Francis ("Frank") R. Kowsky (born 1943) is a notable

architectural historian An architectural historian is a person who studies and writes about the history of architecture, and is regarded as an authority on it. Professional requirements As many architectural historians are employed at universities and other facilities ...

and

State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY ) is a system of Public education, public colleges and universities in the New York (state), State of New York. It is one of the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, larges ...

(SUNY) Distinguished Professor of Fine Arts at

Buffalo State College The State University of New York Buffalo State University (colloquially referred to as Buffalo State University, SUNY Buffalo State, Buffalo State, or simply Buff State) is a public college, public university in Buffalo, New York. It is part of ...

, SUNY,

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

. He has published books and articles about nineteenth-century American architects such as Frederick Withers,

Calvert Vaux Calvert Vaux Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, FAIA (; December 20, 1824 – November 19, 1895) was an English-American architect and landscape architect, landscape designer. He and his protégé Frederick Law Olmsted designed park ...

, and H. H. Richardson, as well as the architecture and landscape of Buffalo and northwestern New York State. He is active in the field of

historic preservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK) is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...

having served on the New York State Board for Historic Preservation, and the Board of Directors of the Preservation Coalition of Erie County, New York, and currently serving as a trustee of the National Association for Olmsted Parks.

Writings

Authored Books * Kowsky, Francis R., ''The Architecture of Frederick Clarke Withers and the Progress of the Gothic Revival in America after 1850'', Wesleyan University Press, Middletown CT 1980; * Kowsky, Francis R., ''Buffalo Architecture: A Guide'',

MIT Press The MIT Press is the university press of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The MIT Press publishes a number of academic journals and has been a pioneer in the Open Ac ...

, Cambridge MA and London 1981; * Kowsky, Francis R., ''Country, Park & City: The Architecture and Life of Calvert Vaux'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, New York 1998; * Kowsky, Francis R., ''The Best Planned City in the World: Olmsted, Vaux, and the Buffalo Park System'', Library of American Landscape History, Amherst, MA 2018; ISBN 978-1-952620-27-0 * Kowsky, Francis R. with Lucille Gordon, ''Hell on Color, Sweet on Song. Jacob Wrey Mould and the Artful Beauty of Central Park'', Fordham University Press, New York 2023; ISBN 9781531502577 Articles *Kowsky, Francis R., "The Architecture of Frederick C. Withers (1828-1901)," ''Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians'' 35, No. 2 (May, 1976), pp. 83-107 *Kowsky, Francis R., "H.H. Richardson's Project for the Young Men's Association Library in Buffalo," ''Niagara Frontier'' 25/2 (1978), pp. 29–35 * Kowsky, Francis R., "The William Dorsheimer House: A Reflection of French Suburban Architecture in the Early Work of H. H. Richardson," ''Art Bulletin'' 62 (March 1980), pp. 321–147 * Kowsky, Francis R., "Municipal Parks and City Planning: Frederick Law Olmsted's Buffalo Park and Parkway System," ''Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians'' 46, No. 1 (March 1987), pp. 49–64 * Kowsky, Francis R., "H. H. Richardson's Ames Gate Lodge and the Romantic Landscape Tradition," ''Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians'', 50/2 (June 1991), pp. 181–188. * Kowsky, Francis R., "From Newburgh to Brookline: The Rise of Landscape in American Culture," ''View'' 16, (Summer 2016), pp. 36–41

References

External links

Buffalo State College
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kowsky, Francis R. 1943 births Living people American architectural historians American architecture writers American male non-fiction writers American biographers Writers from Buffalo, New York Buffalo State College faculty Historians from New York (state)