Repton Inspired America’s New Landscape Architect Profession

Frederick Law Olmsted called himself a landscape architect in 1863, the first time anyone had used that term.

This use of “landscape architect” became established after  Olmsted and Beatrix Farrand with others founded the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) in 1899.

In 1907 the ASLA published a new series of classics in landscape architecture.

The first volume  was English landscape designer Humphry Repton’s  The Art of Landscape Gardening.

Repton was  popular  in England at the end of the 18th century.  His work followed the picturesque tradition of Capability Brown, but he returned to a bit of formality as well.  He said, “I do not profess to follow either Le Notre or Brown, but, selecting beauties from the style of each.”

At the opening of the 20th century American landscape architects looked to the English garden for inspiration in landscape design.

Nothing new.

That’s something American seed and nursery company owners had done for decades in the 19th century.

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