Jacob Weidenmann was a noted American landscape architect

Landscape architect

A landscape architect is a person involved in the planning, design and sometimes direction of a landscape, garden, or distinct space. The professional practice is known as landscape architecture....

.

Weidenmann was born in Winterthur

Winterthur

Winterthur is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. It has the country's sixth largest population with an estimate of more than 100,000 people. In the local dialect and by its inhabitants, it is usually abbreviated to Winti...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, and educated at the Akadomie der Bildenden Kunste, where he studied art, architecture, and engineering. After graduating, he worked in Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, Panama

Panama

Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

, and Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

, before settling in the United States in 1856. In 1861 he was named first superintendent of parks in Hartford, Connecticut

Hartford, Connecticut

Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...

, where he designed Bushnell Park

Bushnell Park

Bushnell Park in Hartford, Connecticut is the oldest publicly funded park in the United States. It was conceived by the Reverend Horace Bushnell in the mid-1850s at a time when the need for open public spaces was just starting to be recognized....

 and Cedar Hill Cemetery. In 1874 he became a collaborator with Frederick Law Olmsted

Frederick Law Olmsted

Frederick Law Olmsted was an American journalist, social critic, public administrator, and landscape designer. He is popularly considered to be the father of American landscape architecture, although many scholars have bestowed that title upon Andrew Jackson Downing...

 on projects including Mount Royal Park in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, and the Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, Capitol grounds.

Weidenmann's Hartford designs include grounds for the American School for the Deaf

American School for the Deaf

The American School for the Deaf is the oldest permanent school for the deaf in the United States. It was founded April 15, 1817 in Hartford, Connecticut by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc and became a state-supported school in 1817.-History:...

, Bushnell Park

Bushnell Park

Bushnell Park in Hartford, Connecticut is the oldest publicly funded park in the United States. It was conceived by the Reverend Horace Bushnell in the mid-1850s at a time when the need for open public spaces was just starting to be recognized....

, Cedar Hill Cemetery, and the Institute of Living. His midwest designs include the Iowa State Capitol

Iowa State Capitol

The Iowa State Capitol is located in Iowa's capital city, Des Moines, and houses the Iowa Senate, Iowa House of Representatives, the Office of the Governor, and the Offices of the Attorney General, Auditor, Treasurer, and Secretary of State...

, Iowa State Fair

Iowa State Fair

The Iowa State Fair is an annual state fair held in Des Moines, Iowa.The 2011 Iowa State Fair was held August 11–21 and marked 100 years of the butter cow sculpture.-History:...

 Grounds, and Mount Hope Cemetery

Mount Hope Cemetery

Mount Hope Cemetery may refer to:in Canada* Mount Hope Catholic Cemetery, Toronto, Ontarioin the United States* Mount Hope Cemetery, San Diego California* Mount Hope Cemetery, Worth Township, near Chicago, Illinois...

. His national work included landscape designs for the United States Capitol

United States Capitol

The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...

, U.S. Quartermaster Depot, Schuylkill Arsenal, and Hot Springs Reservation.

Selected works

• Beautifying country homes, Orange Judd, New York, 1870. Reprinted as Victorian Landscape Gardening: A Facsimile of Jacob Weidenmann's Beautifying country homes, American Life Foundation for the Athenaeum Library of Nineteenth Century America, 1978. ISBN 0892570210.
• Modern cemeteries. An essay upon the improvements and proper management of rural cemeteries, The Monumental news, Chicago, c1888.