In honor of Earth Day today, let’s take a look at the impact prolific landscape architects Olmsted and Vaux had on New York City. Connecticut-born Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) and his partner Calvert Vaux (1824-1895) were instrumental in establishing the profession of landscape architecture in the United States through their many designs which continued the principles of the English naturalistic romantic landscape tradition. The original firm, Olmsted, Vaux & Co. (1865-72), and its successors, executed hundreds of projects throughout the nation, ranging from municipal and state parks, parkways, estates, and institutional grounds, to residential subdivisions. Olmsted & Vaux’s first design collaboration, as well as the first designed American park, was Central Park (1858). Olmsted and Vaux’s other New York City projects include Prospect Park, Morningside Park, Riverside Park and Drive, and Ocean and Eastern Parkways, all designated scenic landmarks. Olmsted had struggled in his early life to find a career and had worked, among other jobs, as a gentleman farmer and writer/publisher, including time as a correspondent for the New York Times writing on slavery in the South. Olmsted was initially hired in 1857 to act as superintendent for clearing the site of the proposed Central Park under chief engineer Egbert Viele. After Viele’s plan was scrapped for a design competition, due in large part to Vaux’s influence, Olmsted collaborated with Vaux on the winning design. Olmsted was appointed Architect in Chief, and Vaux as Consulting Architect. During the Civil War, Olmsted served as general secretary of the U.S. Sanitary Commission and was involved in several landscape designs in California. After his return to New York in 1865, he resumed work in Central Park and again collaborated with Vaux on Brooklyn’s Prospect Park (1866). Olmsted retired in poor physical and mental health in 1895, and the firm continued under the direction of his son and nephew. Among his many other notable projects were the U.S. Capitol Grounds, the Boston Park System, Stanford University, Biltmore Estate, and the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893. Calvert Vaux, one of America’s foremost 19th-century architects, was born and trained in London, but moved to New York in 1850 to assist Andrew Jackson Downing, then considered the preeminent landscape designer in the country. While associated with Downing, Vaux worked on the landscape designs of the grounds of the U.S. Capitol, Smithsonian Institution, and the White House. In 1856, Vaux moved to New York City and published a book documenting his early works called “Villas and Cottages.” Following his selection with Olmsted as designers of Central Park, Vaux was in charge of the park’s architectural features, including its bridges, structures, and shelters. Vaux served in various capacities for the Department of Public Parks and collaborated with Jacob Wrey Mould in the design of the first buildings of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1874-80) and American Museum of Natural History (1874-77). Vaux drowned in Gravesend Bay in 1895, presumably a suicide.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Apr 2014 14:00:00 +0000
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