McMillan Historic Preservation Report FINAL DRAFT 7-28-2010
222
Prepared by EHT Traceries, Inc. Prepared for Vision McMillan Partners
Filter Bed Ramps
RESOURCE TYPE Filter Bed Portals
The site features twenty ramps that lead from each of the portals to the subterranean filter beds. These ramps were typical for this type of facility for facilitating the movement of sand in and out of the filter beds. However, at McMillan, a different system of moving sand was developed, and the ramps were constructed primarily as an alternate access point in the case that the sand-handling apparatus failed to perform. The ramps were designed at an incline that accommodates horses, which would have been used to bring wagons into the filter beds to move the sand. x
x
x
x
x
x
The site features twenty portals that lead to each of the twenty subterranean filter beds. The portals are integrated into the parapet walls of the filter beds that line the north and south sides of the service courts. The portals are constructed of brick and parged in concrete, featuring a denticulated concrete cornice. Each portal has an arched opening fitted with a double-leaf wood door with iron hardware. A: The number and spacing of the sand bins is key to conveying the scale of the facility and play an important role as the above-grade representation of the quantity and locations of each of the subterranean filter beds. B: The portals are not as visible from the pedestrian path as other resources within the service courts but played a secondary role in the public experience of McMillan Park. C: The portals exhibit architectural details that indicate that they were intended to be a key part of the overall aesthetic of the site. A: The ramps were a secondary part of the operations of the facility by showing the need to provide an alternate means of access to the filter beds. B: These ramps did not contribute to the public experience of McMillan Park. C: These ramps do not play a major role in conveying the aesthetic of the site but are part of the unique construction of the subterranean filter beds and their various parts.
SIGNIFICANCE
CONTEXT
All filter bed ramps are extant and in their original locations, with some signs of material and structural deterioration.
All of the original filter bed portals are extant and in their original locations. Many of the original wood doors are extant and intact, with other doors missing or showing various degrees of deterioration.
INTEGRITY
2
3
A
0
2
B
1
3
C
3
8
TOTAL
Minor
Key
RLS
High
High
INTEGRITY