Peter M. Wolf is an American author, land planning and urban policy authority, investment manager, and philanthropist. He lives in New York City.
Early biography
Peter Michael Wolf, a fifth-generation member of the Godchaux-Weis-Wolf family, was born in New Orleans. He is the author of several books, including the biography ''The Sugar King: Leon Godchaux, A New Orleans Legend, His Creole Slave, and His Jewish Roots'' and his memoir, ''My New Orleans, Gone Away – A Memoir of Loss and Renewal.'' Wolf attended
Metairie Park Country Day School
Metairie Park Country Day School is a private, nondenominational, co-educational college preparatory school preparatory day school in Metairie, Louisiana, with classes in grades Pre-Kindergarten– 12. The campus is located in the Old Meta ...
,
Phillips Exeter Academy,
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
(BA),
Tulane University
Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...
(MA), and
New York University Institute of Fine Arts
The Institute of Fine Arts (IFA) of New York University is dedicated to graduate teaching and advanced research in the history of art, archaeology and the conservation and technology of works of art. It offers Master of Arts and Doctor of Philoso ...
(PhD). At Yale, he was elected to the
Manuscript Society
Manuscript Society is a senior society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Toward the end of each academic year 16 rising seniors are inducted into the society, which meets twice weekly for dinner and discussion. Manuscript is reputedly ...
and the
Elizabethan Club
The Elizabethan Club is a social club at Yale University named for Queen Elizabeth I and her era. Its profile and members tend toward a literary disposition, and conversation is one of the Club's chief purposes.
The Elizabethan Club's collectio ...
, and served as a board member and the publicity manager of the
Yale Daily News. During his graduate studies, he was awarded a
Fulbright Fellowship
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...
in Paris. His doctoral dissertation was published internationally in 1968, ''
Eugène Hénard
Eugène Alfred Hénard (22 October 1849 – 19 February 1923) was a French architect and a highly influential urban planner. He was a pioneer of roundabouts, which were first introduced in Paris in 1907.
Hénard advocated several major urban p ...
and the Beginning of
Urbanism
Urbanism is the study of how inhabitants of urban areas, such as towns and cities, interact with the built environment. It is a direct component of disciplines such as urban planning, which is the profession focusing on the physical design and ...
in Paris 1900–1914''. In 1969, it became the basis for a solo exhibition at the
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
in New York.
Wolf has been awarded grants for his writing and scholarship by the
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...
, the
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
, the
Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts
The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts is a 501(c)3 non-profit that “fosters the development and exchange of diverse and challenging ideas about architecture and its role in the arts, culture, and society. The Graham realize ...
, and the National Research and Education Trust Fund. He has twice been a visiting artist/scholar at the
American Academy in Rome
The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo (Janiculum Hill) in Rome.
The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.
History
In 1893, a group of American architects, ...
.
Wolf's career in urbanism began at Wilbur Smith Associates, where he engaged in
land planning focused on transportation. He began teaching urbanism as an adjunct professor at the School of Architecture at the
Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...
in 1971, and continued in that role through 1987. Wolf also began working for the
Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies
The Institute for Architecture & Urban Studies is a non-profit architecture studio and think tank located in Manhattan, New York, United States.
IAUS (1967–1984)
The Institute of Architecture and Urban Studies was founded in 1967 as a non-pr ...
in 1971, participating in a number of research initiatives, including: "The Street as a Component of the Urban Environment" (co-director with architect
Peter Eisenman, 1971–1973); "Low-Rise High-Density Prototype" (co-director with professor
Kenneth Frampton
Kenneth Brian Frampton (born 20 November 1930) is a British architect, critic and historian. He is the Ware Professor of Architecture at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University, New York. He has b ...
, 1971–1973); and Union Square Redevelopment Program (director, 1972–1973). From 1972–1982 Wolf served as chairman of the IAUS Board of Fellows and as a trustee.
Between 1965 and 1990, Wolf authored numerous studies and articles related to
land use
Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. Land use by humans has a long ...
and open space planning for the
Office of the Manhattan Borough President, the
Department of Housing and Urban Development,
Pan American World Airways
Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...
, and private land owners across the US. His study, "Shaker Heritage Historic District," commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts, the
New York State Council on the Arts
The New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) is an arts council serving the U.S. state of New York. It was established in 1960 through a bill introduced in the New York State Legislature by New York State Senator MacNeil Mitchell (1905–1996 ...
, the Shaker Central Trust Fund, and the Historical Society of the Town of Colonie, New York, was instrumental in saving the first
Shaker settlement in America, a
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
property. In 1987, as the consultant to the Village of
East Hampton, New York, he rewrote the East Hampton Village Residential Zoning
Ordinance and, in 2002, he served as senior advisor to the Town of East Hampton Comprehensive Plan.
Between 1970 and 2007, as owner of Peter Wolf Associates, Wolf represented private land owners, institutions, corporations, and communities in land use studies and land investment management projects.
Recent biography
Between 2008 and 2015, Peter Wolf Associates served as an investment manager on behalf of individuals, trusts, pension plans, and estates.
In 2010, Wolf founded and served as the chairman of the Thomas Moran Trust, a nonprofit dedicated to the restoration of the
Thomas Moran House
The Thomas and Mary Nimmo Moran House is a historic house museum at 229 Main Street in East Hampton, New York. Built in 1884, it was the home of Mary Nimmo Moran and Thomas Moran, both accomplished painters of the nineteenth century. The h ...
, the studio house and gardens of painter
Thomas Moran
Thomas Moran (February 12, 1837 – August 25, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker of the Hudson River School in New York whose work often featured the Rocky Mountains. Moran and his family, wife Mary Nimmo Moran and daughter Ruth too ...
and printmaker
Mary Nimmo Moran, a
National Historic Property. In 2012, he was appointed to the Advisory Committee of the Quiet Skies Coalition, a group that seeks to preserve the well-being of communities on the easternmost reaches of
Long Island suffering from noise pollution created by increasing air traffic.
Wolf’s biography ''The Sugar King: Leon Godchaux'', published in 2022, attracted advance praise from distinguished authors and journalists such as Walter Isaacson, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Nicholas B. Lemann, Richard Campanella and Lawrence N. Powell. It unearths the astonishing rise of a forgotten penniless, illiterate Jewish thirteen year old emigrant from France who becomes one of the most remarkable and famous men in the nineteenth century in Louisiana, all while remaining illiterate. His career is twined with the achievements of two Black men.
Wolf's memoir, ''My New Orleans, Gone Away,'' was published by Delphinium Books in 2013. The book, which reached the New York Times e-book best seller list in 2016, celebrates
and explores the issue of growing up as a Jew in the South.
Public service
Wolf has served on the New York Cultural Council, the Executive Committee of the
Architectural League of New York, and the Advisory Board of the
National Academy of Design
The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...
. He was chairman of the
Van Alen Institute Van Alen Institute is a New York City-based independent nonprofit architectural organization, dedicated to improving design in the public realm. It was founded in 1894 as the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects. In 1995, the institute was named in hono ...
in New York, New York and a trustee of One to World, a program for Fulbright Fellows and other foreign students in the greater New York area. He was appointed to the New York State Advisory Board of
The Trust for Public Land
The Trust for Public Land is a U.S. nonprofit organization with a mission to "create parks and protect land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come". Since its founding in 1972, the Trust for Public Land has compl ...
. He is currently an Advisory Board member of the Tulane University School of Architecture, a trustee of Guild Hall and the Village Preservation Society, both in East Hampton where he was a Town-appointed member of the Airport Planning Committee, Noise Subcommittee.
Bibliography
Books
* ''Eugène Hénard and the Beginning of Urbanism in France 1900–1914'' (International Federation of Housing and Planning/Centre de Recherché de Urbanisme, 1969)
* ''Another Chance for Cities'' (Whitney Museum of American Art, 1970)
* ''The Evolving City: Urban Design Proposals by Ulrich Franzen and Paul Rudolph'' (Whitney Library of Design for American Federation of Arts, 1974)
* ''The Future of the City: New Directions in Urban Planning'' (Watson Guptill Publications, 1974)
* ''Land in America: Its Value, Use and Control'' (Pantheon Books, 1981)
* ''Hot Towns: The Future of the Fastest Growing Communities in America'' (Rutgers University Press, 1999)
* ''Land Use and Abuse in America: A Call to Action'' (Xlibris Corporation, 2010)
[ (]self-published
Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using POD (pri ...
)
* ''My New Orleans, Gone Away – A Memoir of Loss and Renewal'' (Delphinium Books, 2013)
* ''The Sugar King: Leon Godchaux, A New Orleans Legend, His Creole Slave, and His Jewish Roots''
Selected articles and essays
* “Michelangelo’s Laurenziana and Inconspicuous Traditions,” ''Marsyas,'' vol. XII, 1964–1965
* "Space, Time and Urbanism," ''Art in America,'' November–December 1966
* "The Urbanization of the Skyscraper," ''Art in America,'' September–October 1967
* "The First Modern Urbanist," ''The Architectural Forum,'' October 1967
* “The Structure of Motion in the City,” ''Art in America,'' no. 1, January–February 1969
* “Blue Hill: A New Concept in Office Park Development” (with E.M. Whitlock), ''Traffic Engineering,'' July 1969, vol. 39, no.10
* "Urban Redevelopment 19th-Century Style: Older, Bolder, Ideas for Today," ''Design Quarterly,'' 85, Walker Art Center, 1970
* "The Urban Street," ''Art in America,'' November–December 1970
* "City Structuring and Social Sense in 19th- and 20th-Century Urbanism," ''Perspecta, The Yale Architectural Journal,'' no. 13–14, 1972
* “Preservation, Country-Style: Land Management Comes First,” ''Council on Architecture, New York State Report,'' July 1974, vol. 7
* "Rethinking the Urban Street: Its Economic Context" and "Toward an Evaluation of Transportation Potential for the Urban Street" published in ''On Streets'' (MIT Press, 1978), p. 189ff., p. 377ff.
* "Forever Farmland: A Proposal for Preserving the Nation's Most Productive Soils," ''The Amicus Journal,'' Winter 1982, vol. 3, no. 3
* "Probing Mysteries of Rural Land," ''APA Planning Journal,'' June 1982, vol. 48, no. 6
Exhibitions
* ''Eugène Hénard and Urban Anticipations,'' Museum of Modern Art, New York (1969)
* ''Another Chance for Cities,'' Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (1970)
* ''Another Chance for Housing, Low-Rise Alternatives,'' Museum of Modern Art, New York (1973)
[Museum of Modern Art, press release for the exhibition, ''Another Chance for Housing, Low-Rise Alternatives,'' June 12, 1973.]
/ref>
* ''Recapturing Wisdom's Valley: The Watervliet Shaker Heritage, 1775–1975,'' Albany Institute of History & Art, Albany, New York (1975)
References
Sources
* 1957 Class Book, Yale Banner Publications
* Julius Weis, ''Autobiography of Julius Weis,'' Goldman's Printing Office, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1908
* Paul L. Godchaux, Jr., ''The Godchaux Family of New Orleans,'' self-published, 1971
* Laura Renee Westbrook, "The Godchaux Family in Louisiana History, Literature, and Public Folklore," PhD dissertation, University of Louisiana/Lafayette, 2001
* Course 185: The Development of Cities, Cooper Union School of Architecture, Cooper Union Course Catalog 1977–1987
* "IAUS: The Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies,” published by the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies, 1979
* "Feasibility Study, Durham Golf Development" for Paul Kempner and Associates, 1969
* "Land Investment Management Study for Sugarland Industries, Inc.," Houston, Texas, 1970
* "Toward an Evaluation Framework for Transportation Planning in the Urban Context" for United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Washington, DC, June 1971
* "The Impact of Metro-Flight on Urban Centers and Regional Development in the North-East Corridor" for Pan American World Airways, Inc., 1971
* "Lower Midtown Manhattan Study" for President, Borough of Manhattan and Community Board 5, New York, 1972
* "Shaker Heritage Historic District: South Family Property, Design and Implementation Program," 1973
* "Land Management Study, Watervliet-Shaker Historic and Recreation District" for the Town of Colonie, New York, 1973
* "Historic and Commercial Land Management Report" for East Hampton Town Planning Board, June 1976
* "East Hampton Village Zoning Study: A Report to The Trustees of East Hampton Village" April 1987
* Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement & Village of East Hampton Comprehensive Plan, adopted February 15, 200
* Robin Pogrebin, "Preserving the Home of Thomas Moran, Whose Art Preserves Visions of the West," ''The New York Times,'' August 24, 200
* Aileen Jacobson, "New Life for a Renowned Painter's House," ''The New York Times,'' March 215, 200
* Jeremy D. Samuelson, "The Lay of the Land," ''The East Hampton Star,'' April 27, 201
* Jonathan Yardley, "Rising above Bias in the Big Easy," ''The Washington Post,'' July 7, 2013
* Winston Groom, "The Place He Was Once From," ''Wall Street Journal,'' July 19, 201
* Lori Ferguson, "Profile: Peter Wolf '53," ''The Exeter Bulletin,'' Winter 201
* Michael Patrick Welch, "Vanished Culture," ''The New Orleans Advocate,'' January 11, 201
* Joanne Pilgrim, "Aircraft Noise Sets Off a Primal Scream," ''The East Hampton Star,'' September 4, 201
* Joanne Pilgrim, "Big Players in New Push to Rein in Airport," ''The East Hampton Star,'' November 24, 201
* Joanne Pilgrim, "Packed Hearing on Airport Noise," ''The East Hampton Star,'' March 19, 201
* James Barron, "As Din of Aircraft Grows, East Hampton Reclaims Power to Regulate Airport," ''The New York Times,'' January 4, 201
External links
*
OCLC WorldCat website: "IAUS publications and content"
Sandra Cantey Obituary, ''The East Hampton Star''
Thomas Moran Trust
Quiet Skies Coalition
The Trust for Public Land
One to World
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolf, Peter M.
20th-century American architects
Land use
1935 births
Living people
New York University Institute of Fine Arts alumni
Yale University alumni
Tulane University alumni
Phillips Exeter Academy alumni
21st-century American architects