- Creator
- Pilat, Ignaz Anton, 1820-1870
- Call number
- MssCol 2427
- Physical description
- .31 linear feet (1 box)
- Preferred Citation
- Ignaz Anton Pilat papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library
- Repository
- Manuscripts and Archives Division
- Location
- MssCol 2427
- Access to materials
- Request an in-person research appointment.
The Ignaz Anton Pilat Papers contain correspondence, official documents, newspaper clippings, booklets and pamphlets, and photographs and other graphics. The largest series is correspondence, chiefly between Pilat and other individuals involved in the construction of Central Park. There are manuscripts by Pilat describing the progress of work, as well as a letter from Frederick Law Olmsted detailing Pilat's gardening duties. Other original documents date from Pilat's residence in Austria and include a letter to Ferdinand I, in which Pilat requests the position of imperial gardener, certificates of employment and education, and Pilat's passport. Most of the newspaper clippings refer to the building of Central Park, although there are galley proofs of gardening columns Pilat apparently wrote for New York newspapers
Biographical/historical information
Ignaz Anton Pilat (1820-1870) was the first landscape gardener of Central Park. A native of Austria, he trained as a gardener's assistant in the gardens of the Earldom of Karrach in Aschach on the Danube, 1841-1842, and at the Imperial Royal Court Plant Gardens, Schonbrunn, 1843-1846, and was assistant gardener at the Royal University Botanical Garden, Rennwege, 1846-1850. It is believed he arrived in the United States in 1857, assuming his position at Central Park within two years. As landscape gardener, he supervised the planting of all park foliage and had special responsibility for the creation of the picturesque "Ramble" area.
Using the collection
Location
Manuscripts and Archives DivisionStephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room, Third Floor, Room 328
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Alternative form available
Letters from William Cullen Bryant are photocopies. The originals are in the Bryant Library, Roslyn, New York