“Ladies and gentlemen, we must COMMUNICATE,” Nick Van Vliet wrote in the OALA Review (1979). And indeed, Van Vliet communicated. Nick led the Review’s editorial team over some 18 years, writing countless articles and fiery editorials calling for action from Toronto to the Queen Charlottes. Van Vliet, as long-time Review editor, OALA Publicity Chair, later OALA President (1979-80), and Chair of the CSLA Examining Board, was a tireless advocate for what he called the “invisible profession”.
Van Vliet and his graduating Ryerson Polytechnical Institute students launched the Review in 1974. By 1982, the Review had joined forces with the CSLA publication, been rechristened the Landscape Architectural Review, and become the English language voice of the profession in Canada. Nick remained largely at the helm for another decade, until 1992, when his international work was already well underway.
Van Vliet was a man who treasured his independence. Born in Den Haag, Netherlands (1932), he had explored Europe as a young man, but never forgot the Canadian soldiers who liberated his family after WWII – and passed out chocolate. After studying at the Royal Horticultural College in Boskoop, he immigrated to Toronto (1952), and a decade later, was studying horticulture (University of Guelph, 1961-65,) and later, environmental science (York University, 1980s.) He taught at Ryerson and over the years, worked with such eminent LAs as J. Austin Floyd (1963-68), then Richard Strong Associates, and later Emiel Van Der Meulen.
By 1987, he was in England designing the country’s first indoor theme park. With his peripatetic nature, his LA expertise took him around the globe. He designed and supervised massive projects: from shopping centres in downtown Brisbane to gardens in Gambia, from Saudi government projects to the Science Centre in Toronto. “He had more experiences than we will ever know and learned more languages than he admitted to,” his family wrote after his death in 2017, and was so passionate about his work that he worked and travelled well into his 60s. (In 1998, at 66, he left to construct a 20-ha park in Quingdao, People’s Republic of China.)
“Niek” was, said his granddaughter Alix Gallop, “the most interesting man in the world,” according to all of her friends. He spent his later years, happily roosting in Udora, Ontario, his days punctuated by nature walks, bird watching, writing fiction, and hours spent regaling the grandkids with tales of his adventures abroad. He was, said Alix, their “Indiana Jones.”
The CSLA thanks Alix Gallop, Nick Van Vliet’s granddaughter, for her collaboration. She is working on a life history, and would appreciate any information on his project work. Please contact: alixcgallop@gmail.com.
Sources
1 The OALA Review, (later Landscape Architectural Review)
2 Some members of the 1975 Executive of the OALA, from left: Jerry Corush, John Day, Alex Budrevics, John Skala, Nick Van Vliet, Neil Melman, Al Regehr.
3 Van Vliet, both as Editor of the OALA Review and OALA President, was a regular presence in the magazine’s opening pages over two decades.
4 The well-travelled Nick Van Vliet
5 Van Vliet’s last project in Saudi Arabia, building irrigation in the middle of the desert. Courtesy Alix Gallop.
