In 1912, Olmsted Brothers were contacted by the University of Pennsylvania, who requested that they collaborate with architect Paul Philippe Cret to create a plan for the campus as it grew in student population. With both teams agreeing to the partnership, one year later they had created their preliminary report. To avoid the danger and noise caused by traffic in bustling Philadelphia, they proposed an elevated subway line.
On the campus grounds, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. suggested that they “open through the heart of this territory and in its least expensive part a Mall or College Avenue… one hundred feet wide facing which could be built a number of University buildings." Unfortunately, the Olmsted and Cret plan was never realized, though eighteen years later Olmsted Jr. would be invited back, playing a minor role in the planning of the University’s Morris Arboretum.
Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service