Alfred Caldwell (May 26, 1903 – July 3, 1998) was an American

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

best known for his

landscape architecture Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for constructio ...

in and around

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Family and education

Caldwell and his wife Virginia had a daughter, Carol Caldwell Dooley, born on January 25, 1931, and a son, James Allen Caldwell, born on December 12, 1933. He received a Master of Science in city planning from the

Illinois Institute of Technology Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the merger of the Armour Institute and Lewis Institute in 1940. The university has prog ...

in 1948.

Career

Alfred Caldwell attended the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

but left before completing a degree. From 1926 to 1931 he worked for landscape architect

Jens Jensen Jens Jensen may refer to: * Jens Jensen (footballer) (1890–1957), Danish football (soccer) player who played one game for the Denmark national football team * Jens Jensen (landscape architect) (1860–1951), Danish-born landscape architect in Chi ...

and had a two-year private practice thereafter. In 1933 he was appointed Superintendent of Parks for

Dubuque, Iowa Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Il ...

, where he created Eagle Point Park. From 1936 to 1939 he was a landscape designer for the

Chicago Park District The Chicago Park District is one of the oldest and the largest park districts in the United States. As of 2016, there are over 600 parks included in the Chicago Park District as well as 27 beaches, several boat harbors, two botanic conservatories ...

and was the designer and architect of the

Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool The Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool, also known as Lincoln Park Lily Pool, is an important example of Prairie School landscape architecture designed by Alfred Caldwell and located at 125 W. Fullerton Parkway (between Stockton and Cannon Drives) in Linc ...

Lincoln Park Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US President Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for seven miles (11 km) from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, ...

. He was hired by

Mies van der Rohe Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. Along with Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd ...

in 1944 to teach landscape architecture at the

(IIT) College of Architecture. Caldwell resigned in 1959 in response to a dispute with the college administration. In 1965 he taught at

Virginia Polytechnic Institute Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

and the following year he began teaching at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

and stayed till 1973. In 1981 he returned to teach at IIT.

Honors

In 1980, Caldwell received the Distinguished Educator Award from the Chicago chapter of the

AIA AIA or A.I.A. or Aia may refer to: Aia * Aia, a small town in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa, Spain * Aia, current Kutaisi, ancient capital of Colchis * Aia, another name for Aea (Malis), an ancient town in Greece * ''Aia'', the collected ed ...

. In 1985, he was honored as an ACSA Distinguished Professor. The Illinois Institute of Technology named him a Doctor of Humane Letters in 1988.

Major works

20100801 Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool from southsoutheast-2 cropped

* Eagle Point Park, Dubuque, Iowa. * Promontory Point in Burnham Park, Chicago, Illinois. * Riis Park, Chicago. *

Lincoln Park, Chicago Lincoln Park is a designated community area on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Lying to the west of Lincoln Park, Chicago's largest park, it is one of the most affluent neighborhoods in Chicago. History In 1824, the United States ...

. Rehabilitated from 1998 to 2002 by the Lincoln Park Conservancy and Chicago Park District and designated as a

Chicago Landmark Chicago Landmark is a designation by the Mayor and the City Council of Chicago for historic sites in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Listed sites are selected after meeting a combination of criteria, including historical, economic, archite ...

and a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

. * Campus Landscaping,

, Chicago. Major portions have been destroyed. *

Lafayette Park, Detroit Lafayette Park is an neighborhood located east of Downtown Detroit. It contains a residential area of some 4,900 people and covers 0.07 sq mi. The northern section planned and partially built by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe is listed in the Nation ...

, together with his IIT colleagues

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. Along with Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd ...

and

Ludwig Hilberseimer Ludwig Karl Hilberseimer (September 14, 1885 – May 6, 1967) was a German architect and urban planner best known for his ties to the Bauhaus and to Mies van der Rohe, as well as for his work in urban planning at Armour Institute of Technology ( ...

. Caldwell, like his mentor Jens Jensen, promoted a natural style of landscape design. The intent was to manufacture a native landscape that copied natural

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

s. A complete natural ecosystem requires little maintenance other than removal of non-native

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

. Due to the subtleness of his planting designs and the live nature of landscape materials, many of Caldwell's projects have fallen into disrepair as the result of improper maintenance and modifications. The Lily Pool suffered the same neglect and misuse for many years, but was rehabilitated between 1998 and 2002 pursuant to a plan prepared by Wolff Landscape Architecture. It is now regularly maintained by the Lincoln Park Conservancy and the Chicago Park District. Caldwell's buildings are frequently mistaken for the work of

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

. Both architects created

Prairie School Prairie School is a late 19th- and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped in ...

designs in and around Chicago at roughly the same period of time. Caldwell stressed the importance of orientation for

passive solar In passive solar building design, windows, walls, and floors are made to collect, store, reflect, and distribute solar energy, in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer. This is called passive solar design because, unli ...

design, as well as integration of the structure into the landscape.

Caldwell’s own house

In the 1940s, Caldwell began construction of his own house near Bristol, Wisconsin, along with planting nearly of eastern hardwood forest. It was intended to be a working hobby farm. An apple orchard was planted, but farm buildings were never completed. As work progressed the house featured a low cost construction materials technique: stone for the stone walls was donated by neighboring farmers, labor was provided by students as they learned how to build a stone wall.

Death

Alfred Caldwell died at the age of 95 at his Bristol, Wisconsin, farm on July 3, 1998.

External links

Art Institute of Chicago: Alfred Caldwell oral interviewAlfred Caldwell collection at the Canadian Centre for Architecture

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caldwell, Alfred American landscape architects 1903 births 1998 deaths Architects from Chicago Architects from Wisconsin Modernist architects Illinois Institute of Technology faculty People from Bristol, Kenosha County, Wisconsin 20th-century American architects 20th-century American botanists