The first full biography of a groundbreaking landscape architect
Born in Switzerland, Jacob Weidenmann emigrated to the United States in 1856 at the age of twenty-seven after obtaining college-level diplomas in art, architecture, and engineering. The only landscape architect in America so educated, Weidenmann quickly gained a reputation for his excellent design and brilliant solutions to complex engineering and architectural challenges. He developed an important collaboration with Frederick Law Olmsted and became a leading innovator in the field, helping to set standards and design principles for the profession. Based on four decades of research by author Rudy J. Favretti, this is the first comprehensive biography of this major artist, covering his life and career in-depth, and illuminating Weidenmann’s importance in defining his profession for future practitioners. Featuring over fifty illustrations, this oversized volume places Jacob Weidenmann in the context of his time, place, and art, and locates him in the pantheon of nineteenth-century designers.
“Written with clarity and intelligence, Favretti’s deeply informed and lavishly illustrated volume is utterly fascinating. This wonderfully textured portrait of Weidenmann is a book that every student of landscape architecture needs to read. An absolute gem.”—Wendell Garrett, Sotheby’s consultant and editor-at-large of The Magazine Antiques
“Professor Favretti has given substance and significance to Jacob Weidenmann—one of the small group that Frederick Law Olmsted considered prime practitioners of his art, and the person who was his valued collaborator during a full decade of practice.”—Charles E. Beveridge, series editor, The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted
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Ruth Emery Award by the Victorian Society of America 2008
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RUDY J. FAVRETTI, Fellow, American Society of Landscape Architects, specializes in landscape history and preservation, and is professor emeritus, University of Connecticut. He is the author of eleven books on various aspects of landscape design and planning, agricultural history, and local history.
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