We lay before you our customary annual report upon matters of design, construction and superintendence.

The most important fact in the record of the year is that of the greatly increased popularity of the park, and especially of the more domestic elements of the design explained in our report of last year. There has been more than double as much use of the ground as there was two years ago, and a third more than one year ago, the whole number of visits having exceeded six millions, making an average for every day, winter and summer, foul and fair weather included, of over seventeen thousand.

The greater part of this increase has been among those entering on foot, but a considerably larger number of private carriages is also observed. It is moreover noticed, that as people get to be more familiar with the park, they stay in it a longer time, on an average, at each visit.

The only noticeable modification in the study of the general plan of the park, which has been developed during the year, has grown out of a change in its boundaries near the entrance from Flatbush avenue, for the purpose of adapting them to an improvement of the neighboring street system. A reconsideration of the park road and walk lines leading from the Willink [495] link Gate was found to be necessary in this connection, and the design, as it now stands, is shown on the accompanying revised plan.

At the commencement of the working season a change occurred in the organization of the staff of superintendence. Mr. John Bogart, who was the responsible engineer to the Board at the close of the year 1870, having resigned his position, his duties devolved on Mr. J. Y. Culyer, who was subsequently appointed by your Board its chief engineer.

In organizing the work of construction under your instructions, in 1866, it was thought desirable to secure, if possible, some advantage from the special knowledge which had been acquired in the engineering department of the Central Park during the initial stages of development of that work before the war. Of the assistant engineers who had been engaged in that department, Mr. Bogart was selected as a fitting representative of the required experience, and, at our suggestion, he gave up a professional position he was then holding under the United States Government, and took charge under Mr. Davis, then your chief engineer, of the Brooklyn Park surveys, and of the transference to the ground of the design, as finally approved.

This important service he continued to render, in connection with other duties, till the close of his official relations with the park last spring, and we desire at this time to express our sense of the special value of the aid we have received from him in the elaboration of the design during the five years that he has been connected with the work under the control of your Commission.

His coadjutor and successor, the present chief engineer, was likewise engaged from the outset on the Central Park, and also, at our suggestion, in 1866, resigned a position held in connection with its administration, to take the more responsible one to which he was appointed when the Brooklyn Park work was first organized. Except during a period of service under the War Department, Mr. Culyer has thus, for the last fifteen years, been occupied on public work of this special class; and his duties under your Commission having required him to be in constant communication with your Executive Committee, the value throughout of his ability and experience is well known to the Board.

Of the various results that have been reached in the steady progress of the work during the past year, the completion of the circuit drive supplies the additional attraction to the park of most evident value to the public, and it may therefore be desirable to refer briefly to the natural peculiarities of the ground, and the special artistic requirements that controlled at the outset the location of this particular feature of the general scheme.

The park territory, with reference to its special adaptability for use as a city pleasure ground, is broadly divisible into four principal natural sections; first, the pastoral or long meadow district; next, the old forest ground, containing the east, west and mid woods; third, the high lands of Breeze Hill and [496]

[497] Lookout Hill; fourth, that which holds the open waters of the Lake. To these may be added a fifth, somewhat artificial, subdivision, comprised of the stretch on the south side of the Lake, which is laid out with wide roads and walks as the special promenade ground of the park.

To develop the variety of natural scenery above referred to in a manner that should be attractive to the visitor, and, at the same time, give an impression of artistic unity and largeness to the park design, it was necessary to secure a circuit drive that could be constructed with an easy grade throughout, on a course that should not appear to double on itself in a narrow or contracted way.

It was for this reason, and with the specific object of getting around the obstacle presented by Lookout Hill, that the appropriation of additional territory in the direction of the Coney Island Railroad station, and the changes in the line of Fifteenth street, were recommended in our original study. In consequence of the delays and embarrassments occasioned by the difficulty in obtaining the north-westerly section of the park ground, this important connecting link in the general circuit could not safely be made till last season; the necessarily heavy operations required by the improvement are, however, now well advanced, and since the drive was opened to the public, in October last, the specific intention of this part of the plan has been made evident, and the advantages arising from the somewhat costly change of boundary have, we trust, been clearly manifested.

Another important park feature has also, during the past year, assumed its final engineering shape, although it does not yet produce the intended effect on the eye of the visitor. The lake shores are completed, and between fifty and sixty acres of water surface are provided for; the water is, however, at present much below the designed level, and the bank slopes are, in consequence, more prominent in every direction than they will be when the lake fills up to the line indicated on our working sections. The intended result is expected to be gradually arrived at by the steady operation of the pump attached to the great well, and it is hoped that the relative proportion of land and water contemplated in the arrangement of this part of the design will, in the course of a few months, be completely secured.

For the safety and accommodation of pedestrians, archways under the carriage drive have been introduced at a few prominent points in the general plan of the park. Of these the Enterdale, the Meadowport, the Nethermead, and the Eastwood Arches had been completed at the date of our last report; and a design was in preparation for the Cleftridge Span, which was intended to penetrate Breeze Hill, and thus enable visitors coming from the main entrance to reach the Concert Ground and Lake shore on foot, at an easy grade by a protected line of approach.

This archway, in accordance with our advice, was at first designed to be formed of granite and brick, and working plans and estimates were prepared accordingly. But before any contracts were made, the Beton Coignet [498]

Company offered, on favorable terms, to construct the whole archway of their patented material, which had been used successfully, for some years past, on large public works abroad, and which, it was represented, would allow of a considerable increase of artistic character on the details of the design without additional cost.

In the architectural treatment of archways for park purposes, the most serious difficulty lies in the arrangement for the soffit or ceiling, the surface of which is always so large, that its elaboration in brick, stone, or [499]

wood, is only admissible in very prominent situations, on account of the cost involved. The advantages promised by the new material in this direction were obvious, and its sufficiency in other respects being maintained by General Gilmore, the president of the company, the evidence in its favor was considered by your Board sufficient to justify a trial of it on the park.

Under these circumstances, we felt that the soffit of the arch ought to be the key note of the fresh study, and, in consultation with Dr. Goodridge, the vice-president of the Beton Company, we prepared a design that received the approval of your Board, and which has since been partially executed.

The object to be reached was to reduce the number of moulds or separate castings to a minimum, because every additional mould would involve a serious addition to the actual cost of the work. Every block used in the soffit was accordingly arranged to be of the one most convenient dimension for working purposes—thirty-six by eighteen inches—and the plan was so arranged that the use of three moulds, one for the vertical rib, one for the horizontal rib, and one for the panel, should be sufficient to complete the [500] whole interior work of the arch. Each of the wooden moulds or patterns was elaborated with carved work, and the one for the panel deeply incised so as to secure additional artistic effect.

The archway is not yet completed, and the interior work is not fully pointed, but the result is sufficient to show that the good or bad effect of the material, in any such situation, is entirely dependent on the designer; and that, if it maintains its reputation for strength and durability, it must prove a valuable addition to the decorative resources of the architect.

The grading of the Jamaica parkway, or grand approach to the park from the eastward, has been well advanced during the year, the work having been prosecuted under contracts, made by the Board, throughout its entire length. The construction of the Ocean parkway, connecting the park, by a continued system of pleasure roads and walks, with the seashore, is delayed by legal difficulties which, it is understood, must be removed by legislation. Should this be obtained during the present season, rapid progress may be made, on account of the more favorable character of the ground, and these two important undertakings advance together.

Considerable additions have been made to the plantations of the park during the year, and the satisfactory condition of the previous plantings, and the good results of the measures taken for the improvement of the old woods continue. We have a special report in preparation upon the plantations of the park, which will soon be laid before you.

Less progress than had been anticipated has been made during the year in the improvement of the pleasure ground of Fort Greene, on account of difficulties with contractors, explained in the report of the chief engineer. The value of the work previously done has been demonstrated by the large numbers of people who have resorted to the ground, in their evident enjoyment, and in the good order which has generally prevailed.

The principal work of the improvements at Tompkins square, suggested in our report of last year, and adopted by your Board, has been completed, and the planting and finishing of the ground will be practicable early next summer.

The accompanying report of the chief engineer supplies extensive details of all the work, and exhibits very fully the methods on which it has been conducted.