Carl Francis Pilat

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Carl Francis Pilat (1876–1933), the nephew of Ignatz Anton Pilát, was an organizing member of the firm of Hinchman & Pilat,[1] then landscape architect for the city parks 1913–1918.[2] While with the city, Carl Pilat designed Astoria Park,[3] the Telewan project (later named Jacob Riis Park) in Queens, both around 1913,[4]: 2·3  and redesigns of Union Square and Isham, Gaynor memorial and Silver Lake parks. Pilat drew landscape designs for estates of C. H. Dodge, Spencer Trask, E. M. Shepard, E. K. Cone and the Baroness von Zimmerman, some of the gardens at what later became the Reeves-Reed Arboretum in Summit, New Jersey, and the Theodore Vail memorial[2] in Parsippany, New Jersey.[1]

Early life and education[edit]

Pilat was born on August 19, 1876, in Ossining, New York. he received an AB from the College of Agriculture of Cornell University in 1900.[5]

Career[edit]

He worked as a landscape architect of the New York City Parks Department for five years. When work on Central Park slowed down, Pilat became the chief landscape gardener of the city of New York. He planned improvements for many parks, including Washington Square Park, Battery Park, New York City Hall Park, Mount Morris and Prospect Parks.[6] Later he designed numerous estates in New Jersey, Long Island and in Westchester County, New York.[5] In 1914 Pilat completed the plans for a park along the shore of the East River at Astoria.[7]

Memberships[edit]

Pilat was a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects.[5]

Personal life and death[edit]

He died on May 26, 1933, in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey.[5]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b White, J. T., ed. (1916). "Pilat, Carl Francis". The National Cyclopædia of American Biography. Vol. 15 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ a b "Carl F. Pilat Dead; Beautified Parks". The New York Times. May 30, 1933. p. 15.
  3. ^ "Astoria Park Pool and Play Center" (PDF). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. June 20, 2006. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
  4. ^ "Cultural Landscape Report: Jacob Riis Park" (PDF). United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service. 1992. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 25, 2017. Retrieved September 3, 2017.
  5. ^ a b c d "Guide to the Carl F. Pilat Collection, 1925–1930". rmc.library.cornell.edu. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  6. ^ Mann, William A. (1993). Landscape Architecture: An Illustrated History in Timelines, Site Plans and Biography. John Wiley & Sons. p. 362. ISBN 0471594652.
  7. ^ "East River Park Plans; Gardens and Many Recreations Provided for Astoria Shore Tract". The New York Times. January 11, 1914. p. 3.