Country, Park & City: The Architecture and Life of Calvert VauxOxford University Press, 2003 M08 7 - 391 pages After beginning his career as an architect in London, Calvert Vaux (1824-1895) came to the Hudson River valley in 1850 at the invitation of Andrew Jackson Downing, the reform-minded writer on houses and gardens. As Downing's partner, and after Downing's death in 1852, Vaux designed country and suburban dwellings that were remarkable for their well-conceived plans and their sensitive rapport with nature. By 1857, the year he published his book Villas and Cottages, Vaux had moved to New York City. There he asked Frederick Law Olmsted to join him in preparing a design for Central Park. He spent the next 38 years defending and refining their vision of Central Park as a work of art. After the Civil War, he and Olmsted led the nascent American park movement with their designs for parks and parkways in Brooklyn, Buffalo, and many other American cities. Apart from undertakings with Olmsted, Vaux cultivated a distinguished architectural practice. Among his clients were the artist Frederic Church, whose dream house, Olana, he helped create; and the reform politician Samuel Tilden, whose residence on New York's Gramercy Park remains one of the country's outstanding Victorian buildings. A pioneering advocate for apartment houses in American cities, Vaux designed buildings that mirrored the advance of urbanization in America, including early model housing for the poor. He planned the original portions of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History and conceived a stunning proposal for a vast iron and glass building to house the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. Especially notable are the many bridges and other charming structures that he designed for Central Park. Vaux considered the Park's Terrace, decorated by J. W. Mould, as his greatest achievement. An active participant in the cultural and intellectual life of New York, Vaux was an idealist who regarded himself as an artist and a professional. And while much has been written on Olmsted, comparatively little has been published about Vaux. The first in-depth account of Vaux's career, Country, Park, and City should be of great interest to historians of art, architecture, and urbanism, as well as preservationists and other readers interested in New York City's past and America's first parks. |
Contents
11 | |
23 | |
THE INEXHAUSTIBLE DEMAND FOR RURAL RESIDENCES 18531856 | 53 |
ALL THAT HUMAN INTELLIGENCE CAN ACHIEVE IN ADORNING AND BEAUTIFYING THE EARTH 18571858 | 91 |
THE ONLY THING THAT GIVES ME MUCH ENCOURAGEMENT THAT I HAVE IN ME THE GERM OF AN ARCHITECT The Terrace | 119 |
POSSIBLE TOGETHER IMPOSSIBLE TO EITHER ALONE 18591865 | 137 |
COUNTRY LIFE IN COMPARISON WITH CITY LIFE A QUESTION OF DELICATE ADJUSTMENT 18661872 | 175 |
ALWAYS LIGHTARMED CHEERFUL AND READY FOR A RUN TO THE NEAREST SUMMIT 18731880 | 229 |
A SCHOOL OF ROMANTICISTS EVEN THEN FAST VANISHING 18811895 | 281 |
NOTES | 321 |
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Other editions - View all
Country, Park and City: The Architecture and Life of Calvert Vaux Francis R. Kowsky Limited preview - 2003 |
Country, Park & City: The Architecture and Life of Calvert Vaux Francis R. Kowsky Limited preview - 2003 |
Country, Park, & City: The Architecture and Life of Calvert Vaux Francis R. Kowsky No preview available - 1998 |
Common terms and phrases
American Andrew Jackson Downing appeared Arch architecture artist Avenue beauty Bigelow Bloor brick Bridge Brooklyn Buffalo and Erie Builder building Calvert Vaux carriage Central Park Church Clarence Cook commission construction County Public Library Courtesy of Buffalo Downing and Vaux Downing's drawings drive dwelling elevated enjoyed entrance erected Erie County Erie County Public facade feature FIGURE floor Frederick Law Olmsted Gothic Green Greensward plan grounds hall historic Hudson idea Jervis McEntee lake land landscape architect later Mould Museum natural Newburgh Olana Olmsted and Vaux Olmsted's park commissioners partners Paul Dana PFLO picturesque porch proposed Prospect Park public park Ramble residence Richard Morris Hunt River roof rustic scenery scheme side space stone Street structure summer Terrace tower Truefitt Vaux and Olmsted Vaux designed Vaux to Olmsted Vaux took Vaux's veranda Villas and Cottages visitors walls York City