The Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island posts that today is the 40th anniversary of the death of the great American architect Louis Kahn, who designed the Park. His death, combined with New York City’s near bankruptcy, put the project on hold until Ambassador William J. vanden Heuvel — an ardent admirer of FDR and Kahn’s design and a member of Roosevelt House’s Advisory Board — determined to revive it. He successfully rallied many individuals and organizations to contribute funds, and the Park opened October 2012.
The Park’s website notes that Kahn revered President Roosevelt. He credited FDR for enabling him to support his family during the early years of his architecture practice through housing and community planning projects that were part of Roosevelt’s New Deal programs. Kahn shared Roosevelt’s desire to enrich the lives of all people. To honor Louis Kahn, a bouquet has been placed at his name on the Park’s west embankment.
For a thoughtful tribute to Kahn by the New York Times’ architecture critic, Ada Louis Huxtable, click here.
