Calvert Vaux

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Calvert Vaux
Rockwood Park, Saint John

Calvert Vaux FAIA (/vɔːks/; December 20, 1824 – November 19, 1895) was an English-American architect and landscape designer, best known as the co-designer, along with his protégé and junior partner Frederick Law Olmsted, of what would become New York City's Central Park.

Vaux, on his own and in various partnerships, designed and created dozens of parks across the northeastern

industrialization of the cityscape
inspired Vaux to focus on the integration of buildings, bridges, and other forms of architecture into their natural surroundings. He favored naturalistic and curvilinear lines in his designs.

In addition to landscape architecture, Vaux was a highly-sought after architect until the 1870s, when his modes of design could not endure the country's return to classical forms. His partnership with Andrew Jackson Downing, a major figure in horticulture, landscape design, and domestic architecture, brought him from London to Newburgh, New York, in 1850. There, Downing's praise of Gothic Revival and Italianate architecture contributed to Vaux's personal growth as a designer of homes and landscapes. After Downing's sudden death in 1852, Vaux was left with their assistant Frederick Clarke Withers to continue Downing's legacy. He left Newburgh in 1856 to grow his practice in New York City, where he began, received and completed commissions with Olmsted, Withers, and Jacob Wrey Mould. As a result, Vaux's name was frequently overshadowed by other designers, such as Olmsted, yet the contemporary American public still recognized his talents.

Early life

Born in

Gothic Revival movement interested in Tudor architecture.[1] Vaux trained under Cottingham until the age of twenty-six, also befriending George Godwin and George Truefitt during his studies.[citation needed
]

First partnership

In 1850, Vaux exhibited a series of

watercolor landscapes that he made while en route to the United States that caught the attention of Andrew Jackson Downing, a noted landscape architect in Newburgh, New York. Rejected in his offer to Alexander Jackson Davis to form a partnership, Downing traveled to London in search of a new architect who would complement his architectural vision. [2] He believed that architecture should be visually integrated into the surrounding landscape, and wanted to work with someone who was equally passionate. Vaux accepted the opportunity and subsequently moved to the United States.[citation needed
]

Vaux worked with Downing for two years and became a firm partner. Together, they designed many projects such as the White House grounds and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Vaux's work on the Smithsonian inspired him to write an article in 1852 for The Horticulturalist, of which Downing was the editor. In his publication, he argued that the government should recognize and support the arts. Shortly afterward, Downing died in a steamboat accident.[citation needed]

Vaux & Withers

After Downing's death, Vaux gained control of the firm. As a partner, he hired Frederick Clarke Withers, who was already working at the company.[3] In two separate periods of partnership, interrupted by the Civil War, their projects included multiple houses in Newburgh, the Hudson River State Hospital, and the Jefferson Market Courthouse.

U.S. citizenship, affiliations, and publishing

In 1856, he gained U.S. citizenship and became identified with New York City's artistic community, “the guild,” joining the National Academy of Design, as well as the Century Club.

In 1857, he became one of the founding members of the American Institute of Architects.

Also in 1857, Vaux published Villas and Cottages, which was an influential

pattern book
that determined the standards for “Victorian Gothic” architecture.

These particular writings revealed his acknowledgment and tribute to Ruskin and Ralph Waldo Emerson, as well as to his former partner Downing. These people, among others, influenced him intellectually and in his design path.

Collaboration with Olmsted

New York City's Central Park
Frederic Church
(1870–72)

In 1857, Vaux recruited

Bethesda Terrace
is a good example.

In 1865, Vaux and Olmsted founded Olmsted, Vaux and Co., which went on to design

Front Park
).

Vaux designed many structures to beautify the parks, but most of these have been demolished. Vaux also designed a large Canadian city park in the city of

Rockwood Park
. It is one of the largest of its kind in Canada.

In 1871, the partners designed the grounds of the

New York State Hospital for the Insane in Buffalo and the Hudson River State Hospital for the Insane in Poughkeepsie
.

In 1872, Vaux dissolved the partnership and went on to form an architectural partnership with George K. Radford and Samuel Parsons. In that same year he completed work on Olana, the home of artist Frederic Edwin Church, who collaborated with Vaux on the mansion's design.[4]

Famous

The Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital in Towson, Maryland
.

Less familiar are twelve projects Vaux designed for the

Children's Aid Society in partnership with Radford; the Fourteenth Ward Industrial School (1889), pp. 256-258 Mott Street, facing the churchyard of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral,[5] and the Elizabeth Home for Girls (1892), 307 East 12th Street, both survive and are landmarked.[6]

Downing Park, Newburgh, NY (1889)

The last collaboration between Vaux and Olmsted was Downing Park in Newburgh, given to the memory of Downing. Divided into two sections, a hillside landscape and a meadow, the partners handled each differently, connecting them via paths. After Vaux's death, his son Downing completed the grounds, adding a conservatory of his own design. John C. Olmstead completed his father's portion as he had become gravely ill and could not return to Newburgh.[7]

Death

On November 19, 1895, Vaux accidentally drowned in Gravesend Bay in Brooklyn while visiting his son Downing. He is buried in Kingston, New York's Montrepose Cemetery. In 1998, the city of New York dedicated Calvert Vaux Park, situated in Gravesend overlooking the bay, to him.[8]

Personal life

In 1854, Vaux married Mary Swan McEntee, the sister of Jervis McEntee, a Hudson River School painter. They had two sons (Calvert and Downing) and two daughters (Helen and Julia).

Selected architectural works

Downing & Vaux (1850–52)

  • Joel T. Headley House, "Cedar Lawn," New Windsor, NY (1850–51)
    Daniel Parish House, Newport, RI (1852)
    W. E. Warren House, Newburgh, NY (1853)
    Ammadelle, Oxford, MS (1859–61)
  • Remodel of Warren Delano House, "Algonac," Balmville, NY (1851)
  • Dr. William A. M. Culbert House, Newburgh, NY (1851–52)
  • William L. Findlay House, Newburgh, NY (1851–52)
  • Daniel Parish House, Newport, RI (1852–53; 1855)
  • Robert Dodge House, Washington, D.C. (1850–53)

Sole Partner

[9]

Vaux & Withers (1854–56)

[10]

Central Park Structures (1857–70)

[11]

Country Houses (1856–63)

[13]

Vaux, Withers & Co. (1863–1871)

[14]

Later Career (1869–1889)

[15]

Sources

  • Kowsky, Francis R. Country, Park, & City: The Architecture and Life of Calvert Vaux. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

References

  1. ^ Kowsky, 15–16
  2. ^ Kowsky, pp. 12–14, 23.
  3. ^ "Architectural Archives | Weitzman School".
  4. .
  5. ^ New York songlines.com: Mott Street; The Masterpiece next door: Fourteenth Ward Industrial School Archived April 6, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved February 9, 2023.
  7. ^ Kowsky, pp. 317–319
  8. ^ Calvert Vaux Park, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Accessed September 8, 2007.
  9. ^ Kowsky, 28–42. The Culbert house remains ruined after a 1981 fire; the Findlay House no longer stands.
  10. ^ Kowsky, 54–91. The Willis house still exists as a highly altered 1-story house, with Vaux's landscape eradicated. Wodenethe no longer stands, neither do the Bank of New York or Gray house.
  11. ^ Kowsky, 103–135, 189–94
  12. ^ "Tomes-Higgins House". Archived from the original on November 22, 2021.
  13. ^ Kowsky, 141–48. The Brooks house no longer stands. The Berreda house has seen various alterations, chiefly the removal of a tower.
  14. ^ Kowsky, 198–251. The Museum of Natural History no longer stands.
  15. ^ Kowsky, 261–319. The Pumpelly house no longer stands.

External links