I have the honor to present a preliminary report on the improvement of Morningside Park.

The city property which has received this designation is a strip of steep hill-side, equal in length to the distance from the Battery to the City Hall, or about three-quarters of a mile; its width for the most part is less than that of the planted part of Union Square (100 yards). The only surfaces within it, not steeply inclined, are in two small patches lying widely apart, against the northeast and southeast corners respectively; most of the remainder being precipitous hill side, formed by the rounded face of a ledge of gneiss, difficult, unsafe, and in parts, impracticable to travel over. At one point only a break of this ledge occurs about three hundred feet in length, and here the slope is sufficiently gentle to allow the hill to be mounted with moderate directness. The difference of elevation between the west and the east sides is a little less than one hundred feet, and the western boundary is to be a public highway carried at a still higher level and generally supported by a nearly vertical stone wall, which, at some points, is thirty feet in height. There will, consequently, [652]

Plan for Morningside Park, 1873

[653]

In studying the practical public uses for which ground of this kind is available, they will be found unusually limited.

The city is still deficient in many provisions which unquestionably will soon be urged upon it by advancing civilization; such as already exist in the principal towns of Europe, and for which considerable spaces of open ground are necessary. New York, for example, has no ground for the athletic exercises of young men, the open spaces of the Central Park not being suitable for this purpose, and being already devoted to the athletic education of the children of the city, for whose use they will eventually prove much too small—no grand promenade, the Central Park roads and walks being designed for rural and not for urban recreation. It has no proper market places, no fair grounds nor places adapted to the display of fireworks or other exhibitions. Within four miles of Morningside Park there is no ground suitable to exercises in arms, civic receptions, or any great public ceremonies. There is no ground in the city or its suburbs adapted to special education in general botanical science, arboriculture, horticulture, pharmacy or zoology, nor have any of the thirty-five reservations, large and small, termed parks, in New York and Brooklyn, been selected for or devoted to any of these purposes. Unfortunately Morningside Park adds another public ground chosen without the slightest reference to any of these special requirements of the city, and happens to be singularly incapable of being adapted to them.

Having the Central Park on one side, Mt. Morris on another, Riverside on the third, the most distant being but a thousand yards away and the nearest less than two hundred, there is no part of the city in which there is less occasion for another ground adapted simply to the airing of young children, and to general strolling and lounging of the residents of the neighborhood, and should its plan have no other very evident motive, it would be hard to justify the maintenance of any public park in this situation at the general expense of the city.

Studying the ground in search of opportunities for serving larger interests, a series of circumstances are to be observed, as follows:

First.—Although no distant or expanded view can be controlled within the limits of the Park itself, from the public highway which overhangs it on the west, as before described, a prospect will be had (above the house-tops of that quarter of the town now growing on the Harlem plain) far out across a wide range of beautiful country, and over the waters and islands of the river and sound, the eastern sea-gate of the metropolis.

It is not from one point alone, but from all parts of the road, that this fine view may be enjoyed. It is only to be regretted that the advantage which it thus possesses had not been recognized in laying out the new highway, and more importance given to it by an increased breadth. Even as it stands, however, [654] there is ample space for several thousand persons to make use of it at a time while moving in carriages or on foot, and with proper management, it may be made a public resort of no small importance in the general system of grounds for the healthful recreation of the city.

Taking this terrace road in connection with the ground below it, the latter will be found to serve a very important purpose, for had it remained private property, it would in time unquestionably have been used in such a manner as to utterly destroy the special advantage to the public of the highway.

This consideration will be found to have an essential bearing on the question of the laying out of the ground, for if those portions of it lying immediately below the terrace road should be planted as in conventional landscape gardening, the view would be as entirely cut off in a few years by lofty trees as if the ground were covered with tall buildings.

Second.—The break in the general face of the ledge, before referred to, presents a position considerably elevated above, yet easily approached from, the lower side of the Park. A retaining wall of moderate extent, connecting the two opposite piers of rock, would here make practicable an esplanade or level space 500 feet long and over 100 feet deep, which might be turned to account in various ways. It would, for example, form a fine site for any structure of such moderate elevation, that it would present no obstruction to the view from the terrace road above. The introduction of an artificial feature of this character, with the suitable decoration of the retaining wall and staircases ascending it, would enhance, by contrast, the effect of the natural bold and rugged elements of the Park.

Third.—The natural conditions of the Morningside site are of a similar character, but rather inferior in interest, to those of the northern portion of the Central Park. The two being not three minutes walk apart, for many years to come the greater number of visitors will probably reach it by way of the Central Park. It is desirable, then, as a matter of art, that Morningside Park should be, if possible, so treated as to contrast with the nearer parts of Central Park, and not produce the effect of a small and weak pendant of the older and more important ground. It is particularly desirable that the southeast angle should offer a direct and inviting entrance upon a scene strikingly interesting in character. The topographical conditions just here are, as it happens, unusual. With the construction of the necessary embankments of the street and avenue, a considerable basin will be formed of a generally triangular outline, two sides being steeply sloping; the third, a natural and quite picturesque cliff of rock, which is a prominent object in approaching from the direction of the Central Park. The earth at its base is light and easy of excavation, and in the process of grading in the vicinity, will be needed as material of embankment. The ground rises behind the rock on the north and west, and it will thus be seen that an area can here be formed about two acres in extent, which would be remarkably well protected from winds. The local [655] conditions indicated offer advantages such as are possessed nowhere else by the city for either of two purposes:

It is, namely, admirably suited to a small enclosure in which some of the tamer tropical animals could be allowed to graze, and in which suitable accommodations for lodging them throughout the year could be placed, or to a special garden for the display of what are known as sub-tropical plants. The latter is probably the simpler and more immediately attractive suggestion.

With respect to an entrance at this point, there are some special difficulties to be met. The sidewalk of the street will be 20 feet above the adjoining surface of the park, and from the angle the street grade descends rapidly to the north, and ascends to the west. Under these circumstances, an architectural construction of an original character is desirable to supply such an entrance as is required.

Fourth.—Although there are rocky points on the Central Park more interesting perhaps than any that can here be found, by a moderate excavation of the alluvial deposit along the 3 base of the steep rocks between the line of 116th and 120th streets, a walk may be obtained, which, with skillful management of the materials at hand, may present a greater continuity of picturesque rocky border than an equal distance of walk on any other park possessed by the city.

Fifth.—Near the northwest end, the whole breadth of the park is occupied by masses of rock, like a craggy mountain side. There is no soil for the support of large trees, but the conditions are well fitted for the advantageous display of the very interesting forms of vegetation technically termed Alpine plants.

Sixth.—Argument is hardly necessary to prove that by no appropriate treatment could a ground having the natural features of Morningside Park, be made a safe and reputable place of resort at night. At least access to all the precipitous and rocky parts should be rigidly prevented by suitable barriers.

The six general considerations which have been thus developed, may be regarded as supplying the specifications to which a plan should conform, and in which provisions for meeting them should be agreeably related and combined.

In examining the study of a design here presented, it will be necessary to bear in mind the extreme steepness of the ground, as it is impossible to represent on a plan (in which every object is assumed to be looked at directly [656] from above) the nearly perpendicular faces of the rocks that, seen from below, will be such important features of the park.

The principal parts of the plan will be easily recognized as follows:

Beginning the examination at the point nearest the Central Park, an enlargement of the sidewalk at the angle formed by the junction of the street and avenue will be seen forming a balcony looking into the basin which has been described, and also serving as the upper landing of a double staircase, descending 22 feet, to a paved court below. From wall fountains under the balcony, water flows into a large semi-circular basin. On the other side, the court opens upon a body of water, which by an arrangement of points and islands, is designed to be seen in vistas radiating from its centre, and terminating at interesting points of the high rocks opposite.

Aquatic plants break the surface of these little lagoons, and they are overhung by luxuriant and intricate foliage of tropical character, of apparently natural growth from their banks. These will be backed and protected by thickets of large but inconspicuous hardy shrubs. Walks lead out laterally from the entrance court, which are carried on the opposite face of these thickets, but, at certain points, openings occur, from which other vistas are seen of a like character to those which extend from the court. The rare plants, while seen to advantage, will be out of reach, and secure from injury by visitors.

Further to the right occurs the break in the outcrop of the ledge which has been described.

The suggested esplanade, the larger part of it occupied by a building, will here be seen, forming the most prominent object in the plan. A series of staircases, steps and walks will be noticed leading to the level of its site from two points on the terrace-road above, and from three in the avenue below. Passages are thus formed from the upper to the lower borders of the Park, the elevation being overcome by a convenient combination of stairs and sloping walks. Between the two entrances on the upper and the three on the lower side of the Park a distinct district is here designed, which is treated in an urban and gardenesque style. A fountain and flower beds will be observed, and, in connection with the architectural elements of the stairs, terrace and arcade, admirable positions will be found for the display of statues and other works of art, such as private munificence may hereafter offer for the purpose. The whole is so arranged that the walks leading north and south into other parts of the park can be closed by gates, and this division, being well lighted, may then be left open for free passage at all times during the night, all due precaution being taken for safety both against accidents and violence.

The principal walk leading northward from this district will be observed near the middle of the plan, and is designed, as required by the fourth specification, to be formed in an excavation along the foot of the ledge. Although broad and not indirect in course, it is to be deeply shaded and to have a wild, picturesque and secluded character until it reaches the second walk, crossing from east to west, at 120th street. Immediately beyond this point it [657] opens upon the only quiet, sunny lawn on the Park. This is bordered by shrubbery and flowering plants, and a chalet for refreshments is built on the rocks overhanging it on the west.

Leading westward from the lawn, the walk ascends, by steps, a rocky defile, the Alpine ground of the fifth specification, beyond which, the entrances to the Park from Tenth avenue are reached.

A mall, nowhere less than twenty feet wide, surrounds the Park, and is separated from it by a parapet wall, over which, at intervals, views into the Park can be enjoyed. The mall is planted with a double row of trees, is furnished with seats, and is to be well lighted, that it may be safely used at night when the rugged and more obscure parts of the Park are closed.

On the upper side of the Park, at the best points for enjoying the distant prospect to the eastward, balconies are built out, from four of which staircases give access to walks in the Park below. At 120th street, a third crossing is arranged, to be lighted and kept open at night.

Fourteen entrances to the Park will be observed, in the arrangement of which there is much variety of character.

Between two of these, on the eastern avenue opposite the esplanade, the outer roadway is widened so as to form a bay in which carriages may stand for the accommodation of visitors without interruption of general movement in the highway.

It will be recognized that the variety of scenery in the several divisions of the Park which have been indicated, is very marked, but that the transition from one to another is nowhere abrupt and sensational. The visitor passes through the exotic luxuriance of the tropical garden; thence through dense masses of foliage he comes upon the terrace district, with its striking architectural and floral decorations; then through the wild, picturesque and sombre walk along the foot of the ledge; then along the bright open lawn, simple in character but highly cultivated; then, mounting the craggy hillside, with its low growth of brilliant Alpine plants springing from the crevices of the rocks, and by a stairway up the vine-covered wall, he reaches the terrace road mall. By this he may return to the point of starting, enjoying in a further walk of half a mile the broad distant view which is the crowning attraction of the Park.