“Revisiting Gilded Age New York with Calvert Vaux”
October 27th, 2026, 6pm
New York General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen
20 West 44th Street, NYC 10036
Register at www.generalsociety.org
In the second half of the 19th century, New York grew into a true metropolis. Most people know about Frederick Law Olmsted’s work here, but in reality, it was his friend and collaborator Calvert Vaux who played the key role in creating both Central Park and Prospect Park, in the city, and many others. Vaux also drew the plans for some of the grandest and most historically significant buildings of his day. In this presentation, historians Francis Kowsky and Sara Cedar Miller will explore and discuss Vaux’s lasting—and often overlooked—contributions to the city’s urban legacy.
Francis Kowsky is SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Fellow of the Society of Architectural Historians. For many years, he taught the history of art at Buffalo State College. He has written books and articles on 19th-century American architects, including Frederick Withers, Jacob Wrey Mould, and Calvert Vaux. His book Calvert Vaux, Landscape Architect, was published earlier this year by the Library of American Landscape History.
Sara Cedar Miller has been the Historian Emerita of the Central Park Conservancy since 2017. She was the Conservancy photographer from 1984 and also its historian from 1989 to 2017. Miller is the author of Central Park: An American Masterpiece (2003), Strawberry Fields, Central Park’s Memorial to John Lennon (2011), Seeing Central Park: The Official Guidebook: Updated and Expanded (2021) and Before Central Park (2022).
This General Society Fall Lecture Series event is presented in conjunction with the Calvert Vaux Preservation Alliance (CVPA). CVPA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization currently working to restore and repurpose The Point, an 1855 Vaux work, in Staatsburg, NY: www.calvertvaux.org
The 2026 CVPA "Talks and Tours" project is supported with funding from the New York State Park and Trail Partnership Grants and New York’s Environmental Protection Fund. The Park and Trail Partnership Grants are administered by Parks & Trails New York, in partnership with the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
The CVPA “Talks and Tours” Project is supported with funding from the New York State Park and Trail Partnership Grants and New York’s Environmental Protection Fund. The Park and Trail Partnership Grants are administered by Parks and Trails NY, in partnership with the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
