Project Details Page

synopsis

In 1922, Edward Bok “purchased balance of Mountain” with the intention of the Omsted Brothers “making it into a beautiful park and bird sanctuary”. Bok and Olmsted worked together on the project and agreed to “1) excluding automobiles and providing merely pedestrian walks, 2) attracting birds by introducing trees, and 3) introducing the wild flowers of the locality.”

In 1922, Edward Bok “purchased balance of Mountain” with the intention of the Omsted Brothers “making it into a beautiful park and bird sanctuary”. Bok and Olmsted worked together on the project and agreed to “1) excluding automobiles and providing merely pedestrian walks, 2) attracting birds by introducing trees and shrubs suitable for that purpose, and 3) introducing the wild flowers of the locality.” [Memorandum to Mr.Bok_05-22-1922_LOC-OAR-B-R349_im.16] The 250-acre site featured pedestrian walks, lush vegetation, andan entrance “one to two hundred feet in length, rising gently through a dense wood, completely overarched by trees and flanked on either hand by a seemingly impenetrable thicket of undergrowth.” [FLO Jr. to Edward M. Bok _07-07-1922_LOC-OAR-B-R349_im.30] Now known as Bok Towers, the site is a fine and lasting example of the Olmsted firms work and was recognized by the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

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