John Nolen

John Nolen (1869-1937) was an American landscape architect and planner best known for his extensive work in Florida.

He established an office in Cambridge, where he and his associates branched out into city planning as well as landscape architecture. Nolen was a frequent lecturer on city and town planning, and was active in many professional organizations, including the American City Planning Institute, American Civic Association, American Society of Landscape Architects, American Society of Planning Officials, International Garden Cities and Town-Planning Federation, National Conference on City Planning, and the Town Planning Institute of England.

Nolen completed a number of projects in Wisconsin as well as earlier efforts in Virginia, Georgia, and particularly, San Diego, California. Nolen’s prestige as an innovative urban planner was firmly established. By 1919, Nolen had written two books, edited two others, and published dozens of articles. In 1927, he was elected president of the National Conference on City Planning. Mr. Nolen was the official landscape architect to such municipalities as Kingsport, Tennessee, Madison, Wisconsin, Montclair, New Jersey, Reading, Pennsylvania, Roanoke, Virginia, San Diego, California, New London, Connecticut, Savannah, Georgia, and Schenectady, New York.

After his initial success with Mariemont, Nolen moved on to Florida to plan what he called, "the last frontier." In February 1922, he contracted with St. Petersburg to design Florida’s first comprehensive plan.