On the 29th of May last we were appointed by your Board Landscape Architects and Superintendents of the Park, and were requested to consider various portions of its design in detail with reference to an early commencement of the work of construction.

On the 16th of June we were instructed to organize, as soon as possible, with the sanction of the Executive Committee, a practical system of operations under which the work might be proceeded with at suitable points during the remainder of the season.

The necessary preliminaries having been settled, a small body of laborers was set at work on the 1st of July, since which time the force has been engaged in developing such leading features of the plan as it was practicable from time to time to take up.

Our preliminary study contemplated the addition to the Park domain, of the tract between Third and Fifteenth streets and Ninth and Tenth avenues; but as this section was not included in the enlargement provided for by legislative enactment last winter, the satisfactory development of the plan on the ground has been somewhat interfered with. All the lines in the neighborhood [151] of the Litchfield property have had to be stopped short, or so arranged that they would apply to the scheme of roads as originally designed, in case that ground should be acquired within a reasonable time, and also admit, without readjustment, of adaptation to the present contracted boundary line, if this course should be found absolutely necessary. In accordance with instructions received at the outset, we studied the road lines that would have to be followed in the event of the present boundaries being adhered to, but the result was entirely unsatisfactory; and we feel so well assured that it is to the public interest that the ground under discussion should be included in the Park limits, that we think it our duty again, at this time, to urge the proposition on your attention, so that before Spring, if possible, the necessary legislation may be obtained, and all doubts dispelled in reference to the ultimate engineering lines of the main circuit drive.

The territory to the south and west, appropriated to the Park by the Legislature of last winter, not being yet in the actual possession of your Commission, operations have been necessarily restricted to a limited section at the north end.

A portion of the carriage drive and of the bridle road has been laid out and sub-graded, and the extent of the work thus done is set forth in the annexed progress map. Although the lines originally suggested in the preliminary study have been somewhat varied in execution, no serious modifications have yet resulted from the preparation of the plan in detail upon the working surveys. It has, however, been found practicable to amplify the system of drives passing through the woods south of the Old Battle Pass, and we have thus been able to effect a reduction in width of the separate branches without lessening the actual accommodation. By this means greater advantage is obtained from the shade offered by existing trees than would be possible if the full width of forty feet were everywhere adhered to.

A central fountain basin, 160 feet in diameter, has been added to the plan of the Plaza, which forms part of the principal entrance.

The main outlines of this portion of the design have been accurately adjusted, and the necessary changes of grade are now in process of execution.

In the preliminary study, the northerly section of the Plaza was left open, but further study has led us to recommend that it should be enclosed and planted to correspond with the arrangements adopted on the east and west sides, and that a considerable stretch of ground, which is suitable for the purpose, should be treated as an extension of the sidewalks leading in the directions of Flatbush and Vanderbilt avenues to the Park. The space thus appropriated will be in a very conspicuous and central position, and is sufficiently extensive to admit of its being used for open air public meetings, that would be out of place if held either in the crowded thoroughfares of the city or within the limits of the Park proper. The plan of the Plaza, as now arranged, contemplates the erection, at some future time, of important monumental [152]

Plan for Prospect Park, 1866–67

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“Map Showing Progress upon the Park to January 1, 1867”

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Prospect Park Plaza

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In the preliminary study, a small portion of ground attached to the reservoir site, on the east side of Flatbush avenue, was proposed to be improved, and a foot bridge was planned to connect the reservoir with the main Park. This portion of the design, in accordance with our instructions, has not been included in any operations that have been commenced, but we have taken the opportunity to give further study to the subject; and the modified plan, sometime since submitted for your consideration, and now appended to this report, embodies the latest suggestions that we have to offer in regard to this district. It proposes that the area to be improved shall be somewhat extended so as to make provision for an agreeable promenade to be entered directly from Washington avenue, the position of the proposed foot bridge being changed, so that it now takes a prominent place in the arrangement of the new approach.

In our preliminary study we proposed that Vanderbilt avenue should be widened to 100 feet, so far as the property of the Commissioners extended, the object being to improve, as far as possible, the approach from the city in this direction. It will be seen, however, by reference to the map of Brooklyn, that within a few blocks of the Park an awkward crook occurs in Vanderbilt avenue, and that the avoidance of this, by an extension in a straight line to Clinton avenue, would be very expensive. As moreover, horse railroads will probably be laid, sooner or later, on both Vanderbilt and Ninth avenues, neither of these thoroughfares will, when the city is built up, be entirely desirable routes for a large concourse of pleasure vehicles.

Taking all these circumstances into consideration, we have been desirous to lay before you some suggestion for an improvement in this portion of the general design that would be acceptable in its character, and not too costly for practical application.

Clinton avenue, which is eighty feet wide, would undoubtedly form a very agreeable approach to the Park. It is at present entirely blocked up at its point of intersection with Atlantic avenue, but an examination of the intervening district shows that it might, by judicious arrangement, be extended in a nearly direct line to the Warren street boundary of the Park property, without passing through any ground now occupied by valuable buildings.

We have, therefore, made a fresh study, which we herewith lay before you, of an arrangement of street lines within the district now under your control, northeast of the Plaza, so as to include the suggested extension of Clinton avenue in our general scheme of approaches to the principal gateway of the Park.

It will be observed on an examination of the modified plan that the whole design is now more symmetrical than it was as originally presented, the junction of Clinton avenue, with the Plaza on one side, as proposed, corresponding [157] with the junction of Douglas street, with the Plaza on the other side—as now laid down on the city map.

It will also be noticed that, after crossing Underhill avenue, Butler, Douglas and Degraw streets are now arranged to approach the Park on lines more direct than those indicated on the preliminary study submitted for consideration last year.

It would undoubtedly add much to the value of the Park if it could be reached, by citizens living at a distance, through liberally conceived approaches which were, in all their extent, convenient and pleasant to walk, ride or drive in. But the value of the property which would have to be acquired by the City, and of that which would necessarily be destroyed in forming an improvement of this character through any part of the region west and north of Prospect Hill, is now so great that no scheme for the purpose would be likely to meet with favor. It is, however, not too late to consider whether routes approaching the Park and connecting its drives with other points, in which your constituents will have special interest, may not be laid out beyond that part of the city in which the value of land is already so great as to make such undertakings formidable.

In our preliminary report we suggested routes leading from the southwestern part of the Park toward Fort Hamilton and Coney Island. We have since observed that an avenue likely to be, at no distant day, quite as useful as either of these, might be formed between the eastern gate of the Park and the high land about the Ridgewood reservoir, following the present city line. When the streets now planned in this vicinity shall have been once opened, it will be impossible to lay out a spacious and attractive roadway leading in this direction without destroying very valuable property. During the next two or three years, however, it would probably be found practicable to make such local modifications in the general street system as would leave it no less convenient than at present, and yet would allow of the introduction of a broad boulevard, shaded by agreeable plantations and adapted for use as a pleasure drive, ride and walk. The route suggested would make frequent curves and considerable inequalities of surface desirable, and this circumstance would operate to prevent its general use for any other purpose than for pleasure travel and access to the buildings by which it would be lined.

Even if it should not be thought expedient to undertake such an improvement immediately, the ground might be secured and the city map modified with reference to its construction in the future. It would practically extend the Park to the rear of Williamsburgh, and, at a comparatively low price, would add much more to its real utility than any equal area of land that could now be secured on its immediate border.

Up to this time, those who have built expensive houses in the districts which lie much to the eastward of the present centre of population of the city, have evidently been led to do so because the opportunity has here been offered to lay out villa residences on a liberal scale, which is not elsewhere [158]

The Work of Olmsted, Vaux & Company in Brooklyn and Environs

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It is, doubtless, for the interest of the city of Brooklyn that such men should not be driven beyond its limits, and that others of similar tastes should be attracted to build within them, an object which would be greatly aided by the opening of spacious and agreeable suburban thoroughfares, especially if these were so designed as to practically secure the advantages of proximity to the Park to all who should live near them.

The various duties of superintendence of work on the Park are, for the sake of convenience, divided into two classes, each supervised by an assistant engineer, and both comprehended in the more general responsiblity of the engineer in charge.

The first includes the duties of the topographical survey, the elaboration of the designs in working drawings and details of measurement in exact correspondence with the data furnished by the topographical survey; the transference of the designs in this form to the ground in such ways as may be required to enable the workmen to understand each his respective part in the constructive labor; and such a supervision of the working force as is necessary to secure the intended result in all particulars, together with the measurements, calculations and records, upon which our knowledge is assured of the degree of economy, with which the work is proceeding.

The second includes the adjustment of the force to the various duties required to be performed by recruiting, by transfers, and by discharges; the discipline of the force by cautions, reproofs, suspensions and discharges; the detail of time-keeping and the precautions used to prevent fraud and disorder.

Mr. John Bogart, civil engineer, is in immediate charge of so much of the organization as relates to the first of these departments; Mr. J. Y. Culyer, civil engineer, of so much as relates to the other.

Mr. J. P Davis, civil engineer, has a general executive charge over all, and is also looked to for the solution of problems arising on the work, which belong strictly to his special professional responsiblity. His report, with those of his assistants, is herewith appended.

We have every reason to be satisfied with the manner in which we have hitherto been aided in the study of our task, and with which our instructions have been carried out; and if thought desirable, are prepared to enlarge the scale of operations upon the ground in the Spring, with entire confidence, based upon the experience we have now had, in the ability and zeal with which we shall be sustained, not only by the gentlemen whom we have named, but by all who are engaged in the service of your Board.