The Attitude of a Park Towards the City + A Historical Analysis of Parks in Brooklyn

The Attitude of a Park Towards the City + A Historical Analysis of Parks in Brooklyn

ARCH 3070 Foundations in Design Thinking

3

Contents 5-6_Project Statement 7-8_Historical Development 9-10_Design of the City 11-12_Fredrick Law Olmsted 13-14_Time Line of Parks 15-16_Prospect Views 17-22 Park Analysis 23-24_Conceptualizations 25-26_Cited Data

4

5

The Attitude of a Park Towards the City: + The Story of Brooklyn Parks

Evelyn Saunders

Brooklyn--cultural icon, urban hub, historic place, and home to over 40 parks in its vast urban network. As author Stan Allen said in his work Field Conditions, “Form matters, but not so much the forms of things as the forms between things.” This thinking is aspirational, and reflective of the importance of open or collective space in a city. To better understand Brooklyn, its essence and identity, we must look to the spaces in between, so we look to parks. Collective spaces can help define a city, so it is important to better understand what defines the collective spaces. This grapples with both the history and physical makeup of a place, taking into consideration how and why it was designed, and how that design can tell us something about society as perceived by the designer at the time it was conceived. That is important because those assumptions and decisions are what make up the fabric of the character of a city. Parks represent the aspirational quality that a city has for the quality of life of its citizens and in Brooklyn that landscape is defined by the work of Fredrick Law Holmsted.

6

PRE-1900

1900-1949

Brooklyn has always been a place of strategic and symbolic importance in the history of early America, colonization, and the growth of our nation. Here we see the historical development of the borough told through a Timeline of Effective Year Built. This series of maps shows the city lots that are considered to have been built in one of four time frames, Pre-1900, 1900-1949, 1950-1999, and 2000-Present. Year Built is the calendar year in which at least 50% of the original construction on a lot was complete. Effective Year Built is the adjusted year built taking into account any subsequent new

7

1950-1999

2000-PRESENT

With that in mind, this series is helpful because it gives us a sense for the development of the city over time in both physical pattern and relative concentration of activity. This tells us that early development flowed down from Manhattan and was concentrated generally in the upper north west region of the borough before experiencing a boom in the early 1900s followed by a period of further densification in an already dense urban environment, which leads to the intervention based densification that typifies more contemporary developments.

8

The Commissioners’ Plan of 1811 was the original design for the streets of Manhattan. It layed out a rectangular gridation above Houston Street and below 155th Street, a simple plan of streets and lots that defines Manhattan to this day.

Some have called it “the single most important document in New York City’s development,” and the plan has even been described as encompassing the “republican predilection for control and balance.”

However, the Commissioner’s Plan was also vociferously criticized from the start, for it did not take into account the natural topography of the island, but also because it forgoes classical ideas about beauty, for monotonous regularity in service of monetary interests alone.

Frederick Law Olmsted, who would co-design Central Park and Prospect among other works around the city, has been called “the grid’s most significant nineteenth-century critic.”

He said, “The time will come when New York will be built-up, when all the grading and filling will be done, when the picturesquely varied rock formations of the island will have been converted into the foundations for rows of monotonous straight streets, and piles of erect angular buildings.

There will be no suggestion left of its present varied surface, with the single except of the few acres contained in [Central] Park.” Olmsted even said, “No city is more unfortunately planned with reference to metropolitan attractiveness.”

Still, by 1876, even Olmsted had to admit that the grid had prevailed.” as it does to this day. That didn’t keep him from coming up with his own responses elsewhere in New York though. And so Olmsteds becomes an important figure in the development of New York and, as it turns out, the city parks.

9

10

11

The story of parks in Brooklyn does centers on this one man. Described by the Cultural Landscape Foundation as, “Unsurpassed in the field of landscape architecture, Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., defined and named the profession and designed many of America’s most beloved 19th-century parks and landscapes, including New York’s Central Park, Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, the Biltmore Estate, and the U.S. Capitol grounds. His commitment to public works stemmed in part from his abolitionist stance: by creating elegant and equitable public spaces for all, he hoped to show the inherent beauty possible in a free society. He also hoped to refute the longheld sentiment that the only source of culture was through noblesse oblige, instead insisting that his parks be publicly funded.”

This giant of landscape architecture left his fingerprints on New York and especially Brooklyn with the development of Prospect Park. More so than in Central Park even, Olmsted was able to design and implement Prospect Park as a testament to his nobel ideals in a way that would shape the city.

Olmsted saw parks as a kind of antidote to the problems of urban life, and as such the parks he designed often served that aspiration. The parks he designed in Brooklyn had a strong sense of naturalism and act as a sort of barrier to the city. Everything that comes after Olmsted, both the people and parks, is in some way a response to him and his work. From the lessons that different designers may not have taken for his work in Prospect Park and the attitude of a park towards the city, to the kinds of interactions these people had with the built environment they were designing. This can be seen in the following drawings and diagrams that look at the timeline of key events for the designers of New York’s parks as well as a closer look at Prospect Park and a number of other selected parks that engage with the aspirations of Brooklyn as a whole, with careful consideration to the perceived natural, recreational, and cultural character of each.

12

Fredrick Law Olmsted 1. August 1840: Arrives in New York at 18, from Connecticut, to clerk for a silk importer; lodges in Brooklyn Heights 2. 1848 through 55: On 125 acres purchased for him by his father, builds Tosomock Farm into a successful nursery between stints traveling 3. February 16, 1853: Publishes first dispatch from the South in nascent New York Times, starting a series that transforms him into a staunch abolitionist, respected journalist, and influential public voice 4. Fall 1857 - April 1858: spending nights at architect Calvert Vaux’s, collaborates on Greenward plan for entry into the Central Park design competition 5. June 1859: Marries his brothers widow, Mary Olmsted, by central Park’s great hill and then moves into Central Park administration offices with her children 6. 1861: Drills park employees at outbreak of Civil War before leaving to head the US Sanitary commission 7. 1865: Returns from stormy tenure at a California gold mine and launches Olmsted, Vaux & Company, Landscape Architects; begins planning Brooklyn’s prospect park 8. 1866: Helped found The Nation magazine as partowner and associate editor 9. Mid-1870s: calls view of Lullwater through the Cleft Ridge Span in completed

13

1870: New York City Department of Parks and Recreation Established Robert Moses 1. 1897: moves to the city from New Haven at 8; grows up in five story brown stone surrounded by Rembrandts and maids 2. 1918: living in small apartment with no job, supported by his mother after being drummed out of city government, takes a position running commission to re-organize New York State government 3. 1934: takes home as the first city parks commissioner overseeing all boroughs; fires all employees of borough parks departments 4. July 21, 1936: define Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, demolishes ferry docks to make a way for approaches to the Triborough Bridge; later builds his permanent office under its toll plaza 5. 1936: report of the orders that Thomas Jefferson pool, one of 11 massive pools funded by the new deal go unheated to discourage use by “coloreds” 6. December 11, 1946: pulls together last minute deal with money from the Rockefellers to build permanent UN headquarters 7. 1952: refuses alternate

8. April 24, 1956: orders Park employees to destroy Glenn beloved to mothers and children of upper West side under cover of night Jane Jacobs 1. 1958: while working as an editor at architectural forum, publishes “downtown is for people“ in fortune, establishing herself as a major critic of urban renewal & turns two sons and daughter loose with petitions and campaign to defeat Moses his plan for Avenue bisecting Washington Square, Park 2. 1961: frequents Lions Head pub, hub for West Villagers’ successful fight against urban renewal plan for neighborhood & working with editor Jason Epstein of random house, publishes the Death 9. 1963-65: presides over transformation of Flushing Meadows for its second worlds fair, which flounders and finances and attendence

Michael Van Valkenburgh 1. 2002: Construction of Brooklyn Bridge Park began 2. March 2010: Pier 1 opens to the public, and while other piers have opened since development continues today

14

15

16

Parks as a Barrier to the City These parks, all designed or redesigned by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, serve as a sort of barrier to the city both in their individual design and in their relationship to eachother considering the historical development of the city around this time.

Prospect Park 1865-1895 526.25 Acers

“Widely known for its intricate manmade watercourse (wetlands) and its trees, the bulk of Brooklyn’s remaining indigenous forest, the park is a highly functional green space. Contained within its 526 acres are a zoo, the first urban-area Audubon Center in the nation, an ice rink, a band shell, a carousel, and dozens of athletic and recreational facilities.”

17

Fort Greene Park Originally Washington Park 1847, 1897 30.17 Acers

“Originally the site of forts built for the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, the community surrounding the land started using it as public space shortly after the threat of the War of 1812 passed. By 1847, it was designated a park (Brooklyn’s first), and twenty years later, famed landscape architects Olmsted and Vaux began designing its new layout.”

Herbert Von King Park Originally called Tompkins Park 1870-71 7.82 Acers

“Von King Park remains a very active respite from the city grind, thanks to the involvement of a strong community that helped build a unique Cultural Arts Center. In addition to its fitness equipment and baseball field, visitors to Von King Park can immerse themselves in the arts, whether using an indoor dance studio or attending a free concert in an outdoor amphitheater.”

18

Post Industrial Adaptive Reuse These sights are repurposed spaces, primarily around points of transite, vehicular or shipping dispersed across the Brooklyn landscape. It makes use of a spaces leftover in the dense urban fabric and make something beautiful.

Cadman Plaza Park 1939 10.38 Acers

“On the border of the historical Brooklyn Heights and Downtown Brooklyn neighborhoods...with a newly renovated Central Lawn, the park serves as a playground for the entire Brooklyn Heights community.

The park honors Reverend Dr. Samuel Parkes Cadman (1864-1936), a Brooklyn Congregational minister and radio preacher famed for his oratory.”

19

Canarsie Park 1934 132.2 Acers

Named for “the Canarsie (or Canarsee) Indians, who lived in western Long Island and were related to the Delawares. They called this area Keskachauge or Kestateuw, but the Dutch renamed it New Amersfoort soon after they settled here in the 1630s. The Canarsie Indians probably had a burial ground on the current parkland.

In 1675 Jan Martense Schenck, a Dutch immigrant, built a house in the area of New Amersfoort, on Mill Island, within the current boundaries of the park.”

Brooklyn Bridge Park 2002 21.38 Acers

“Spanning over 1.3 miles of Brooklyn’s waterfront, ... this treasure of a park offers breathtaking views of Lower Manhattan’s panoramic skyline and the New York Harbor.

Tourists and New Yorkers alike can be seen admiring the iconic cityscape across the East River while strolling along a continuous promenade of six diverse piers. ...numerous recreational facilities, including playgrounds, basketball courts, sports fields, and Brooklyn’s newest roller skating rink.”

20

Program Driven Park Development This describes the come contemporary trend in recently developed or re developed parks. Here the program centered park development fill the newer parts of the borough, a ring of recreation, an outlet to the city.

Calvert Vaux Park 1934 85.53 Acers

“Largely bounded by Gravesend Bay, Calvert Vaux Park, which was largely created out of sand, soil and rock excavated for the construction of the VerazannoNarrows Bridge, not only offers water views and glimpses of the winged wildlife naturally attracted to such an ideal setting, but also a playground, a main entry rain garden, two synthetic turf fields, basketball courts, bocce courts, six baseball diamonds, a soccer field and a newly restored waterfront.”

21

Sunset Park 1891 24.5 Acers “Tucked away in the Brooklyn neighborhood that bares its name, this park is famous for its breathtaking vista. ... From the park’s highest point, you can see the Statue of Liberty, vibrant Brooklyn neighborhoods, and the green hills of Staten Island and New Jersey. Turning your gaze inward to the park, you see an equally diverse terrain: a state-of-the-art swimming pool, green fields, pedestrian walkways, a sand volleyball court, a recreation center, and a living memorial commemorating September 11th.”

Marine Park 1917-74, 2000 798 Acers

“As Brooklyn’s largest park, Marine Park has plenty of room to serve a lot of needs.

Environmentally, it consists of 530 acres of grassland and precious salt marsh, protected as a Forever Wild preserve. ...

Recreationally, the park offers amenities as varied as a golf course, bocce courts, cricket fields, and baseball diamonds, to name but a few. The park also contains multiple playgrounds, bicycle greenways, and a launch and landing site for canoes and kayaks at Gerritsen inlet.”

22

SIZE

NUMBER OF

AGE

NATURALISM

NOT NATURALISM

FORMALISM

NOT FORMALISM

Design is powerful. What we make changes the people who consume it and they will necessarily change the systems within those things act. Design is everywhere too. There is no place left on earth that has been left untouched by humans.

Every inch of land has some evidence of being shaped by people and so the land that we intentionally changed becomes all the more special. We can look at general comparative analysis of these parks and get a better sense of what they are in how they stack up to one another, but to go beyond that we must start to frame our thinking within a kind of expanded field of thought. From there understanding of a people and place can only continue to grow.

23

24

Cited Data

Commissioners Plan of 1811. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commissioners%27_Plan_ of_1811>.

Fredrick Law Olmsted, Sr. The Cultural Landscape Foundation. <https://tclf.org/pioneer/frederick-law-olmsted-sr>.

NYC Open Data. <https://opendata.cityofnewyork.us>.

Official Website of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. <https://www.nycgovparks.org>.

Solnit, Rebecca and Joshua Jelly-Schapiro, Nonstop Metropolis A New York City Atlas

25

26

ARCH 3070 // Fall 2019

University of Virginia School of Architecture