OHEKA

Unlike many great American estates, OHEKA’s landscape is documented through an extraordinary body of surviving archival material. Hundreds of original drawings, planting plans, grading plans, correspondence, specifications, surveys, and construction records preserved within the Olmsted Archives provide exceptional insight into the planning, construction, and long-term management of the estate. Because both the designed landscape and its documentation have survived to an unusual degree, OHEKA offers one of the most complete opportunities to study how the Olmsted Brothers conceived, designed, and realized a major Country Place Era commission.

Following Otto Kahn’s death in 1934, portions of the landscape were altered during successive ownerships, and many historic features deteriorated. Beginning in the late twentieth century, extensive restoration efforts sought to recover the estate’s historic character through the rehabilitation of the Water Gardens, terraces, entrance drives, specimen trees, and important landscape features. Today, OHEKA remains one of the most intact and comprehensively