Alfred Caldwell

Alfred Caldwell (May 26, 1903 – July 3, 1998) was an American architect best known for his landscape architecture in and around Chicago, Illinois.

Early life and education

Caldwell attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign but left before completing a degree. Caldwell received a Master of Science in city planning from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1948.

Career From 1926 to 1931 he worked for landscape architect Jens Jensen and had a two-year private practice thereafter. In 1933 he was appointed Superintendent of Parks for Dubuque, Iowa, where he created Eagle Point Park. From 1936 to 1939 he was a landscape designer for the Chicago Park District and was the designer and architect of the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool at Lincoln Park. He was hired by Mies van der Rohe in 1944 to teach landscape architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) College of Architecture. Caldwell resigned in 1959 in response to a dispute with the college administration. In 1965 he taught at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and the following year he began teaching at the University of Southern California and stayed till 1973. In 1981 he returned to teach at IIT.

Honors In 1980, Caldwell received the Distinguished Educator Award from the Chicago chapter of the AIA. In 1985, he was honored as an ACSA Distinguished Professor. The Illinois Institute of Technology named him a Doctor of Humane Letters in 1988.