Christian Zimmerman
Chief Landscape Architect,
Vice President of Capital and Landscape Management, Prospect Park Alliance (1990-2025)
Trustee, Olmsted Network (2006-2009)
Recipient, Olmsted Stewardship Award (2024)
Over the course of 35 years, Christian Zimmerman oversaw some of the most exciting years of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park since it was first designed by Olmsted and Vaux. Zimmerman and his team worked tirelessly to revitalize the landscape, which had fallen into disrepair over the 20th century, restoring and even recreating several of its Olmsted-era features. Olmsted and Vaux began work on Prospect Park in 1866, with the park opening the following year, even as construction continued into the mid-1870s.
Zimmerman joined Propsect Park Alliance in 1990 at the behest of Prospect Park Administrator Tupper Thomas, who was starting up an office at the organization focused on landscape design and construction projects within the park. Working off of historic landscape reports by Walmsley and Company, in addition to the original 19th century Annual Reports of Prospect Park and the Olmsted Papers compiled by Charles E. Beveridge, Zimmerman sought to adhere to the original Olmsted and Vaux design intent as much as possible.
“We went to Fairsted… the ‘Olmsted Homestead,’ as we said—to do research, we went down to the Library of Congress, we dove in in the early ‘90s to get a better understanding of what the intent was, because we don’t have the original plans like Central Park [does]… we only have photographs [and] annual reports.”
With Zimmerman heading up landscape restoration work , the park underwent an extraordinary transformation. One project that he is especially proud of revolved around Prospect Park’s watercourse—reconstructing a series of waterfalls, ponds, streams, and bridges spanning three-quarters of a mile:
“It was a completely destroyed landscape, honestly, and nobody wanted to go into that area… It was perceived as so dangerous, so what we were able to do over a number of phases [was] reconstruct it… I think that had such a big impact, because it brought people back to the middle of the park.”
In addition to his work in Prospect Park, Zimmerman consulted on the restoration of Biltmore’s approach road alongside Parker Andes. He served as Trustee of the Olmsted Network from 2006 to 2009, and was the recipient of the 2024 Olmsted Stewardship Award. Looking ahead, he is slated to join our Olmsted Council, a multidisciplinary group of advocates and ambassadors for the Olmsted Network. Learn more about his time at Prospect Park with the full interview here.
