American landscape architect Michael Rapuano (1904-1975) formed the landscape architecture firm Clarke & Rapuano with Gilmore D. Clarke in 1939. In addition to city planning and campus planning projects, the firm became known for its pioneering work on the design of parkways. Rapuano was involved in the design of many highways, including portions of the Bronx River Parkway and Henry Hudson Parkway in New York. He also participated in the landscape designs of the United Nations Headquarters and the World War II American Military Cemetery in Florence, Italy.[1]
Rapuano received a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture from Cornell University in 1927 and spent three years at the American Academy in Rome as a fellow in landscape architecture. His early years of employment included work with the Westchester County, New York, Park Commission and the New York City Park Commission as well as Madigan-Hyland Engineers. Rapuano was a trustee of the American Academy in Rome and a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters; the Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Park Commission; the Municipal Art Commission in New York; and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, from 1958 to 1962. He was a fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects.[2]
References
edit- ^ Bradford M. Greene, “Michael Rapuano” in ""Pioneers of American Landscape Design"", Charles A. Birnbaum and Robin Karson, eds. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000.
- ^ Thomas E. Luebke, ed. “”Civic Art: A Centennial History of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts”” (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, 2013): Appendix B.