The Olmsted Brothers' Western Frontier: Semi-Arid Design for California

On January 28, 2024, the Olmsted Network welcomed Christine Edstrom O'Hara of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for a webinar on the Olmsted Brothers' Semi-Arid Design for California.

Christine Edstrom O’Hara is a professor of landscape architecture at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. She lectures on landscape history, preservation, and its application to sustainable landscape design and construction. A graduate of Stanford University, she received a master’s in landscape architecture and preservation planning from the University of Washington and PhD in landscape architecture at the University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses on the Olmsted firm’s body of work in California and has been published in many journals including the Journal for the Society of Architectural Historians, Pacific Horticulture, and Landscape Journal. Her new book California Eden: Heritage Landscapes of the Golden State will be published in 2024. She currently serves on the Olmsted Network’s Scholars Council.