Imagining What It Might Have Been

In a watercolor and ink master plan for Olana, created in 1886 by Frederic Church's son, Frederic Joseph Church, there is a little red square labeled "Summer House."

No other reference to a summer house has ever been discovered, and there is no evidence that it was ever built, but 130 years later, this little detail inspired a most intriguing project. Twenty-one architects and landscape architects designed their concepts of what the summer house might have been. Those designs will be exhibited in the Coachman's House Gallery at Olana from August 14 through November 13. Visit the Olana website for more information about the exhibition and about the participating architects and landscape architects. The exhibition, Follies, Function & Form: Imagining Olana's Summer House is co-curated by Mark Prezorski, landscape curator for The Olana Partnership, and Jane Smith, architect and partner at Spacesmith.
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