Carlton Abbott, FAIA
President
Carlton Abbott and Partners

Carlton Abbott was born in Salem, Virginia, in 1939. He is the son of Stanley W. Abbott, the first resident landscape architect and primary designer of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Carlton spent most of his boyhood in Salem while his father was working on the Parkway. Later the Abbott family would move to Tidewater, Virginia. He attended the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia, where he received a B.A. degree in 1963. He also studied under a scholarship at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Fontainebleau, France. He is currently working in Williamsburg as an architect, land planner, and artist. He is the president of Carlton Abbott and Partners, architects, landscape architects, and planners.

Mr. Abbott’s expertise has been expressed in a wealth of applications encompassing architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, sculpture, and graphic arts. As a master of many mediums, he has innovated techniques in the use and application of pastel, pencil, ink, watercolor, and mixed media. In 1983, he was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects.

He has had over 30 one-man shows of his work. The volume of his accomplishments is unusual. He has been granted over 80 awards for his architectural accomplishments, including seven special recognition awards from the Virginia Society of the American Institute of Architects. In 1995, his firm was awarded the Fitz-Gibbon Architecture Firm Award, the highest honor bestowed upon a Virginia-based architecture firm. This award recognizes a firm that has consistently produced distinguished architecture over a period of at least 10 years. His graphic designs and renderings have been displayed in more than a 100 exhibitions and have received over 65 awards of merit. He has delivered lectures to universities, museums, and special interest groups throughout the United States and, in 1977, was honored with an appointment as Visiting Professor of Design at the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia. Mr. Abbott has served on numerous juries and award presentations for architectural and landscape architectural design competitions. He designed the Blue Ridge Parkway Headquarters in North Carolina and authored the national award-winning Visual Character of the Blue Ridge Parkway book.

In November 1999, Mr. Abbott was awarded the William C. Noland Medal. The Noland Medal is awarded annually to the single architect whose distinguished lifetime achievements most fully exemplify the values and abilities of the architectural profession. It is presented by the Virginia Society of the American Institute of Architects.

Presentation

Parkway Purpose, Idea, and Creation

Award-winning architect and artist Carlton Abbott – son of the Parkway’s original landscape architect, Stanley Abbott – will talk about Stanley Abbott’s guiding design principles and how these principles have influenced the management of the Blue Ridge Parkway over the years. Carlton will discuss these principles and practices within the framework of keeping America beautiful.