - just click on the highlighted link.
Enjoy these photos.
Here I am with the Frederick Law Olmsted mascot at the Olmsted Bicentennial Gala “Parks For All People.” The event was presented by the National Association For Olmsted Parks last week. (Photo by Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
Frederick Law Olmsted was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1822. However, it was not until he was 43 years old did he decide to devote his entire career to landscape architecture. Prior to working on the New York City Central Park design, Frederick worked as a merchant, apprentice seaman, experimental farmer, author and even a gold mine manager. He also directed the U.S. Sanitary Commission, worked for the American Red Cross, and wrote for The New York Daily Times.
This is an aerial view of Central Park looking north, which Frederick designed with his business partner, Calvert Vaux. Olmsted and Vaux’s plan created ways for pedestrians and carriages to enjoy the park without getting in each others’ way. It was called the Greensward Plan. (Photo by Central Park Conservancy)
Here is another aerial view of Central Park – this one of Sheep Meadow, a great field where visitors can rest and play. (Photo by Central Park Conservancy)
This is the Central Park Bow Bridge. (Photo by Central Park) Conservancy
And this is Central Park’s Great Lawn. (Photo by Central Park Conservancy)
This autumn photo is from Prospect Park in nearby Brooklyn, New York. Frederick was very adamant in his belief that a great park should be tranquil – a place where visitors could recuperate from the busy pace of city life. Frederick and Calvert Vaux began working on Prospect Park in 1866. It included plans for the Long Meadow, a heavily wooded area they called the Ravine and a 60-acre Lake. (Photo by Elizabeth Keegin Colley)
This is the Prospect Park Boathouse. (Photo by Anne Claire Brun)
Prospect Park also features rolling green meadows, meandering carriage roads with scenic lookouts, waterfalls, springs, and a rich forest filled with trees. (Photo by Brittany Buongiorno)
This is Shelburne Farms, a 3,800-acre agricultural estate originally consolidated and owned by William Seward and Lila Vanderbilt Webb. The landscape was inspired by none other than Frederick Law Olmsted. (Photo by Marshall Webb)
Today, more than 1.4 million people visit George Vanderbilt’s Gilded Era Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina each year. Frederick considered Biltmore among the crowning jewels of his career. Frederick wrote to his business partners, “it is far and away the most distinguished private place, not only for America, but of the world.” This is the Spring Garden at Biltmore. (Photo by The Biltmore Company)
Olmsted Park in Boston is a linear park and a part of the city’s Emerald Necklace of connected parks and parkways. Originally named Leverett Park, in 1900 it was renamed to honor its designer. (Photo by Emerald Necklace Conservancy)
Founded in 1942 and also located within Emerald Necklace, the Fenway Victory Gardens is comprised of more than 500 gardens spanning 7.5 acres. (Photo by Evan Bradley)
Jackson Park was designed in 1871 as part of the 1055-acre South Park system in Chicago. It is a 593-acre tract connected to Washington Park via a mile-long boulevard, the Midway Plaisance. Originally called Lake Park, it was later named for former president Andrew Jackson. (Photo by Chicago Parks Foundation)
Each major Frederick Olmsted Park features a specialty garden. The Japanese Garden in Delaware spans more than six acres and is placed between the foothill of The Buffalo History Museum and Mirror Lake. (Photo by Zhi Ting Phua)
Another space designed by Frederick and Calvert is Chapin Parkway in Buffalo, New York. It was named after Brigadier General Edward Payson Chapin, who was a well known Buffalo attorney at the time of the Civil War. (Photo by Zhi Ting Phua)
In 1890, Georgia businessman Joel Hurt asked Frederick to prepare a plan for an area in Atlanta. By 1905, two years after Olmsted died, a linear park design was completed by the Olmsted Brothers that consisted of six segments on 45 acres – Springdale, Virgilee, Oak Grove, Shadyside, Dellwood, and Deepdene. This is a photo of Shadyside.
Here is a fall image of Dellwood in Atlanta’s Olmsted Linear Park.
And here is the US Capitol Summer House, a hexagon-shaped brick structure set into the sloping hillside in front of the Capitol Building. Construction began in 1879 and was completed in late 1880 or early 1881. It was designed primarily to offer visitors to the Capitol a place to rest.
To learn more about Frederick Law Olmsted and the beautiful parks he designed, please visit Olmsted200.org. (Photo by Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
If you're looking to update your kitchen, a new faucet can refresh the room and increase its functionality.
Last year, I decided to transform a guest house kitchen, so it could function more as a studio space. I repainted the walls and cabinets, replaced several appliances, extended the center island, added deep shelves for displaying antique ceramics, installed new French doors and window shades, and decorated the room with my personal collection of copper. The entire kitchen was transformed and modernized. The last detail was to replace the faucets - and I decided on two beautiful single spout fixtures in brass from Waterworks. The design was inspired by the industrial controls of the early 1900s. They look great.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Here is a photo of the kitchen after it was renovated last autumn. The last items that needed replacing were the faucets. Here, one can see the old stainless steel fixture.
I selected two Waterworks “Regulator” style faucets in brass. Both have single spouts with black spray nozzles.
Both also have goosenecks and big black wheel handles. Before anything is removed from the box, all the parts are inspected to ensure everything is there and in good condition.
The first step was to turn off the water supply and remove the old gooseneck faucets. We removed them carefully so as not to damage the existing soapstone counter. Some of you may remember this counter – repurposed from my old Westport, Connecticut television studio “A.”
Then, my property manager, Doug White, who is very handy, carefully made two holes for the new faucets. These holes are 2 and 1/4 inches in diameter.
Our plumbers were then able to easily start installing the new piping.
The base of the shank being installed was covered with blue painting tape to protect it from scratches. It’s also a good idea to cover the wrench with tape, so there is an added layer of protection.
This big unit is called the valve body. It is screwed on gently by hand.
Whenever installing anything, it is important to always measure several times. It is crucial that all the parts sit flush with each other so there is no risk of leaking.
Here, the tube and nut for the bridge are connected.
And then installed between the main valve body and spout valve body.
The hoses are then coated with a proper leak-sealing agent.
And then under the sink, the hot and cold hoses are properly connected to the corresponding source supplies.
This handsome black handle is tightened appropriately.
And finally it’s time to turn the water back on and test. Here, the sprayer is tested to ensure the water is diverted properly. The water from the spout also slows to a complete stop while the sprayer is being used.
Final adjustments are made and the fixture is wiped down.
This brass fixture coordinates perfectly with the brass hardware on all the cabinetry. The black accents also match the rest of this kitchen.
I also like the brass against all the beautiful copper dishes, pots, and pans.
The faucet at the other sink, under my giant plate rack of copper, was also changed.
And here I am after one of our shoots – trying the faucet out for the first time. Changing a faucet fixture is one of the simplest, smartest ways to upgrade a kitchen. Please visit the Waterworks web site to see the company’s other collections for the kitchen and bath. (Photo by David Padilla)
I have a new outdoor space for entertaining family and friends here at my Bedford, New York farm.
Last fall, after cutting down a large yew tree at my former East Hampton home, I decided the lumber would make a beautiful table for my new pavilion outside my pool. To make it, I called on the help of master artisan Peter Billow, owner of Peter H. Billow Fine Woodworking in Brooklyn, New York. Peter's experience with yew was limited to veneer, but he researched the wood's properties and behaviors and got right to work. Peter started with milling and cutting, and then moved on to the process of joining, planing, gluing, balancing, and then finally sanding and finishing. It took several weeks to complete, but I am so pleased with the final result and exquisite woodwork.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
Yew wood, Taxus Baccata, is a species of evergreen tree in the conifer family. Yew is native to Western, Central, and Southern Europe, Northwest Africa, Northern Iran, Southwest Asia, and is also known as common yew, European yew, and English yew. After the yew was cut and made into usable lumber, I stored it in my run-in shed until Peter could pick it up.
Wood from the yew is classified as a closed-pore softwood, similar to cedar and pine. Look at the beautiful wood with all of its knots. Yew is easy to work with and is very flexible.
Peter relocated all the yew to his shop in Brooklyn, where all the work happens. The heartwood of yew tends to be an orange-brown, at times a darker brown or even purplish hue. It is often used for cabinetry and tool handles. The hard, slow-growing wood is also used to make gates, furniture, parquet floors, and paneling.
Peter and his team started with the rough milling. While the wood was kiln dried, the wood showed significant signs of checking and warpage, so Peter had to be very careful to mill it properly. He found that the internal tensions and stress of the wood made it a bit challenging to saw.
Here’s a closer look at some of the typical burls, knots, and intricate patterns.
Peter had to cut around major checks and knots as the wood would bind on the saw – this part of the process was slow going.
Here are the cut pieces spaced with smaller wood shims to allow air to circulate between the pieces and allow the wood to acclimate after milling.
Here are the cut pieces for the trestles and legs.
Once the rough cutting was finished, Peter and his crew moved the wood to the jointer and planer. Planing the wood happened over many days. They “opened” the wood up and let it sit to acclimate over a period of time before “thicknessing,” or bringing each piece of wood to a consistent thickness throughout its length. This is done to minimize the wood’s internal tensions.
Here, the trestle pieces are joined and glued. Fortunately, yew glues, finishes, and turns quite nicely.
Once Peter had all of the wood “thicknessed” down to the desired size, it was time to lay the wood out. Peter checks that all the pieces have the same thickness throughout.
Holes are made in the criss-crossed center of the trestles for the horizontal support.
And this is one base after the cross piece was secured to the trestles. By definition, a trestle is a a framework consisting of a horizontal beam supported by two pairs of sloping legs, used in pairs to hold up a flat surface such as a tabletop.
For all the legs and trestles, Peter needed to glue up pieces to gain the desired thickness. Balancing is very important here as an unbalanced board will warp.
Balancing the tops is also very important and it took a significant amount of time to achieve the balanced tabletop that also looked great.
Once the tables were built, Peter moved on to the patching and filling of the voids and checks. This was very time consuming. If you go too far, this process can take away from the table’s natural look, but too little work and it looks unfinished. Peter had to get it just right – and he did. When this was done he started sanding. The team sanded up to a grit of 180 and then applied the first coat of finish. Pete likes to use Osmo oil with a UV additive. In between coats they re-sanded with 240 grit. Afterward, the curing process of the finish takes approximately three to five days.
And finally, the tables were delivered bright and early one morning last week – three total. English Yew ranges from durable to very durable when it comes to decay resistance. And, it is also resistant to insect attack. I knew it would be perfect here at the pavilion.
Peter’s crew carries the three tabletops to the pavilion one by one.
Look at the beautiful finish. Peter did not use any epoxy to fill the knots and natural holes in the wood – he left them as is.
I love the joinery in the trestles. The top peg is made of walnut, a very strong and stable wood that can take intricate carving.
Here is the third and last tabletop. Once all the tables were in place, all three were butted up against each other to make it one long table.
Here’s Peter in front of the long table after all the tops were well secured to the legs and trestles. Each table weighs about 300-pounds – wind will not bring it down.
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