Classicism as Regeneration: Designing a New Trophy for the Arthur Ross Awards

Established in 1982 by Arthur Ross and Henry Hope Reed, the Institute of Classical Architecture’s annual Arthur Ross Awards recognize and celebrate excellence in the classical tradition. Over the years, dozens of highly accomplished practitioners—architects and designers, artists and artisans, educators, patrons, and so many others—have been honored with Ross Awards. What they all have in common is their dedication to the original mission of the Awards’ founders: to preserve and advance the classical tradition.

When the ICAA’s College of Fellows announced a competition to design a new trophy for the Arthur Ross Awards, creating a new symbol to honor future recipients, I felt it was only natural to look to the legacy of the award’s namesake and his work in one of the places he loved most: New York’s Central Park.

As part of their original plan for Central Park’s west side, which won a design competition for the park in 1858, pioneering landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) and Calvert Vaux (1824-1895) planted thick rows of towering pine trees, creating an evergreen “Winter Drive” that stretched from 72nd Street to 102nd Street. By the end of the nineteenth century, however, almost all of these trees had been lost.

It was not until 1971 that philanthropist Arthur Ross took it upon himself to return the pines to the park, personally adding about thirty five new trees every year to the Arthur Ross Pinetum. Ross later brought his dedication to stewardship to the board of the Central Park Conservancy, where he helped to safeguard the park’s many monuments and landscapes for future generations.

I am a part of one of those generations who have benefited from Ross’ beautifully restored Central Park. Growing up on Long Island, no trip into Manhattan was complete without at least a quick visit to the park. More often than not, though, a “quick visit” would turn into a hike through the Ramble, a picnic in Sheep’s Meadow, or an afternoon listening to buskers on Bethesda Terrace. The park is designed to draw one in. The picturesque natural landscapes are complemented by statues, bridges, and even a real ancient Egyptian obelisk. Strolling past these landmarks, the city’s skyline is framed by the trees along the park’s edges.

During these childhood visits, I could not fully explain what made Central Park so captivating, but I started to find the right language while attending the School of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame, and especially during my year abroad in Rome. It was there that I learned, in addition to the rules of classical architecture and traditional urbanism, about the necessity of beauty, the cultivation of a sense of place, and the link between the natural world and the one we build.

After graduating from Notre Dame in 2020 with a Bachelor of Architecture and a concentration in Preservation and Restoration, I returned to New York City and found myself living just a few blocks east of Central Park. I now work as a licensed architect for Riccardo S. Vicenzino Architect, a firm specializing in high-end residential and ecclesiastical projects, where I am assisting with the design of a new monastery using only traditional construction methods. Designing for a religious community has given me a deep appreciation for the power of symbolism in architecture. Good design should reinforce the ideals of the organization it represents, which is something that I hope comes through in the design for the new Ross Awards trophy.

From the outset, I knew that I wanted the new trophy to reference the Pinetum and pine trees in Central Park as a tribute to Arthur Ross. As an initial precedent, I thought back to my time in Rome, where I visited the Fontana della Pigna (literally “Pinecone Fountain”), a colossal Roman bronze fountain dating to the first century AD. Originally located near the Pantheon, it now sprouts from an urn at the center of the Cortile del Belvedere, a High Renaissance courtyard in the Vatican designed by the architect Donato Bramante (1444-1514). This was an ideal composition, combining the natural world with something man-made, and the urn itself evokes a chalice, traditionally handed out as a trophy.

To develop the design, I returned to Central Park with my sketchbook and spent an afternoon making measured drawings from park details. The pedestal and urn are closely modeled after the classical piers and cast-iron planters on Calvert Vaux’s Bow Bridge.

I chose a more stylized—as opposed to completely naturalistic—design for the pinecone in order to emphasize its geometric qualities. A pinecone naturally develops its scales in spirals following the golden ratio, an example of how the formal proportions used in classical art and architecture derive from nature.

The pinecone is also rich with symbolism: its scales protect and preserve the seeds within, ensuring that a forest can be reborn, generation after generation, through frequently adverse conditions. Like the pinecone, recipients of the Ross Awards have safeguarded the seeds of our architectural heritage, and by advancing the classical tradition, they ensure its regeneration for years to come.

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The ICAA is grateful to NANZ & Company for manufacturing the new Arthur Ross Awards Trophy.

Thank you to our ICAA Fellows and past Fellows president Adrian Taylor for organizing the trophy design competition.

Thank you to our esteemed jury, who selected the winning design:

• Adrian Taylor (Chair), Hyde Park Mouldings
• Tham Kannalikham, Kannalikham Designs
• Leonard Porter, Leonard Porter Studio
• Paul Whalen, RAMSA
• Barbara Eberlein, Eberlein Design Consultants
• Guillaume Féau, Féau Boiseries