This symposium weekend of activities explores the work and influence of architect Calvert Vaux, co-designer with Olmsted of Central Park and Prospect Park. Saturday will include talks by noted scholars Francis Kowsky, Emily Cooperman, Harvey Flad, Judith Major, Sean Sawyer and Kyle Toth, as well as a tour of The Point, the nearby country estate designed by Vaux in 1855 that is pivotal in the history of American Picturesque architecture and landscape design. The symposium’s open air site will overlook the Hudson River in Staatsburg, NY, a short walk from The Point, and the program will include lunch and a reception. Sunday includes special tours of Olana, Wilderstein, and Springside, all sites of Vaux landscape and building designs in the Hudson Valley. More information about the speakers is at https://calvertvaux.org/?page_id=695.
Calvert Vaux Preservation Alliance (CVPA) works to restore and find sustainable uses for the Vaux-designed Hoyt mansion and landscape at The Point, as well as the site’s 20th-century barn complex and gentleman’s farm. Created three years after the death of Vaux’s mentor and partner Andrew Jackson Downing, and two years before Vaux began the Greensward Plan for New York City’s Central Park, The Point is iconic for its picturesque siting and for architecture with landscape. CVPA seeks to expand awareness of the crucial role played by Vaux in American architecture and landscape design, and to make The Point a place where his work can be experienced and enjoyed.