Ferruccio Vitale
Quick Facts
Biography
Ferruccio Vitale (1875-1933) was a landscape architect. According to Schnadelbach, he is "America's forgotten landscape architect."
Life
Born in Florence, Italy, February 5, 1875, the son of Lazzaro and the Countess Giuseppina Barbaro Vitale. His father was an engineer and in 1893 Ferruccio Vitale graduated at the Royal military school, Modena, as an engineer as well, but then became an Italian army officer. In 1898, Vitale came to the United States as a military attache to the Italian embassy in Washington, D.C:. He studied landscape architecture in Florence, Turin and Paris. In 1902 he moved fron Genoa to New York, where he had already signed a contract as "landascape architect" with Parsons & Pentecost. In 1908 he had already managed to start his own architecture studio with Alfred Geiffert, and in 1919 he signed his first major work: the Meridian Hill Park in Washington.
In 1921 he acquired US citizenship and for this is known as an American landscape architect.
He was part of the American Society of Landscape Architects (1904, fellow in 1908), the Architectural League of New York, the Municipal Art Society and the Fine Arts Commission of New York City, the American Academy in Rome, the Foundation for Architecture and Landscape Architecture, American Institute of Architects (1927, honorary member) and various New York Clubs.
In 1920 Vitale, Brinckerhoff and Geiffert received the first gold medal award from the Architectural League of New York for landscape architecture.
Death
He died of pneumonia in 1933.
Works
- Millrose, Rodman Wanamaker Estate, Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, 1907
- Westbrook Farm, Estate of Charles I. Hudson, Long Island, 1907-1916
- Red Maples, Estate of Mrs. Alfred M. Hoyt (Rosina Sherman Hoyt), Southampton, Long Island, 1908-1913
- Cherrycroft, Estate of Dudley Olcott, New Jersey, 1911-1912
- Brookside, Estate of William Hall Walker, Great Barrington, Massachusetts, 1912-1918. "Ferruccio Vitale created for Mr. Walker his Walled Garden, it was unhesitatingly pronounced one of the gems of this country"
- Longwood, Estate of Pierre S. du Pont, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, 1915
- The Oasis, Estate of Francis E. Dreary, Cleveland, Ohio, 1916-1917
- Villa Carola and Trillora Court, Estates of Isaac Guggenheim and Solomon R. Guggenheim, Port Washington, Long Island, 1916-1924
- Allgates, Estate of Horatio Gates Lloyd, Haverford, Pennsylvania
- Rosemary, Estate of Jay F. Carlisle, Long Island, 1917-1921
- The Bather, Estate of Carl J. Schmidlapp, Mill Neck, Long Island, 1920
- Inisfada, Estate of Nicholas F. Bradly, Long Island, 1920-1924
- Centaurs, Estate of Alfred E. Hamill, Illinois, 1920-1927
- Villa Virginia, Estate of William H. Clarke, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, 1921
- Arthur Vining Davis Estate, Oyster Bay, Long Island, 1922
- Century Country Club, New York, 1922-1923
- Underhill Farm, Estate of Myron Charles Taylor, Locust Valley, Long Island, 1922-1924
- Chelsea, Estate of Benjamin and Alexandra Emery Moore, Long Island, 1924
- Mrs. I. Dodge Sloane Estate, Long Island, c. 1924
- Edward Schwab Estate, New Jersey, c. 1924
- Garden Village, Master Plan for Scarsdale, New York, 1924-1926
- Village Green for Town Bettermerst, House and Garden, June 1926
- Airdrie House, Estate of Edwin A. Fish, Locust Valley, Long Island, 1926-1927
- Thorneham, Estate of Landon Ketchum Thorne, Long Island, 1926-1932
- Richard B. and Jenny King Mellon Estate, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1927
- Cherrywood, Estate of John A. Victor, Locust Valley, Long Island, 1927-1928
- Donald Grant Gaddes Estate, Glen Cove, Long Island, 1927-1930
- Four Winds, Estate of Gerald Beekman Hoppin, Oyster Bay Cove, Long Island, 1927-1932
- South Campus, University of Illinois, Illinois, 1928-1931
- Anthony Campagna Estate, Riverdale, New York, 1929-1934
- Sandy Cay, Estate of Condé Montrose Nast, Long Island, 1930
- Zalmon G. Simmons Estate, Greenwich, Connecticut, 1930
- Ca Sole, Estate of Horace and Jean Schmidlapp, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1930
- Mrs. Kersey Coates Reed Estate, Lake Forest, Illinois, 1930
- Washington Monument Gardens, Washington, D.C., 1930-1931
- Century of Progress Exposition, Chicago, Illinois, 1930-1934
- National Mall, Washington, D.C., 1932
- Meridian Hill Park, Washington, D.C., 1932
- Francis J. Allen Residence, Greenwich, Connecticut, 1932-1934
- Skylands Farm, Estate of Clarence McKenzie Lewis, New Jersey, 1932-1933
- National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1932-1940
- Canterbury Farm, Estate of Albert E. Pierce, Virginia, 1933-1934
- Exhibition Gardens, American Radiator and Standard Sanitary Corporation, Century of Progress Exposition, Chicago, Illinois, 1934
- Women in Military Service for America Memorial, Memorial Avenue at the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia