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Charles A. Birnbaum

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Charles A. Birnbaum
Birnbaum in 2012
Born
Charles Alan Birnbaum

1961 (age 62–63)
Alma materState University of New York College of Environmental Science & Forestry, Bachelor in Landscape Architecture (BLA)
Occupation(s)Non-profit president, author, professor
EmployerThe Cultural Landscape Foundation
Known forLandscape advocacy
Awards2009 President's Medal, The American Society of Landscape Architects
2007 LaGasse Medal, American Society of Landscape Architects for Public Service
2004 Rome Prize in Historic Preservation & Conservation

Charles A. Birnbaum (born 1961) is a nationally recognized advocate for the study of American landscapes. He is the President and CEO of The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) in Washington, DC.

Education and early career

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Charles Alan Birnbaum graduated from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, receiving a Bachelor in Landscape Architecture in 1983.[1] Before founding TCLF, Birnbaum spent fifteen years as the coordinator of the National Park Service Historic Landscape Initiative (HLI).[2] In that position, he developed and helped implement the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties + Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes.[3]

His experience includes ten years of private practice in New York City with a focus on landscape and urban design.

Advocacy and education

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Birnbaum is known for his advocacy to identify and protect significant landscapes threatened by erasure, neglect or alteration. He has led efforts to save more than 50 parks, landmarks and gardens through open dialogue and education. TCLF identifies at-risk properties each year as part of its Landslide initiative. "Sites can be at-risk for numerous reasons, ranging from an imminent threat of demolition to an accumulation of factors — storm damage, lack of resources for needed maintenance, vandalism, etc." Among the projects that Birnbaum and TCLF have recently flagged is the A. M. E. Zion Church in Rossville, Staten Island.[4]

Another way that Birnbaum achieves consensus is through workshops where Birnbaum gathers members of the landscape community and the public together to discuss the interaction of the natural and the built environment. His first "Bridging the Nature Culture Divide Conference" was held in Rye, New York at the Jay Estate in 2011 and resulted in progress to reimagine historic gardens at the site in a sustainable manner.[5] Subsequent forums were co-sponsored by the Central Park Conservancy (2012) and the Presidio Trust (2015).[6]

Birnbaum's "What's Out There" program has also received attention.[7] It has advanced from a website database of over 1350 landscapes to a sophisticated interface technology that can be accessed via a mobile phone.[8]

In 2013, Birnbaum galvanized a group of advocates to stop the demolition of Peavey Plaza in Minneapolis and helped negotiate terms for the rehabilitation of the public space.[9] Birnbaum garnered widespread attention when he and others condemned plans by the Frick Museum to eliminate what the museum termed a temporary 1977 Russell Page garden as part of their expansion plans in 2015. The garden was saved when Birnbaum produced a contradictory original document issued by the Frick clearly identifying the space as a permanent garden.[10][11]

Through TCLF, he has brought the names of forgotten landscape designers and stewards, particularly women like Ruth Shellhorn, an advisor to Walt Disney, and Harlem Renaissance poet Anne Spencer, to the forefront. "Women have literally shaped the American landscape and continue to today, but their names and contributions are largely unknown."[12]

In 2022, for the bicentennial of Frederick Law Olmsted's birth,[13] Birnbaum issued an alert about the threats to a dozen of Olmsted's iconic green spaces noting the cumulatively negative impacts posed by climate change, coastal erosion and construction.[14]

Birnbaum has made numerous media appearances, including several segments on Fox News opposing the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.[15]

Publications, oral history modules and film

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Birnbaum has written and edited numerous publications. His book Pioneers of American Landscape Design (2000), co-researched with Robin Karson and Laura Byers was called "the first of its kind in America." It is an encyclopedic catalog of landscape architects and public space planners and engineers.[16] Other Birnbaum works include Shaping the American Landscape, Design with Culture: Claiming America's Landscape Heritage, Preserving Modern Landscape Architecture and its follow-up publication, Making Post-War Landscapes Visible. He has produced numerous oral history modules about practitioners in his field along with profiles of notable modern landscape architects like James van Sweden, Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, Lawrence Halprin and Paul Friedberg.

Fellowships and awards

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Birnbaum is a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and the American Academy in Rome. In 2008, he was the visiting Glimcher Distinguished Professor at Ohio State's Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture and was also awarded the Alfred B. LaGasse Medal from the ASLA. Birnbaum is also the recipient of the 2017 ASLA Medal [17] and a Garden Club of America awardee in 2020.

Birnbaum teaches at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he was a Loeb Fellow (1997–98), and has been a visiting professor at Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP).

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "SUNY ESF Alumni". State University of New York College of Environmental Science & Forestry. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  2. ^ Anne Raver (September 15, 2005). "You Can Sit on Your Parks, or Save Them". New York Times. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  3. ^ Charles A. Birnbaum (1994). "Protecting Cultural Landscapes:Planning, Treatment and Management of Historic Landscapes" (PDF). U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Cultural Resources. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  4. ^ Jennifer Jones Gorman (January 17, 2022). "Sandy Ground listed as 'at-risk': Working to ensure a treasured piece of NYC history lives on". SILIVE.COM. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  5. ^ Clement, Douglas P. (March 13, 2016). "At the Jay Heritage Center in Rye: Young Americans". The New York Times.
  6. ^ Lisa Petri (January 23, 2015). "Presidio Trust to Host Cultural Landscape Foundation Conference: Bridging the Nature-Culture Divide III: Saving Nature in a Humanized World". The Presidio Trust. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  7. ^ Kathryn Shattuck (November 21, 2008). "Saving That Landscape, in Pictures at Least". New York Times. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
  8. ^ "Enhancements to What's Out There for Mobile Devices". National Park Service. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  9. ^ Chris Bentley (October 4, 2013). "Peavey Plaza escapes demolition after preservationist lawsuit". The Architects Newspaper. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  10. ^ Robin Pogrebin (November 9, 2014). "Frick's Plan for Expansion Faces Fight Over Loss of Garden". The New York Times. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  11. ^ Mitchell Owens (May 31, 2015). "Frick Collection Keeps its Russell Page Garden". Architectural Digest. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  12. ^ Yanya Mohn (October 21, 2020). "The Little-Known Women Behind Some Well-Known Landscapes". The New York Times. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  13. ^ Matt Hickman (April 26, 2022). "Here's how to celebrate Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr.'s 200th birthday". The Architects Newspaper. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  14. ^ Ryan Waddoups (October 28, 2022). "Frederick Law Olmsted's Iconic Green Spaces Are Under Threat". Surface. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  15. ^ 'The Ingraham Angle (January 11, 2018). "Obama Presidential Center faces opposition in Chicago". Fox News. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
  16. ^ "Landscape Pioneers: A Tribute". New York Times. November 18, 2000. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  17. ^ Douglas Reed; M. Paul Friedberg; Thomas Woltz; Lauire Olin; Cornelia Hahn Oberlander. "Honors & Awards 2017 Charles Birnbaum, FASLA, Nomination Materials" (PDF). American Society of Landscape Architects. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
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