Arthur C Comey (1886–1954)
Entry 41
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Comey graduated in landscape architecture from Harvard in 1907. His
teacher was Frederick Law Olmsted Junior. After travelling overseas,
in 1908 Comey
was appointed to the Dixon Park Commission in Dixon, Illinois. A year
later, the City of Utica, New York, appointed him Superintendent of Parks.
He
returned to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and set up practice as a consultant
on city planning. He won two planning competitions in 1913 and 1914,
and served as a consultant to many towns and cities. Comey is perhaps
best
known for his design of the garden suburb of Billerica, Massachusetts.
In 1928 he was appointed lecturer in Harvard’s School of Landscape
Architecture. He became Assistant Professor in the School of City Planning
and Associate Professor in the Department of Regional Planning. Active
in professional societies, he helped to found several, including the
American City Planning Institute.
Comey planned a formal axis in the city centre, featuring a water court
between two bridges. North of the lakes he used many radial streets
while in the hilly southwest his residential streets follow the contours.
His
other drawings reveal how he defined each neighbourhood by linear parks
and outlying open land.
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