By: Amanda Brown and Friends of Kiley Garden
A Dan Kiley designed landscape without trees or water features is a sad sight. Yet, the Tampa garden that now bears the name of landscape architect, Dan Urban Kiley, is just that. Dan Kiley was the leading American modernist landscape architects working in the postwar period, known for his work on the Lincoln Center plaza, Fountain Plaza in Dallas, Miller house garden and US Air Force campus garden designs.
In 1988 Kiley was invited to work on the North Carolina National Bank plaza in Tampa, later known as NationsBank. Landscape architect Dan Kiley and architect Harry Wolf worked together to provide a harmonious plan for the NCNB headquarters building and the surrounding plaza. The design was based on the fibonacci mathematical sequence. Kiley used the sequence to determine the plaza’s checkerboard pattern of grass, concrete panels, and water features. Tree types and placement were based on height in relation to the fibonacci sequence. The tower and plaza opened in 1988, and the plaza was quickly praised as one of Kiley’s master works. The NationsBank tower designed by Harry Wolf is one of the most iconic structures in Tampa.
 Dan Kiley at US Air Force academy. Credit: courtesy of Aaron Kiley |  Kiley Garden Opening Day, 1988. Credit: Friends of Kiley Garden |
 Kiley Garden Opening Day, 1988. Credit: Friends of Kiley Garden |  Kiley Garden Opening Day, 1988. Credit: Friends of Kiley Garden |
However, value engineering during construction and a lack of city maintenance in its early years led to degradation of the plaza. The plaza became a haven for the homeless and youth, who would come to calling the park “Trip Park”. The concrete grid was buckling, water leaked into the parking garage below, and the plaza became overgrown. Reconstruction of the garden began in 2006, including the removal of the sabal palms and crepe myrtles, structural, electrical, and drainage repairs, reconstruction of the plaza’s small amphitheater, and garden surface reconstruction.
While the garden has been refurbished and is maintained far better than it was a decade ago, it lacks the tree shade and cooling water features that made it a respite from the searing Florida sun and humidity. Much to the detriment of The Friends of Kiley Garden and local advocates of the park, the palms and crepe myrtles were never replaced. The original grid pattern in the park was also altered. Hoping to highlight the beauty and importance of the plaza and Dan Kiley’s original vision, the Friends of Kiley Garden will give a walking tour of the plaza and surrounding area on Docomomo US Tour Day. It is the hope of the Friends and other advocates that the City of Tampa will place trees back into the park in accordance with Kiley’s original plans. The tour will be held October 10, 2015 at 10:00 AM and will start in Kiley Garden at 400 N. Ashley Drive, Tampa, FL 33602. The Friends are asking participants for a $5.00 donation so that they can secure the Cultural Landscape Foundation’s current traveling exhibit on Dan Kiley’s work titled “The Landscape Architecture Legacy of Dan Kiley”.
 Kiley Garden, 2011. Credit: J. Bjorn |  Kiley Garden, 2011. Credit: J. Bjorn |
For more information on Dan Kiley and Kiley Garden visit https://tclf.org/pioneer/dan-kiley/biography-dan-kiley and https://tclf.org/landscapes/kiley-garden.