Calvert Vaux
| Calvert Vaux | |
|---|---|
Calvert Vaux
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| Born |
December 20, 1824 London |
| Died | November 19, 1895 (aged 70) Brooklyn, New York |
| Occupation | Architect |
Calvert Vaux (/vɔːks/; December 20, 1824 – November 19, 1895) was a British-American architect and landscape designer. He is best known as the co-designer, along with his protégé and junior partner Frederick Law Olmsted, of what would become New York's Central Park.
Vaux, on his own and in various partnerships, designed and created dozens of parks across the country. He introduced new ideas about the significance of public parks in America during a hectic time of urbanization. This industrialization of the cityscape inspired him to focus on an integration of buildings, bridges, and other forms of architecture into their natural surroundings. He favored naturalistic, rustic, and curvilinear lines in his designs, and his design statements contributed much to today’s landscape and architecture.
Little is known about Vaux's childhood and upbringing. He was born in London in 1824, and his father was a physician who provided a comfortable income for his family.
Vaux attended a private primary school until the age of nine. He then trained as an apprentice under London architect Lewis Nockalls Cottingham, a leader of the Gothic Revival movement. Vaux trained under Cottingham until the age of 26, becoming a skilled draftsman.
In 1851, Vaux exhibited in London a collection of landscape watercolors made on a tour to the Continent, an exhibit that captured the attention of the American landscape designer and writer Andrew Jackson Downing, who many consider "The Father of American Landscape Architecture." Downing had traveled to London in search of an architect who would complement his vision of what a landscape should be. Downing believed that architecture should be visually integrated into the surrounding landscape, and he wanted to work with someone who had as deep an appreciation of art as he did. Vaux readily accepted the job and moved to the United States.
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