Country, Park & City: The Architecture and Life of Calvert Vaux

Ask the average New Yorker who designed Central Park, and those who know their history will probably say Frederick Law Olmstead--and they would be partially correct. But ask for the other half of the designing duo and watch for the blank stares. Notoriously introverted, Calvert Vaux left a legacy that, along with Central Park, includes Prospect Park in Brooklyn, original portions of both the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History, as well as many other New York landmarks, yet most people outside of the architectural field have never heard of him. In Country, Park, & City: The Architecture and Life of Calvert Vaux, Francis R. Kowsky succeeds in rescuing Vaux from obscurity. In setting the record straight, Kowsky describes how Vaux originally approached Olmstead to join him in entering the design competition for Central Park in 1857, and after they won, the more charismatic Olmstead was recognized as the force behind the plan, while Vaux kept to the shadows. Kowsky also reveals Vaux as the originator of apartment-style urban dwellings, a concept that he applied to both upscale and low-rent complexes in New York, and which are now standard metropolitan domiciles. This richly detailed and often esoteric biography is a celebration of an artist who deserves recognition. Kowsky has colorfully put a face to the façade.