Vaux, Calvert

Vaux, Calvert vôks [key], 1824–95, American landscape architect, b. London. He emigrated (1850) to the United States, and assisted A. J. Downing with the U.S. Capitol grounds and a number of Hudson River estates. Later he worked with Frederick Law Olmsted and with him developed Central Park in New York City, the state reservation at Niagara Falls, N.Y. (now a state park), Prospect Park in Brooklyn, N.Y., and other parks. He made the plans for the Metropolitan Museum and the American Museum of Natural History. His published work includes Villas and Cottages (1857).

See biographical studies by W. Alex and G. B. Tatum (1994) and F. R. Kowsky (1998).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

See more Encyclopedia articles on: Architecture: Biographies