♪ [music] ♪
- [Jim] It's important to preserve Frederick Law Olmsted's landscape here
because it's a part of American history.
It's a living and breathing landscape that has been here for 140 years.
Frederick Law Olmsted is the father of American landscape architecture.
Most of his landscapes are large open landscapes and parks.
That's what makes the U.S. Capitol and the Capitol grounds so distinctly different
from much of his other landscapes is because he designed this not as a park,
but really as a place where the landscape is second to the building.
- [Katie] He creates these alcoves as you're walking up to the Capitol.
You're walking up and kind of weaving between the sidewalk and the trees
and then you come upon this magnificent building.
And then there it is, almost like a picturesque moment.
It's probably one of the most amazing places to work.
We're adding towards the history of the U.S. Capitol and we get to preserve and
maintain a historic landscape collection.
- We have over 4,500 trees in our Arboretum.
A lot of them are memorial trees, commemorative trees,
and really trees that have some sort of special interest to our nation.
♪ [music] ♪
- [Rick] I think one of the most interesting trees on the grounds is the
Anne Frank tree.
It's a cutting from a horse chestnut outside of the window where she hid
from the Nazis, and it's right over there.
On campus there are trees that are well over 100 years old and they're a witness
to history and we like to preserve.
- [Christopher] We're doing an ambitious program where they're taking seedlings
from certain trees to preserve and replant it here on the Capitol Grounds.
- When we decide what we are going to change on the landscape such as we need
to remove one of the historic trees, we take Olmsted's cultural landscape
report and try and put in another type of tree that is the same.
We try not to install any type of species that would detract
from the building's integrity.
- [Melissa] The most important thing that we can do specifically for the trees
but also for the turf is really about creating exclusion zones around critical
root zones of trees.
If visitors are here during the 4th of July or Memorial Day,
they'll see giant swaths of fencing around our trees and that's really
about protecting the soil around the critical root zone of those trees because
managing soil compaction is probably the most important thing you can do for the
health of trees.
- Working here at the Architect of the Capitol provides an opportunity
to preserve many different assets.
We have both Frederick Law Olmsted's living historic assets such as our trees
and hardscape features.
♪ [music] ♪
Frederick Law Olmsted designed the Summerhouse so that it was a place where people
could come and relax.
- The Summerhouse is probably my favorite feature.
- There's a small grotto in there where the water cascades and drips down.
- It's a great little private alcove and a nice hideaway on the side of the Capitol
that's hidden from most people.
- At Capitol Grounds and Arboretum, we have about 80 full-time employees
with a wide-ranging skill and all of our employees play a vital role to the
preservation of Frederick Law Olmsted's landscape.
- I think it's a testament of our team and the folks here at the U.S. Capitol
striving and working hard to keep the integrity
of that original design concept in place.
- First and foremost, we are here as stewards of the landscape.
What I think is most important about what we're doing to preserve this landscape
for the future really is about restoring Olmsted's original vision
for the landscape.
His thought was to bring people to this landscape meant that it would instill
in them a sense of who they are as Americans and an appreciation
for American democracy.
- And it's my opportunity and our team's opportunity to contribute to the Capitol
landscape to preserve it for the next generation and for future
generations beyond that.