2024 Olmsted Network Conference Keynote: Francis "Frank" Kowsky

“Memory Belongs to the Friends who Loved Him; His Fame to the Country which Honors and Laments Him”- Olmsted, Vaux and Newburgh’s
Downing Park
Author and scholar Frank Kowsky will introduce us to Downing Park, the last great work of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux and their sons. The park was named after their mentor, Andrew Jackson Downing, a prominent American landscape designer and Newburgh native who died in a steamboat accident decades earlier.
Frank Kowsky shares the titles of SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Fellow of the Society of Architectural Historians. Kowsky has authored books on American architects and landscape architects. Country Park and City: The Life and Architecture of Calvert Vaux celebrated Olmsted’s collaborator on the design of Central Park. The Best Planned City in the World: Olmsted, Vaux and the Buffalo Park System examined their historic park plan for that Great Lakes city. Jacob Wrey Mould and the Artful Beauty of Central Park recounts the life and work of the ingenious architect who helped Vaux and Olmsted create Central Park. Kowsky has been a longtime member of the Olmsted Network.
Introduction by Olmsted Network Board Member Spencer Tunnell.