Charles Downing Lay papers
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Date
Creator
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Language of Materials
Abstract
This collection consists of material by and related to the American landscape architect Charles Downing Lay (1877-1956). It includes correspondence, landscape architecture drawings, lectures, printed materials, photographs, engravings, and watercolors.
Biographical / Historical
Charles Downing Lay (1877-1956) was an early 20th century landscape architect. The son of painter Oliver Ingraham Lay and Hester Marian Wait Lay, he was born in Newburgh, New York on Sept. 3, 1877. Lay attended Columbia University's School of Architecture from 1896 to 1900, and in 1902 became the second graduate of the landscape architecture program at Harvard University.
In 1904, Lay started his own landscape architecture practice, and in 1910, he formed a partnership with Henry V. Hubbard and Robert Wheelwright. They practiced under the name Lay, Hubbard, and Wheelwright and in October 1910 they began publishing the professional journal Landscape Architecture, with Lay serving as editor and manager until 1921.
Lay worked as the landscape architect for the New York City Department of Parks from 1913 to 1914. He was later hired by the City of New York to design Alley Pond Park in Queens in 1929. Lay's design of Marine Park in Brooklyn (which was never fully realized) won a silver medal at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Lay was the consulting landscape architect to the board of design for the 1939 New York World's Fair. During World War II Lay worked on such military projects as Fort Jay in Brooklyn, New York, and the naval air station at Floyd Bennett Field. After the war he consulted for the U.S. and New York City Public Housing Authorities.
Lay contributed to a variety of publications, writing extensively on such topics as parks, urban planning, art, and architecture. He was a fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and member of the National Academy of Design, the Art Students League of New York, and the Century Association. In 1948 he helped form the Housatonic Valley Planning Association.
Lay died on Feb. 15, 1956 in Stratford, Connecticut at the age of 78.
Arrangement
This collection is organized into 7 series by document type.
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of material by and related to the American landscape architect Charles Downing Lay (1877-1956). It includes correspondence, landscape architecture drawings, lectures, printed materials, photographs, engravings, and watercolors.
Subjects
Access Restrictions
Open to qualified researchers by appointment only.
Use Restrictions
Permission to reproduce any Department of Prints, Photographs and Architectural Collections holdings through publication must be obtained from: Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 270. Fax: (212) 579-8794. rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org
Preferred Citation
The collection should be cited as: Charles Downing Lay papers, PR 366, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, The New-York Historical Society.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchase, 2015.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Processed by archivist Marybeth Kavanagh, July 2018.