Unless you visit an Olmsted park, it’s difficult to know what it’s like being there. Plans and individual photos only tell you so much. World’s End: a panoramic tour of a Frederick Law Olmsted classic, a new book by Mark Roessler from Levellers Press, aims to solve that dilemma for the property the landscape architect designed on a pair of islands in Boston Bay.
Photographed over four years and during all seasons, the book combines original Olmsted firm drawings, correspondence, maps, and modern photography in a guide to this remarkable property.
Designed initially to be a deluxe housing development in the 1880s, construction never followed. Instead, World’s End is a rarity among Olmsted works: a masterpiece left largely unmodified from its original vision. Without the usual buildings, bridges and tunnels created by other architects, it’s instead an example of raw Olmsted vision. If he were a rock musician, this would be his acoustic, solo album.
Over sixty full-color panoramas illustrate every part of the property. Just by turning the pages, you travel through the pathways designed by the Frederick Law Olmsted firm. See more at panorambles.com
