Avery Library remembers architectural historian Henry Hope Reed who died last Wednesday, May 1, 2013.

A champion of the Classical style of architecture, he opposed the Modern Movement and in 1968 helped found Classical America, which became part of the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art in 2002. He conducted walking tours of New York City beginning in 1956 for the Municipal Arts Society, laying the ground work for the flourishing of these historical walks.

Henry Hope Reed will be remembered too as the protector and champion of Central Park, promoting the 19th century characteristics of Olmsted's original plan. He, along with Adolf Placzek, then the Avery Librarian, also rescued the archive of the Central Park, now at the Municipal Archives, from the outbuildings of the Sara Delano Roosevelt Park on the Lower East Side. He even persuaded Placzek to don a protective work suit as they retrieved the drawings from the park, no small feat.

He was a Friend of Avery Library and his generosity will be remembered in the rich legacy of papers and archival materials he left to Avery's department of Drawings & Archives.

New York Times obituary

Columbia University Libraries online cataloging record: CLIO record

Avery Library's Henry Hope Reed  Finding Aid