John Nolen
John Nolen (June 14, 1869 - February 18, 1937) was an American [landscape architect]. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, John Nolen was orphaned as a child and placed in the Girard School for Orphaned Boys by the Children's Aid Society. Nolen graduated first in his class in 1884 and worked as a grocery clerk and secretary to the Girard Estate Trust Fund before enrolling in the Wharton School of Finance and Economics at the University of Pennsylvania in 1891. Nolen earned his Ph.B. in 1893, and for the next ten years worked as secretary of the American Society for the Extension of University Teaching. He married Miss Barbara Schatte of Philadelphia in 1896.
In 1903 Nolen sold his house and used the money to enroll in the newly established Harvard School of Landscape Architecture, under the famed instructors Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., Arthur Shurtleff, and B.M. Watson. He received his A.M. in 1905 from Harvard.
He established an office in Cambridge, where he and his associates branched out into city planning as well as landscape architecture. Nolen was a frequent lecturer on city and town planning, and was active in many professional organizations, including the American City Planning Institute (now American Institute of Planners), American Civic Association (now Urban America), American Society of Landscape Architects, American Society of Planning Officials, International Garden Cities and Town-Planning Federation, National Conference on City Planning (now Urban America), and the Town Planning Institute of England. [1]
Nolen completed a number of projects in Wisconsin as well as earlier efforts in Virginia, Georgia, and particularly, San Diego, California. Nolen’s prestige as an innovative urban planner was firmly established. By 1919, Nolen had written two books, edited two others, and published dozens of articles. In 1927, he was elected president of the National Conference on City Planning. Mr. Nolen was the official landscape architect to such municipalities as Kingsport, Tennessee, Madison, Wisconsin, Montclair, New Jersey, Reading, Pennsylvania, Roanoke, Virginia, San Diego, California, New London, Connecticut, Savannah, Georgia, and Schenectady, New York.
Impact on Wisconsin
Nolen developed plans for the University of Wisconsin, the city of Madison, and the state park system. Nolen was a pioneer in the development of professional city planning. His comprehensive approach blended social, economic, and physical aspects of urban life with the preservation of natural beauty. He felt strongly that:
...simple recreation in the open air amid beautiful surroundings contributes to physical and moral health, to a saner and happier life...
His plan for the city of Madison is considered a preeminent example of the urban landscape movement. Nolen later cited the grounds surrounding Worcester College as an inspiration for his plans for Madison.
In 1908, John Olin of the Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association contacted Nolen for advice in laying out Madison city parks. Without the money to pay Nolen, Olin enlisted the support of the city, the University of Wisconsin, and the state. Together, they devised a contract to have Nolen make recommendations for the beautification of each.
Perhaps Nolen’s most important contribution, though, was his plan for a state park system. Having seen the rapid deforestation of Northern Wisconsin, the depletion of mineral resources in the southwest, and increasing urban development, Nolen was hired not only to find locations for parks but also to provide a reason for their existence. He recommended the creation of four state parks and provided guidelines for the establishment of a state park system.[2]
External Links
- 1926 Plan of Venice, Florida byJohn Nolen
- New Towns for Old: Achievements in Civic Improvement..." by John Nolen. A New Edition of a Groundbreaking text in American Town Planning. June 2005 ISBN 1558494800
- The Roots of the New Urbanism: John Nolen’s Garden City Ethic by Bruce Stephenson. Journal of Planning History, Vol. 1, No. 2, 99-123 (2002) DOI: 10.1177/153132001002001
- Madison : a model city UW-Madison TEI edition, July 2000
References
- ^ Guide to the John Nolen Papers at Cornell University
- ^ http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/topics/nolen/index.asp accessed February 9,2009