Architecture Research Office (ARO), in partnership with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (NYS OPRHP) and The Olana Partnership (TOP), has today revealed a new plan for the Frederic Church Center for Art and Landscape at the Olana State Historic Site in Upstate New York.

The new Center is the centerpiece of a larger master plan designed in 2015 by Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects (NBW). The scheme includes a restoration of the famed Hudson River School painter’s self-designed farm and homestead, which was constructed on the property between 1860 and 1900. ARO’s Center will serve as the new visitors arrival gateway overlooking the Catskills range at the site’s historic core, ensuring that their experience will be compatible with the surrounding landscape and vistas beyond.

Featuring a mass timber design, the total 4,500-square-foot structure includes a broad outdoor terrace and large bird-safe glazed windows. CLT roof panels combine with exposed GLT columns and beams to reference the adjacent pump and farm houses. This will be the first mass timber public building ever to be realized in New York State, and be operated using all-electric HVAC systems while drawing attention to the site’s Church-designed Lake Road and its connection to a newly-enact viewing terrace nearby. 

ARO says the project will be realized “in reciprocity” to the surrounding natural elements of the site. Principal Adam Yarinsky elaborates that it is “vital for the new Center to be in harmony with the larger Olana site. By building with sustainable, natural materials, we aim for the Center to further Olana’s ongoing environmental stewardship.” 

His colleague, Principal Kim Yao, added: “We plan for the Center to be as enduring as the landscape, while serving the broader public with an expanded visitor experience.”

The firm says the Center will be open to the public by 2024 to coincide with the Centennial Celebration of the New York State Parks system, with another public celebration to follow in 2026 in honor of the Connecticut-born Church’s 200th birthday.

“Our goal for this project is to show visitors the beauty of Olana as Church intended,” NBW’s Thomas Woltz said finally. “In our landscape designs, we wanted to embody Church’s plans for the site, and let guests see the vast mountains and meadows as he did when he visited as a young man. At the same time, we renewed several elements of Olana’s environment and updated the site in order to maintain its timelessness.”

Information about visiting the existing Olana State Historic Site can be found here.