Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site

At Fairsted in Brookline, the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site preserves the home and office where landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted established his firm. A guided tour takes you through the house, workshop and grounds, with original plans and sketches showing how the firm developed designs for parks and public spaces. The workshop also gives a close look at the tools and methods used to make blueprints and store documents before computers. Admission is free. Exterior restoration work has been underway, so parts of the property may look unfinished.

Fairsted, home and office

Frederick Law Olmsted moved to Brookline in 1883 and established his landscape architecture firm at Fairsted, a restored farmhouse that served as both home and workplace. The firm was the first professional practice of its kind in the United States. Its work helped shape parks and public spaces across the country.

Olmsted is associated with New York’s Central Park and Boston’s Emerald Necklace. At Fairsted, the setting connects that public work to the practical process behind it: a design office operating from a home in Brookline.

The workshop and its working methods

The workshop tour focuses on how the firm turned landscape ideas into plans. Original blueprints and sketches show the drawings used to develop projects. The visit also explains how blueprints were produced and how design documents were kept before digital storage existed.

The office and workshop help put the firm’s work in context. They show the tools and working spaces behind plans for parks, hospital grounds and college campuses.