The Landscape Architecture Legacy of Dan Kiley Opens in New York at The Exhibition Space @ ABC Stone -Traveling Photographic Exhibition Honors Important Modernist Landscape Architect
Media Contact: Nord Wennerstrom | T: 202.483.0553 | M: 202.255.7076 | E: nord@tclf.org
“The Landscape Architecture Legacy of Dan Kiley … shows how modern landscapes often make a better case for modernism than the architecture itself.” – Wall Street Journal
Washington, D.C. (January 3, 2024) – The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) and ABC Stone today announced that The Landscape Architecture Legacy of Dan Kiley, a traveling photographic exhibition that honors one of the most important Modernist landscape architects, will be on view at The Exhibition Space @ ABC Stone (189 Banker Street Brooklyn, N.Y. 11222) January 18 – April 30, 2024. The exhibition, organized and curated by TCLF, is free and open by appointment (Monday-Friday, between 9:00 AM-4:00 PM ET, please contact Tina Annino tina@abcworldwidestone.com). An opening reception will be held on January 18 and will include a “Kiley Conversation” between the exhibition’s co-curator, Charles A. Birnbaum, TCLF’s President and CEO, and landscape architect Raymond Jungles, founder and principal of Raymond Jungles, Inc., who recently spearheaded the successful rehabilitation of the Kiley-designed Ford Foundation Atrium. This event is free, but registration is required and a donation is suggested. A smaller version of this exhibition was hosted by the New York Center for Architecture in spring 2015 and received rave reviews in the Wall Street Journal, and elsewhere where it traveled; this version is twice the size, includes videography with Kiley partner Joe Karr, who originally worked with Kiley on the Ford Foundation Atrium, and photography of the Atrium post-rehabilitation.
Dan Kiley (1912–2004) worked with some of the nation’s most significant architects, such as Eero Saarinen, Louis Kahn, and I.M. Pei, to create internationally acknowledged Modernist icons. His design legacy is substantial, influential, and, like much of our Modernist designed landscape legacy, ephemeral. In fact, Kiley’s widely acclaimed landscape architecture at Lincoln Center has been largely erased. The exhibition is meant to honor Kiley and his legacy while calling attention to the need for informed and effective stewardship of his work and, by extension, Modernist landscape design.
The photographs, by renowned photographers including Marion Benner, Todd Eberle, Alan Ward (who recently donated his digital photographic archives to TCLF), and others, document the state of 27 of Kiley’s more than 1,000 designs. Highlighted works include: Rockefeller University and the Ford Foundation Atrium, both in New York, N.Y.; Kenjockety, Westport, N.Y.; the Art Institute of Chicago’s South Garden, Chicago, IL; and, one of his final residential projects, Patterns, a garden for Gov. & Mrs. Pierre S. “Pete” du Pont IV, Wilmington, DE. A companion 72-page gallery guide (available free as a PDF) includes exhibition images, brief site descriptions and plans, and excerpts from recently gathered personal recollections from Kiley’s colleagues (a recently restored site, the National Gallery of Art’s East Building, is included in the catalogue, but not the exhibition). A complementary exhibition website features additional photography and details about each site, recollections from Kiley’s friends and colleagues, along with a rating of each public site’s condition (in 2013).
The following is a complete list of sites and photographers:
• Agnes R. Katz Plaza, Pittsburgh, PA, photography by Richard A. Stoner;
• Art Institute of Chicago, South Garden, Chicago, IL, photography by Tom Harris;
• Banneker Park (originally Tenth Street Overlook), Washington, D.C., photography by Frank Hallam Day;
• Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN, photography by Jeffrey A. Wolin;
• Cudahy Gardens, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI, photography by Tom Bamberger;
• Cummins Inc. Irwin Office Building (originally Irwin Union Bank and Trust Company), Columbus, IN, photography by Matthew Carbone;
• Currier Farm, Danby, VT, photography by Peter Vanderwarker;
• Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, photography by Alan Ward;
• Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, photography by Gwen Walstrand;
• East Farm (Kiley Home and Office), Charlotte, VT, photography by Aaron Kiley;
• Ford Foundation Atrium, New York, N.Y., photography by David Leventi and Barrett Doherty;
• Fountain Place (originally Allied Plaza), Dallas, TX, photography by Alan Ward;
• Hamilton Garden, Columbus, IN, photography by Millicent Harvey;
• Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, St Louis, MO, photography by David Johnson;
• John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, MA, photography by Alan Ward;
• Kenjockety (Shapiro Phelan Residence), Westport, N.Y., photography by Todd Eberle;
• Kiley Garden (originally NationsBank Plaza), Tampa, FL, photography by Maria Bevilacqua and Frederick Pirone;
• Kimmel Residence, Salisbury, CT, photography by Neil Landino, Jr.;
• Kusko Residence, Williamstown, MA, photography by Paul Warchol;
• L'Esplanade du Général de Gaulle, La Défense, Paris, France, photography by David Bacher;
• Miller House and Garden, Columbus, IN, photography by Millicent Harvey;
• Milton Lee Olive Park (originally Central District Filtration Plant), Chicago, IL, photography by Aaron Kiley;
• National Gallery of Art, East Building, Washington, D.C., photography by Lynn Silverman (catalogue only);
• North Christian Church, Columbus, IN, photography by Matthew Carbone;
• Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA, photography by Marion Brenner;
• Patterns (du Pont Residence), Wilmington, DE, photography by Roger Foley;
• Rockefeller University, New York, N.Y., photography by Benjamin Dimmitt;
• United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO, photography by Brian K. Thomson.
This exhibition is meant to prompt questions and discussions about responsible stewardship, which is central to TCLF’s mission. While some Kiley designs are dying quiet deaths, others are extremely well maintained or require modest attention to once again achieve their brilliance. What the exhibition cannot illustrate are Kiley designs that have been lost or severely altered, such as Lincoln Center in New York, N.Y., and Dulles Airport, outside Washington, D.C., which architect Jacquelin Robertson says was “in some ways the most lyrical piece of large-scale landscaping that I know of in this country.”
“When the 100th anniversary of Kiley’s birth in 2012 came and went–and nothing happened–The Cultural Landscape Foundation decided to mount a tribute to this great Modernist landscape architect,” said TCLF’s Birnbaum. “This exhibition and gallery guide are an introduction to Kiley’s life and work, not an exhaustive survey–that would take far longer than the eleven months in which this project was organized,” said Birnbaum. “By design, the catalogue entries, which present Kiley’s projects chronologically, provide a brief history and documentation of each site (and corresponding site plan), along with excerpts from recollections recently gathered from Kiley’s colleagues, including Gary Hilderbrand, Elizabeth K. Meyer, Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, Kevin Roche, Michael van Valkenburgh, Charles Waldheim, Peter Ker Walker, and Harry Wolf – lengthier entries including the complete text of the recollections are available on TCLF’s website.” The exhibition debuted at the Boston Architectural College in November 2013, and has been hosted at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., the Chicago Architecture Foundation, and more than twenty other venues to date.
"The exhibition … offers insights into what makes these places timelessly beautiful.”
- Milwaukee Independent
Generous support has been provided by more than 100 organizations and individuals, including Presenting Sponsors, ABC Stone, The Davey Tree Expert Company and Victor Stanley, Inc.; Media Partner, Landscape Architecture Magazine; Annual Partner, the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA); and The Hubbard Educational Foundation.
About ABC Stone
Since 1992, ABC Stone has aimed to meet the needs of the design industry in an ever-changing global market. By diversifying our material portfolio and service offerings, and providing our clients with a superior customer experience, ABC is redefining how the A + D industry conducts business.
About The Cultural Landscape Foundation
The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 1998 to connect people to places. TCLF educates and engages the public to make our shared landscape heritage more visible, identify its value, and empower its stewards. Through its website, publishing, lectures, and other events, TCLF broadens support and understanding for cultural landscapes. TCLF is also home to the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize.
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