Reflecting on the sunset

Technically Olmsted's work didn't include what today we commonly refer to as the "Esplanade" as in Hatch Shell area

However he did work on the strip of land along the Boston bank of the Charles -- specifically Olmsted's work on the Charles itself involved two projects: Charlesbank [near the MOS] and the Charlesgate/Upper Park [extending from the Harvard Bridge west to the Boston
University Bridge].

the following excerpts are taken from a Boston Landmarks Commission
Environment Department
City of Boston study document:

Charles River Esplanade
Study Report
as amended 2009
https://www.cityofboston.gov/Images_Documents/Charles%20River%20Esplanad...

Charlesbank: History
Charlesbank, the first section of the Boston Esplanade to become parkland, was a tidal area that was gradually filled during the late nineteenth century. A seawall was built in the 1880s and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted Sr. designed a pioneering park here in the 1880s and 90s that included a promenade along the river as well as landscaped grounds for active and passive recreation.

The area was expanded and modified in 1908 by landscape architect Guy Lowell, but remained a linear park.

In the 1930s Charles Street, which forms the southern boundary of Charlesbank, was widened to accommodate increasing traffic, so fill was added at the western end of the park to create additional parkland. The new land had a sloped edge rather than a seawall and the work largely obliterated what remained of Olmsted’s Charlesbank plan. In the early 1950s additional parkland was taken to create additional ramps associated with the construction of Storrow Drive. More filled land was created in the western part of Charlesbank to compensate. Most recently, construction of the new Charles River dam in 1978 has eliminated the need for an active lock at the old dam and there have been modifications to Leverett Circle as part of the Central Artery/Tunnel project.

Landscape architect Arthur Shurcliff’s 1949 plan for Charlesbank shows the primary elements of the expanded park as open fields with scattered trees around the perimeter and a swimming pool.

While the exact form of these features has changed over time, the activities remain much as Shurcliff envisioned.

Features of Charlesbank that continue to reflect Shurcliff’s design intent
are the continuous path along the water’s edge from the Upper Gatehouse west to the Longfellow Bridge; the grass strip and tree plantings along the road edge; and the use of informally massed deciduous trees around the perimeter of the parkland.

CHARLESGATE/UPPER PARK
Charlesgate/Upper Park: History
Charlesgate/Upper Park is the westernmost segment of the Boston Esplanade. It extends from the Harvard Bridge on the east to the Boston University Bridge on the west. It is bordered on the north by the Charles River and on the south by Storrow Drive. It is roughly 4,000’ long and ranges between 30’ and 230’ wide.

Charlesgate and the Bay State Road area were the last section of the Esplanade to be filled. West of Charlesgate (where the Muddy River enters the Charles) the seawall turns slightly north and follows the alignment of Bay State Road. Some filling was done between the Harvard Bridge and the Muddy River at Charlesgate in the early 1900s as part of the creation of the Charles River Basin, but at that time the narrow strip of parkland extended only as far west as Charlesgate.

Additional filling was done in the 1930s as part of the creation of the Storrow Memorial
Embankment when parkland was extended west from Charlesgate to the Boston University Bridge.

When Storrow Drive was built along the south side of the Charles River in the 1950s, the parkland was widened again to compensate for the taking of land. This time the shoreline was undulating rather than straight. Construction of the Bowker Overpass in the 1960s resulted in further filling at Charlesgate, with much of the new land area dominated by overhead highway ramps.