Charles Wellford Leavitt (1871–1928) was an American landscape architect,

urban planner An urban planner (also known as town planner) is a professional who practices in the field of town planning, urban planning or city planning. An urban planner may focus on a specific area of practice and have a title such as city planner, town ...

, and civil engineer who designed everything from elaborate gardens on Long Island, New York and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

estates to federal parks in

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, hotels in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

, plans of towns in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, New York and elsewhere. New York publisher Julius David Stern called Leavitt "a rare combination of engineer, artist, and diplomat", and the multi-faceted career chosen by Leavitt, veering between public and private commissions and embracing everything from hard-edged engineering to sensuous garden design, and calling for negotiations with everyone from wealthy entrepreneurs to county commissioners, called for an individual with singular talents. Leavitt was one of the preeminent landscape architects of his era and helped found the study of landscape architecture at New York City's

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, where he was one of the first three professors in the University's new four-year program in the discipline.

Early life

Charles Wellford Leavitt Jr. was born in

Riverton, New Jersey Riverton is a borough located in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough had a total population of 2,779,The Gunnery school in

Washington, Connecticut Washington is a rural town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, in the New England region of the United States. The population was 3,646 at the 2020 census. Washington is known for its picturesque countryside, historic architecture, and active civi ...

, and the Cheltenham Military Academy in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania. Charles Wellford Leavitt Jr. married Clara Gordon White at

Essex Fells, New Jersey Essex Fells is a borough in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 2,113,Essex Fells, New Jersey Essex Fells is a borough in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 2,113,Walter P. Chrysler, William C. Whitney, for whom Leavitt also designed a private racetrack on his estate, Henri Willis Bendel, Daniel S. Lamont, Foxhall P. Keene, Felix M. Warburg, Lillian Sefton Dodge, H. Fletcher Brown, E. K. Cone, George C. Smith, Issachar Cozzen III, Carlton Macy, George B. Post, Harry K. Knapp, Anson W. Hard and others. Most of Leavitt's landscape commissions were in the

hunt country and the North Shore of Long Island, but he also worked as far afield as Pasadena, California and

Duluth, Minnesota , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...

. Sometimes he acted as landscape architect on homes designed by other architects; often he also designed the homes as well as the adjacent landscaping. Leavitt's landscape designs ranged from enormous Italianate gardens ( Charles Schwab estate,

Loretto, Pennsylvania Loretto is a borough in Cambria County, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 1,302. Like the rest of Cambria County, it is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. Loretto is the home of Saint Franc ...

), to more intimate wildflower enclosures (J. A. Haskell estate,

Red Bank, New Jersey Red Bank is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. Incorporated in 1908, the community is on the Navesink River, the area's original transportation route to the ocean and other ports. Red Bank is in the New York Metropolitan ...

). Typically, Leavitt's designs for the gardens of the wealthy took account of the local topography, the axis of the home and the local fauna and flora. At

Kykuit Kykuit ( ), known also as the John D. Rockefeller Estate, is a 40-room historic house museum in Pocantico Hills, a hamlet in the town of Mount Pleasant, New York 25 miles north of New York City. The house was built for oil tycoon and Rockefelle ...

, the Rockefeller family home,

John D. Rockefeller John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He has been widely considered the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history. Rockefeller was ...

worked with Leavitt on designing approach roads to the estate; his son

John D. Rockefeller Jr. John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (January 29, 1874 – May 11, 1960) was an American financier and philanthropist, and the only son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. He was involved in the development of the vast office complex in M ...

then conferred with designer Leavitt on the estate's landscaping, but ultimately chose the landscape architect Welles Bosworth to design the estate's gardens. "Leavitt had the wit to suggest terracing, particularly on the steep slope to the west of the house," write Robert F. and Baldwin Dalzell in ''The House the Rockefellers Built'', "but his ideas were trumped by the fortuitous appearance of another contender." Samuel Untermyer Gardens

Leavitt's design work on estates eventually led him to other far-flung commissions. After designing a home for Foxhall Kenne, for instance, Leavitt subsequently designed several race courses for Kenne, an equestrian and race track owner, including the Empire City Race Track, as well as the tracks at Saratoga, Sheepshead Bay, Belmont Park,

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

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and

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

. But Leavitt's interests were not limited to confections for the Gilded Age elite. He took a deep interest in city planning, especially that of his adopted city of New York. On January 3, 1922, for instance, Leavitt was moved to write ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' concerning the routing of traffic flow, an issue addressed in a recent Times story. "The construction, operating, financial and economic aspects of any problem belong to the engineer and his field", wrote Leavitt to The Times. "This city is rich in her wealth of men of engineering genius and talent." Leavitt went on to praise the work of the city's engineers the previous winter in attempting to channel the city's growing traffic – a solution, Leavitt wrote, that had been largely successful. "The only failure seems to have been in the area of publicity", he said, "Engineering training, although thoroughly practical in many ways, is evidently visionary and weak when it comes to the matter of the creation of headlines." In his municipal planning work, Leavitt became a forceful practitioner of the City Beautiful architectural movement of the day. His design for the Lake Mirror Promenade in

Lakeland, Florida Lakeland is the most populous city in Polk County, Florida, part of the Tampa Bay Area, located along Interstate 4 east of Tampa. According to the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau release, the city had a population of 112,641. Lakeland is a principal ci ...

, executed in the 1920s, is one of the best-known examples of the emerging movement in city planning which altered the course of landscape design and changed the face of

urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

. The promenade circles the side of Lake Mirror on the east side of downtown, and incorporated a

loggia In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior gallery or corridor, usually on an upper level, but sometimes on the ground level of a building. The outer wall is open to the elements, usually supported by a series of columns ...

, a pedestrian area with a mix of public and private buildings, and a large open circle of lawn designed to accommodate an obelisk

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

(that was never built). The promenade, with its columns and other architectural elements, was meant to evoke ancient

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

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. In his plan for the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

campus, executed in 1906, Leavitt helped spearhead the emerging City Beautiful Movement. Leavitt's design hewed to the Beaux Arts style, but paid close attention to the axial relationship of buildings to open space. The Leavitt Plan for the campus remains influential in the University's planning today, Leavitt's Georgia plans, and other prominent commissions, brought him to the attention of developers such as

James Buchanan Duke James Buchanan Duke (December 23, 1856 – October 10, 1925) was an American tobacco and electric power industrialist best known for the introduction of modern cigarette manufacture and marketing, and his involvement with Duke University. ...

, who was anxious to convert his in Somerville, New Jersey into a moneyed enclave. In 1910 Duke hired Leavitt as his landscape architect to lay out the winding avenues, concrete walks, "and plenty of shade trees and ornamental plants" that would lend cache to Duke's proposed development. In selecting Leavitt, Duke had chosen a landscape architect and engineer who had also worn the developer's hat as well. In the late 19th century, Leavitt had teamed with Philadelphia businessman Anthony S. Drexel to create the New York Suburban Land Company. After learning that the railroads were going to extend service into New Jersey and southward, Drexel sent Leavitt to investigate, later going into business with the architect as well as Drexel's son-in-law John F. Fell. Their resulting partnership purchased from General William J. Gould for development, and named the community after Fell. (Subsequent tough economic times forced the partnership under management of Drexel's estate – but with engineer Leavitt still in charge).

Camden County, New Jersey Camden County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was 523,485, an increase of 9,828 (1.9%) from the 2010 census, making it the state's 8th-largest county. Its county seat is ...

also hired Leavitt after organizing its park commission in 1926. As consulting engineer, Leavitt and his firm were charged with developing a countywide public park and playground system. But Camden County subsequently purchased several properties which, Leavitt argued, were bought solely to enhance the property values of well-connected Camden businessmen – one of whom was the Commissioner of Parks. Although some of Leavitt's early plans were utilized, "the Park Commission therefore fired the brilliant engineer and so lost the vital support and support of his patron, Eldridge Johnson, president of the

Victor Talking Machine Company The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer that operated independently from 1901 until 1929, when it was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and subsequently operated as a subsidi ...

." Leavitt also designed municipal parks, including the federal parks in

, the Washington Crossing Park on the Delaware River, and did much of the initial town planning of

West Palm Beach, Florida West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon. The populati ...

, and Garden City, New York, as well as other prominent urban design projects. He served as chief engineer for the

Palisades Interstate Park Commission The Palisades Interstate Park Commission (PIPC) was formed in 1900 by Governors Theodore Roosevelt of New York and Foster Voorhees of New Jersey in response to the quarrying operations along the Palisades Cliffs of New Jersey. The Palisades, a Na ...

and designed urban plans for Long Beach; Garden City, Long Island, New York; Monument Valley Park in Colorado Springs, Colorado; the lieutenant governor's residence in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

; he also designed the stadium grandstand at

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

Forbes Field Forbes Field was a baseball park in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1909 to June 28, 1970. It was the third home of the Pittsburgh Pirates Major League Baseball (MLB) team, and the first home of the Pittsburgh Steelers ...

, and was the primary landscape architect for Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. Glensheen

Charles Leavitt, a resident of

Hartsdale, New York Hartsdale is a hamlet located in the town of Greenburgh, Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 5,293 at the 2010 census. It is a suburb of New York City. History Hartsdale, a CDP/hamlet/post-office in the town of Green ...

, was a longtime member of the

American Society of Civil Engineers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

, the

American Society of Landscape Architects The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) is a professional association for landscape architects in the United States. The ASLA's mission is to advance landscape architecture through advocacy, communication, education, and fellowship ...

, and the Architectural League of New York. Like many architects, especially in the era in which Leavitt practiced, he often bounced between his professional responsibilities and the social contacts which furnished him a steady stream of well-heeled clients. During his early years in business particularly, Leavitt was heavily reliant on his principal engineering assistant Robert W. Sayles, who died in 1913. On Leavitt's own death at age 57 from pneumonia in 1928, the firm, which had become Charles Wellford Leavitt & Son, remained active until 1940, run by Leavitt's son Gordon. In its obituary of Leavitt, ''

'' noted his design of disparate structures, including country clubs, race tracks, private estates, as well as his work on the Palisades and town planning. ''The Times'' called the designer a "landscape engineer" and "park designer." Charles Leavitt and his wife Clara had four other living children, and an infant daughter who died at four weeks.The New York Times, November 19, 1909
/ref>

References

External links

*

* ttp://www.nycroads.com/roads/palisades/ Palisades Interstate Parkway, Historic Overview, nycroads.com
Evermay House, Georgetown, Washington, D.C., georgetowner.com

Health, Sunshine and Wealth, Prepared by Charles Wellford Leavitt & Son, Camden County, New Jersey, Park Commission, Smithsonian Institution

Walter P. Chrysler Estate, Garden Club of America Collection, Charles Wellford Leavitt & Son

Ferris Garden, Emery Ferris estate, Scarsdale, New York, Charles Wellford Leavitt & Son, Garden Club of America collection

West Campus (campus master plan, 1912), Presbyterian College, South Carolina, plan by Charles Wellford Leavitt
https://web.archive.org/web/20110724191924/http://puka.cs.waikato.ac.nz/cgi-bin/cic/library?a=d&d=p1354]
Public Gardens of Minnesota, Glensheen Mansion Gardens, University of Minnesota

* [http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/laurens/S10817730012/index.htm Thornwell-Presbyterian College Historic District, Laurens County, South Carolina, (campus plan drawn by Charles W. Leavitt Jr.), National Register Properties in South Carolina, South Carolina Department of Archives and History]
Palisades: 100,000 Acres in 100 Years, by Robert O. Binnewies, published by Fordham University Press, 2001

Early life

References

External links

Further reading

See also