Restoring a Landscape Masterpiece: The Rediscovery of Frederic Church’s Olana

Over the past decade, Thomas Woltz and his firm have led the renewal and restoration of Frederic Church’s 250-acre designed landscape at Olana, a NY State Historic Site and National Historic Landmark. Woltz will focus on the vision within the award-winning Olana Strategic Landscape Design Plan, which includes the siting of the soon-to-be-completed Frederic Church Center for Art & Landscape.

Thomas Woltz and the work of his firm, Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects (NBW), envisions design as a deeply collaborative, cross-disciplinary, research-based process essential to forging a resilient and vital future for our civic spaces. Embodying our shared histories and the ethos of local and regional narratives and materials, NBW’s designs foster deep connections between people and the land. Thomas and NBW have worked as partners with The Olana Partnership since 2011.

Recorded live May 7, 2024 for The Olana Partnership.