Charles Downing Lay papers
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
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.
Repository
Series I: Architectural plans, 1939-1950, inclusive
Scope and Contents
This series contains 6 landscape architecture design drawings by Charles Downing Lay and Associates.
Planting plan for Krider Nurseries Rock Garden, Horticultural Exhibition, New York World's Fair, 1939, inclusive
Lordship Community Church Planting Plan, 1950, inclusive
Set of 4 landscape plans for the Scintilla Magneto Division of the Bendix Aviation Corporation in Sidney, NY, 1940, inclusive
Series II: Artwork, 1865-1934, inclusive
Scope and Contents
This series includes watercolors and engravings, mostly landscapes and still lifes, with a few portraits. The bulk of the artwork is by Charles Downing Lay, but there are also works by other artists, including Lay's father, Oliver Ingraham Lay, and Lay's wife, Laura Gill Lay. Some works are unsigned.
Paintings by Charles Downing Lay, 1925-1927, inclusive
Paintings by Charles Downing Lay, 1930-1934, inclusive
Paintings by other artists, 1865-1926, inclusive
Paintings, unsigned, 1925, undated, inclusive
Prints by Charles Downing Lay, undated, inclusive
Prints by other artists, undated, inclusive
Prints by Charles Downing Lay, 1926, undated, inclusive
Series III: Correspondence, 1910-1945, inclusive
Scope and Contents
This series consists of letters to and from Lay. Correspondents include Charles Dana Gibson (1943-44); Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue (1919-24); Robert Moses (1922); Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (1913, 1917); John C. Olmsted (1913); and Augustus Vincent Tack (1940-44).
The bulk of the correspondence has to do with Lay's involvement with the Century Association. There are many invitations and responses to dinners and exhibitions at the club.
There is also a substantial amount of correspondence with and about the architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue. There are letters between Lay and Goodhue discussing a mutual project (the Myler House in Pittsburgh), and then, after Goodhue's death in 1924, correspondence about planning a memorial exhibition of Goodhue's work at the Century Association.
There are also two letters from 1910 discussing the idea for the journal Landscape Architecture, as well as a letter appointing Lay the Landscape Architect of the NYC Department of Parks.
Correspondence, 1910-1917, inclusive
Correspondence, 1919-1929, inclusive
Correspondence, 1938-1941, inclusive
Correspondence, 1942-1943, inclusive
Correspondence, 1944-1945, inclusive
Correspondence, undated, inclusive
Series IV: Photographs, 1925, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
This series contains 20 photographs, mostly undated. It includes 7 images of George M. Olcott's estate, Casagmo, in Ridgefield, CT, which was designed by Lay. There is also one photo of architects working at drafting tables.
Photographs, 1925, undated, inclusive
Series V: Printed material, 1916-1965, inclusive
Scope and Contents
This series consists of exhibition catalogs, including one for the Horticultural Exhibition at the 1939 World's Fair; brochures about artists and landscapes; printed materials from events held at the Century Association; and miscellaneous clippings.
Century Association - Landscape Architecture magazine dinner, 1913, inclusive
Century Association - Augustus V. Tack dinner, 1940, inclusive
Century Association - Royal Cortissoz dinner, 1944, inclusive
Century Association - miscellaneous papers, 1939-1968, undated, inclusive
Clippings, 1939-1959, inclusive
Exhibitions, 1913, 1961, 1968, inclusive
Pamphlets, 1916-1958, inclusive
Series VI: Professional papers, 1906-1939, inclusive
Scope and Contents
This series includes lectures on landscape architecture (unsigned but presumably by Lay); greeting cards and promotional materials from Lay's professional practice; a catalog from a 1925 exhibition featuring Lay's landscape architecture plans and photographs; a certificate from the American Society of Landscape Architects; and a membership card from the Art Students League of New York.
Lectures, 1939, undated, inclusive
Business ephemera, 1906-1933, undated, inclusive
Series VII: Ribbons, 1887-1890, inclusive
Scope and Contents
This series includes 9 political and Civil War veteran ribbons. The connection of these items to Lay is unclear.