Charles Downing Lay papers, 1898-1956.
Collection Number: 4477

Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library


DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Title:
Charles Downing Lay papers, 1898-1956.
Repository:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Collection Number:
4477
Abstract:
Notebooks of architectural class notes and drawings; student papers; notebooks and sketchbooks on gardens; photographs of gardens and parks; architectural drawings and renderings; pen and ink drawings; and articles on architectural topics.
Creator:
Lay, Charles Downing, 1877-1956.
Quanitities:
11.6 cubic feet.
13 mapcase folders.
Language:
Collection material in English

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Landscape architect, architect, town planner.
Charles Downing Lay attended the School of Architecture at Columbia University from 1896 to 1900 and received a S.B. in Landscape Architecture from Harvard University's School of Landscape Architecture in 1902. From 1902 to 1948 he maintained a landscape architecture practice in New York City. He served as editor and publisher of Landscape Architecture with H. V. Hubbard and Robert Wheelwright. His projects included town planning for Albany, N.Y. and for the United States Housing Corporation in Erie and Butler, Pa.; parks in New York City, Troy, Albany, Schenectady, and Brooklyn, N.Y., Washington, D.C., and Stratford, Connecticut; school grounds in New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut; subdivisions in New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Jersey; and housing in New York City. He also was consulting architect to the 1939 New York World's Fair and worked on conservation efforts in the Housatonic River valley, founding the Housatonic Valley Planning Association in 1948.

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

Notebooks of architectural class notes and drawings, 1898, 1899; student papers; notebooks and sketchbooks on gardens; photographs of gardens and parks, especially Marine Park in Brooklyn; architectural drawings and renderings; pen and ink drawings; and articles on architectural topics. Also, papers relating to lectures; and club memberships, including the Century Club; miscellaneous correspondence; and condolence letters upon his death.

RELATED MATERIALS

Related collections: Oliver Ingraham Lay, Charles Downing Lay, and Lay family papers at the Archives of American Art, https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oliver-ingraham-lay-charles-downing-lay-and-lay-family-papers-6011.

INFORMATION FOR USERS

Cite As:

Charles Downing Lay papers, #4477. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.

SUBJECTS

Names:
United States Housing Corporation
Housatonic Valley Planning Association
New York World\'s Fair (Location of meeting: New York, N.Y.). Date of meeting or treaty signing: (1939-1940 :.)
Places:
Marine Park (New York, N.Y.)
Subjects:
Architects and housing developers.
Landscape architects.
Gardens -- Design.
Housing -- New York (N.Y.)
Housing development -- New Jersey.
Housing development -- Connecticut.
Housing development -- Rhode Island.
Housing development -- New York (State)
School grounds -- Connecticut -- Stratford.
School grounds -- Washington (D.C.)
School grounds -- New York (State)
City planning -- Pennsylvania -- Butler.
City planning -- Pennsylvania -- Erie.
City planning -- New York (N.Y.)
Landscape architecture.
Form and Genre Terms:
Photographs.
Architectural drawings.

CONTAINER LIST
Container
Description
Date
Series I. Personal
Box 1 Folder 1
Obituaries
Box 1 Folder 2
Bibliography
Box 1 Folder 3
Copies of holograph list of paintings of Oliver I. Lay II
Box 1 Folder 4
Letter written by Laura Lay to Women's Committee, Emergency Peace Federation
1917
Box 18 Folder 1
Condolence letters
1940-1956
Box 19
Job photograph album (Cambridge, Storer, Van Norden)
1930
Box 19
Scrapbook newspaper clippings
1924-1933
Series II. Student Papers
Box 1 Folder 5
The Back Bay Fens, Boston, Massachusetts
1901
Box 1 Folder 6
The Gardens of Haddon Hall
Dec. 21, 1900
Box 1 Folder 7
The Gore Place - Waltham
Box 1 Folder 7-9
Horticulture I
Box 1 Folder 10
Horticulture II
Box 1 Folder 11
Prospect Park, Brooklyn - 3rd class, L.L.S.
Box 1 Folder 12
Reports
October 12, 1900
Box 1 Folder 13
Trees and Shrubs
Box 1 Folder 14
The Tuscan Order
Series III. Correspondence, 1900-1956
Box 1 Folder 15
A
Box 1 Folder 16
B
Box 1 Folder 17
C
Box 1 Folder 18
D
Box 1 Folder 19
Darling, J. N.
Box 1 Folder 20
E
Box 1 Folder 21
F
Box 1 Folder 22
G (including "Gorge")
Box 1 Folder 23
H
Box 1 Folder 24
J-K
Box 1 Folder 25
L
Box 1 Folder 26
Lahey, Charles
Box 1 Folder 27
M
Box 1 Folder 28
N-O
Box 1 Folder 29
P
Box 1 Folder 30
R
Box 1 Folder 31
S
Box 1 Folder 32
Speicher, Eugene
Box 1 Folder 33
T-V
Box 1 Folder 34
W
Box 1 Folder 35
Y-Z
Box 1 Folder 36
Condolence letters
1956
Box 1 Folder 37
Unknown (no last name or illegible)
Box 1 Folder 38-39
European trip account to Mr. Thomas(includes travel miscellany)
1934
Box 18 Folder 5
Misc. correspondence
1940-1947
Box 18 Folder 6
Harvard correspondence
1900-1902
Series IV. Art and Artists
Box 1 Folder 40
A
Box 1 Folder 41
B
Box 1 Folder 42
C
Box 1 Folder 43
D
Box 1 Folder 44
E-F
Box 1 Folder 45
G
Box 1 Folder 46
H
Box 1 Folder 47
I-K
Box 1 Folder 48
L
Box 1 Folder 49
M
Box 1 Folder 50
N
Box 1 Folder 51
P
Box 1 Folder 52
R
Box 1 Folder 53
S
Box 1 Folder 54
T-U
Box 1 Folder 55
W
Box 1 Folder 56
Z
Series V. Private Homes and Estates
Box 1 Folder 57
Adams, Elbridge L., Great Barrington, Massachusetts
Box 1 Folder 58
Agnew, George B., Lewisboro, New York
Box 1 Folder 59
Bartram, J. Percy, Caritas Island, Stamford, Connecticut
Box 1 Folder 60
Bowen, Mrs. H. S., Greenwich, Connecticut
Box 1 Folder 61
Chamberlain, Joseph, Middlebury, Connecticut
Box 1 Folder 62
McAlpin, Charles W., Morristown, New Jersey
Box 1 Folder 63
May, George O., Southport, Connecticut
Box 1 Folder 64
Mogull, Edward, Easton, Connecticut
Box 1 Folder 65
Morse, E. B., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Box 1 Folder 66
Stillman, Edgar, Middlebury, Connecticut
Box 1 Folder 67
Willcox, James M., Radnor, Pennsylvania
Box 1 Folder 68
Miscellaneous details, plans
Series VI. Architecture, Planning, etc.: Housing, Parks, Committees and Other
Box 2 Folder 1
American Institute of Architects (A.I.A.) Civic Design Committee
1942-1948
Box 2 Folder 2
A.I.A. New York Chapter
1934-1953
Box 2 Folder 3
Arnold Arboretum
1954-1955
Box 2 Folder 4
Art Commission - New York,
1949-1952
Box 2 Folder 5
Art Students' League of New York
1931-1936
Box 2 Folder 6-7
Battery-Brooklyn Bridge
1939
Box 2 Folder 8
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle - Brooklyn Committee on the City Plan
1914
Box 2 Folder 9
Central Park - miscellaneous extracts
1911
Box 2 Folder 10-11
Coney Island
1942-1945
Box 2 Folder 12
East Harlem
1949
Box 2 Folder 13
Greenwich, Connecticut
1942
Box 2 Folder 14-22
Housatonic Valley Planning Association records
1939-1972
Box 2 Folder 23
Long Island Parks
1925
Box 2 Folder 24
Long Island State Park Commission
1925
Box 2 Folder 25
Marine Park
1932
Box 2 Folder 26
Nassau County Committee
1925
Box 2 Folder 27-28
Natural Resources Council - Connecticut
1951-1954
Box 2 Folder 29
Neustadter Foundation, Yonkers
1949-1950
Box 2 Folder 30
New York City
1908
Box 2 Folder 31
New York City
1919
Box 2 Folder 32
New York City Park Department
1913
Box 2 Folder 33-34
New York City Parks
1927-1934
Box 2 Folder 35-37
New York City Planning Commission
1938-1940
Box 2 Folder 38
New York Recreation Terrace
1927
Box 2 Folder 39
New York City - Vehicular Traffic Committee
1946
Box 2 Folder 40
New York City War Memorial
1923
Box 2 Folder 41
New York World's Fair
1939
Box 2 Folder 42
New York World's Fair - Gardens on Parade
Box 2 Folder 43
1938 Olympic Award - Marine Park
1936-1947
Box 2 Folder 44-45
St. Nicholas Houses - New York City Housing Authority
1952-1955
Box 2 Folder 46
Sharon, Connecticut
Box 2 Folder 47
Scintilla-Bendix, Sidney, New York
Box 2 Folder 48
Sterling Park, Stratford, Connecticut,
1935-1937
Box 2 Folder 49
Washington Square
Series VII. Writings
Box 2 Folder 50
List of Writings
Box 2 Folder 51
Conservation
Box 2 Folder 52
Farming
Box 2 Folder 53
Forest and Trees
Box 2 Folder 54
"Freedom of the City;" "Garden Book of Autumn and Winter," Duffield & Co.
1917-1933
Scope and Contents
Writings related to the works, not the works themselves
Box 2 Folder 55
Gardens - Chapter V
Box 2 Folder 56
Housing
Box 2 Folder 57
Land and Outdoors
Box 2 Folder 58
The Loon and the Vesper
Box 2 Folder 59
Nassau County
1925
Box 2 Folder 60-61
New York Times Article
Box 2 Folder 62
Outdoor Delights, Chapter VII
Box 2 Folder 63
A Park System for Long Island
1925
Box 2 Folder 64
Planning the Country Club Grounds
1930
Box 2 Folder 65
A Tame Crow - Woodshed
Box 3 Folder 1
Published magazine articles
Box 3 Folder 2-22
Miscellaneous writings
Box 18 Folder 10
Unpublished manuscript
Undated
Series VIII. Printed Material
Box 4
Public Parks, Frederick Law Olmsted,
1902
Box 4
Hudson Nurseries, Inc.
1929
Box 4
State of Connecticut Report of the State Park Commission
1914
Box 4
Landscape Architecture compiled index
1910-1930
Box 4
Landscape Architecture
April 1958, April 1965
Box 4
Notes on Preparation of Contracts and Specifications, by Albert D. Taylor,
1927
Box 4
The Prairie Spirit in Landscape Gardening, Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station
November 1915
Box 4
The Future of Jamaica Bay, Department of Parks, New York City
1938
Box 4
Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians
May 1956
Box 4
Beauty in Gardens - A Tribute, William Edwin Rudge
1928
Series IX. Photographs and negatives of private homes, estates, public areas and other
Box 5
Glass lantern slides: New York City parks including Central, Prospect, and Coney Island; private homes and estates; housing projects, other parks.
Box 6
Glass lantern slides: New York City parks including Central, Prospect, and Coney Island; private homes and estates; housing projects, other parks.
Box 7
Glass lantern slides: New York City parks including Central, Prospect, and Coney Island; private homes and estates; housing projects, other parks.
Box 8
Small - in alphabetical order
Box 9 Folder 1-2
Adams
Box 9 Folder 3
Agnew
Box 9 Folder 4
Albany - evergreens Ravine Beaver park
Box 9 Folder 5
Art Commission of the City of New York
Box 9 Folder 6-7
Bartram
Box 9 Folder 8
Battery-Brooklyn Bridge
Box 9 Folder 9
Bowen
Box 9 Folder 10
Bryant
Box 9 Folder 11
Cappleen
Box 9 Folder 12
Crittenden
Box 9 Folder 13
Donald
Box 9 Folder 14
Eaton
Box 9 Folder 15
Essex Country Golf Course
Box 9 Folder 16
France
Box 9 Folder 17
Frear park
Box 9 Folder 18
Philips Gallery
Box 9 Folder 19
Greenburgh, New York
Box 9 Folder 20
Hunsaker
Box 9 Folder 21-24
Laucks
Box 9 Folder 25
Lefevre
Box 9 Folder 26
Long Island parks
Box 9 Folder 27
Lovett
Box 9 Folder 28
McAlpin
Box 9 Folder 29
Mallory
Box 9 Folder 30
Marine Park
Box 9 Folder 31-33
Miscellaneous
Box 10 Folder 1
Morris
Box 10 Folder 2
Nassau County Committee
Box 10 Folder 3-4
National Academy of Sciences Washington, D.C.
Box 10 Folder 5-6
New York City
Box 10 Folder 7
New York City Park Department
Box 10 Folder 8
New York City Parks
Box 10 Folder 9-10
New York Recreation Terrace
Box 10 Folder 11
New York Training School, Cortland, New York
Box 10 Folder 12
New York World's Fair
1939
Box 10 Folder 13
Power
Box 10 Folder 14
Olcott
Box 10 Folder 15
Post
Box 10 Folder 16
Pratt - mausoleum
Box 10 Folder 17
Pulitzer
Box 10 Folder 18
Roberts
Box 10 Folder 19
Salem, Massachusetts
Box 10 Folder 20
Sheldon
Box 10 Folder 21
Siewers
Box 10 Folder 22
Simpson
Box 10 Folder 23
Stillman - Chamberlain negatives
Box 10 Folder 24
Storer
Box 10 Folder 25
Stratford, Connecticut - War Memorial
Box 10 Folder 26
Union Park Square
Box 10 Folder 27
Van Norden
Box 10 Folder 28
Van Rensselaer
Box 10 Folder 29
Vietor [Victor?]
Box 10 Folder 30
Willcox
Box 10 Folder 31-32
Yarnall
Box 11
Marine Park, Brooklyn, New York: reproductions of sketches, matted
Box 12
Laucks: photographs, most matted
Box 13
Agnew, Bartram, Bassick, Budd, Casagmo, Hunsaker, Noyes, Yarnall: photographs, some mounted, some oversize
Box 14
Andrews, Bijur, Brown, Crane, Devereauz, Donald, Forsberg, Fowler, Gallaher, Hostetter, Howland, Keating, Lehman, Mallory, Morris, Olcott, Power, Smith, Seift, Van Rensselaer, Wertheim, Zinsser; Butler, Erie, Essex County Golf Course, Gate of Heaven, Loudon Heights, Madison Square, Overview Park; miscellaneous, unidentified photographs, sketches
Box 15
Adams, Anderson, Bowen, Burchard, Chamberlain, Cooper, Cosgrave, Crane, Davis, Dodge, Eton, Florham, Fowler, Gill, Lefevre, Lovett, Mallory, McIntosh, Mitchell, Olcott, Post, Power, Prescott, Smith, Stockly, Storer, Van Rensselaer, Willcox; Battery Park photographs, sketches
Box 16
Unidentified and miscellaneous
Box 17
Charles Downing Lay photograph proofs
Box 17
Schell Lewis Sketches
Box 17
Certificates
1936, 1947
Scope and Contents
Columbia-Delta Upsilon fraternity; Harvard; National Academy of Design; Olympiade Berlin, 1936; New York City Arts Commission, 1947; American Institute of Planning
Box 17
Student drawings
Box 17
Columbia and Harvard memorabilia (mounted as in an over-sized scrapbook)
Box 17
Miscellaneous
Series X. Oversize blueprints, sketches, drawings, paintings and photographs
Box 19
Oil Painting
1912-10-09
Lane, Alice Lay
Box 19
Oil Painting Children
1914-10-10
Box 19
Watercolours and Etchings
1924-10-10-1930
Box 19
School of Architecture 1900 class photograph
1900
Mapcase Folder 1
Bassick, Jr.; Bowen and Ives; Davis; Hunsaker; Kraushaar; Laucks
Mapcase Folder 2
May; Mogul; Pagenstecher; Power; Stockley; Yarnall
Mapcase Folder 3
Beaver Park; Bridgford Park; Central Park; North End Junior High School; Prospect Park; Woodruff Park
Mapcase Folder 4
Four-story house; Water color or ink wash, 1899; "Plan for a Small House"; "House for Mrs. C.D. Lay"
Mapcase Folder 5
Blueprints for Marine Park
Mapcase Folder 6
Blueprints for Marine Park
Mapcase Folder 7
St. Nicholas Houses, Manhattan, New York
Mapcase Folder 8
Stratford, Connecticut - blueprints
Mapcase Folder 9
Coney Island (New York City Fair); Recreation Terraces & Public Baths
1943
Mapcase Folder 10
Mrs. Edgar W. Bassick
Mapcase Folder 11
Battery Park; Sheepshead Bay Houses
Mapcase Folder 12
Recreation Terraces and Public Baths
Mapcase Folder 13
Topographic maps of various properties, blue prints, planting plans
1900-1930
Series XI. Other
Box 18 Folder 2
Notes, photos, etc.
Box 18 Folder 3
Clubs and certificates
1913-1940
Box 18 Folder 4
Lectures by C.D. Lay
Undated
Box 18 Folder 7
Century club - membership
1911-1932
Box 18 Folder 8
Century Association - Chateau in Spain, photos and correspondence
1920-1930
Box 18 Folder 9
Century Association - Frescoes
1922-1930