When Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. drew up his campus plan for Louisiana State University in 1921, he did so with the belief that his plan would accommodate 3,000 students. Olmsted’s plan tied the existing trees, topography and features together by establishing a cruciform-shaped quadrangle at the center of campus.
For unknown reasons, Olmsted Brothers were dropped from the project, and architect Theodore Link took over. While Olmsted Brothers had originally envisioned a Spanish or Mexican style design for the university, Link designed the campus with stucco walls, red-tiled rooftops, and extensive porticoes to emulate the Italian Renaissance style.
Despite dropping the Olmsted Firm, the plan they had created for LSU was meant to be expanded, which is exactly what Link and future landscape architects did. To this day, the campus remains faithful to the Olmsted Brothers design.
Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service