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Samuel H. Parsons Jr. (1844 - February 23, 1923). Parsons was a well-known American landscape architect remembered primarily for his "Beaux-Arts designs in New York City, the development of Central Park, San Diego’s City Park, and for serving as a founding member to the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA).

Contents 1 His Life 2 Notable Designs 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

Samuel Parsons was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1844 to Samuel Parsons Sr., an accomplished, and well noted, horticulturist. Samuel received his practical training and knowledge of landscaping and landscape materials working for J.R. Trumpy, the manager of his father’s nursery in Flushing, Queens. Parsons then went to school at Yale University and graduated with a degree in philosophy in 1862, and after he spent a few years as a farmer, he returned home the family nursery and found a welcome surprise. The nursery was now collaborating with and supplying Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, two famous designers most notably responsible for New York’s Central Park design.

Before long, Parsons was an associate of Calvert Vaux, and gained the title Superintendent of Planting for the New York City Parks Department. Years later, in 1898 (three years after the death of his former partner Calvert Vaux), Parsons became the head landscape architect for New York City and remained so until 1911. During Parsons partnership with Vaux, the two produced of many notable designs, including: Abingdon Square, the remedy of the Ladies Pond in Central Park, the siting of Grant’s Tomb, and Morningside Park. In collaboration with architect Stanford White, both Parsons and Vaux produced the Washington Memorial Arch in Washington Square and the Grand Army Plaza Arch in Prospect Park in Brooklyn.

After Vaux’s death, Parsons went on to design Balboa Park (then known as City Park) in San Diego, Albemarle Park in Ashville, North Carolina, St. Nicholas Park in New York City, as well as the re-design of Union Square to accommodate the subway. In 1899, Parsons also founded the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) in conjunction with 10 other landscape architects on a basis of three tenets:

1. To establish landscape architecture as a recognized profession in North America.
2. To develop educational studies in landscape architecture.
3. To provide a voice of authority in the "New Profession".

From 1906 to 1907 Parsons served as the President of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Throughout his professional career, Parsons was known for his ability to merge elegant plantings and the extensive knowledge he had gained from his father with the native environment without disrupting the Genus Loci (the spirit of place) of the sites he designed. He remains a founding father of the modern day landscape architecture institution, and his designs are still visible throughout the United States, primarily in Sand Diego’s Balboa Park and New York City's Union Square.

• Abingdon Square, New York, New York
• The Ladies Pond in Central Park, New York, New York
• Morningside Park, New York, New York
• Washington Memorial Arch In Washington Square, New York, New York
• the Grand Army Plaza Arch in Prospect Park, New York, New York
• Balboa Park, San Diego, California
• Albemarle Park, Ashville, North Carolina
• St. Nicholas Park, New York, New York
• Union Square, New York, New York

• Landscape architecture
• History of gardening
• Garden real estate
• Landscape Design
• Calvert Vaux
• Frederick Law Olmsted

• Amero, Richard W. (winter 1998). "Samuel Parsons Finds Xanadu in San Diego". The Journal of San Diego History 44 (1). Retrieved on 30 October, 2006. 

• Raynor, vivian. "ART; A Landscape Artist Who Left His Mark", The New York Times Company, March 26, 1995. Retrieved on October 30, 2007.

American Architect's Biographies. Society of Architectural Historians (4 February, 1997). Retrieved on October 30, 2007.

American Society of Landscape Architects (2006). Retrieved on October 30, 2007.

• American Society of Landscape Architects
• Art; A Landscape Artist who left his mark.
• The Journal of San Diego History