FREDERICK LAW OLMSTED SUBJECT FILE Parks New York, N. Y. Jerome Park 1880 5th April 1880. [Dear] Mr Fischer: My Dear Sir I find that so many points yet remain to be determined in laying out the new race-ground at Sheep-head Bay that it is best not to consider anything as fixed except the race-track and the grand-stand and I dont think there is anything [to do] for you to do there at present except to go over the ground which has already been cleared, and mark such as of the trees as have hitherto been left but which are so decayed and ugly that they ought unquestionably to come out. Mr Jerome wishes me to ask you to do this as soon as you conveniently can. You will mark those you select for removal and point them out to his brother on the ground, who will have them grubbed out.*IV Scenic Yosemite * (Copy) a photographer [thinks Mis MCO Yo Semite, August 9th, 1865 Messrs. Williams, Hill & Watkins, Gentlemen: I address you in behalf of the Commissioners appointed under Act of Congress, establishing the Yo Semite and Mariposa Grove, as a ground for recreation. The action of Congress with regard to the Yo Semite was doubtless taken in view of the peculiar value of its natural scenery; the purpose of its action was to give the public for all future time the greatest practicable advantage of that scenery, and the duty of the Commission is to secure the accomplishment of that purpose. What affects natural scenery favorably or unfavorably to the enjoyment of mankind is the principal study of your lives and as you are at present making a special study of the Yo Semite you may find it convenient to give some thought to two general questions your advice upon which would be of great service to the Commission: 1st: Are there any conditions affecting the scenery of the Yo Semite unfavorably which it could be in the power of the State to remove, or the further and increased effect of which might be prevented? 2nd: What can be done by the State to enhance the enjoyment now afforded by the scenery of the Yo Semite? The Commission being required by Act of Congress to perform its own duties gratuitously and no provision having been made for meeting any expense in the premises, I cannot promise the pecuniary remuneration for your advice which it would be your right to demand but it is hoped that the importance of the Commission's duty as a field of study for artists and the great interests of the public in having the action to be taken by the State well advised present sufficient grounds of apology for requesting your professional, assistance as a favor. I am, Gentlemen Very Respectfully, Your obt. servant, (Sgd) Fred Law Olmsted, First Commissioner.To Mr Fischer Trees in Jerome Park. N.Y(1 Suggestions concerning the Improvements of the Jockey Clubs Parks A.) Jerome Park. New York. June 12th 1880. Leonard Jerome Esquire Sir! In conformance with your wishes I herewith beg to submit to your considerations the following proposals of ameliorations, well worth the outlay on a place by nature so wonderfully gifted in position and suroundings as your Jerome Park. 1) Concerning the situation of the most prominent part of the grounds, the Club House and its surrondings allow me to propose that in front of the large Evergreens (Spruces) beneath the Club House there should be planted a more varied collection of Evergreens, giving a more picturesque and decorative foreground to the Mansion; trees of such natural growth that you never need to disform their shape by cutting the tops off, which is the case at present with the half-grownSpruces. -- These Spruces will have to be taken away in future, when the disformation of the pyramidalshaped trees cut off at the middle will be more visible and of course more disturbing to the taste of every body. In front of these Evergreens I would like to see a full collection of high=growing perennial flowering shrubs and ditto flowerplants, which when once planted or sown will stand always, produced in picturesque contour lines. In front again of this flower framing I would propose some moresque tent construction, under which the imposing coaches, a dozen or two, could draw up in line, give shelter from sun and rain, and permit the passengers to step out from the roofs of the coaches on the covered piazzas of a second story and its toilet rooms. This oriental "Pieds à terre" with its red and yellow collored Tent shape would give a most picturesque foreground in front of the now too monotonous, dark and severe looking basement of the famous Club House. 2) The sharp ridges of the grass slopes on the right side of the Club House ough to be a little modified into softly running undulations, without disturbing the easy approaches or ascent to the house. The wholesale slope on the left side of the Club House should be treated in a more harmonious character with reference to the right side, by leading some ascents along even there, without creating anything like symetry. The before mentioned evergreens and flowering plants (perennial) should be planted up to the rear of the Club House of such species as by nature never would grow above the level of the piazzas, but these again covered with richly climbing plants. 3) In the rear of the Club House the shape of the ground and the planting nearest to the house are all without good judgment and taste. Here if ever should some undulation in the lawns be introduced, this might seem expensive but does realy not cost more than a simple deepdigging of the soil, because the shaping of the undulation depends entirely on where you begin the digging, how you at once throw up the dirt, and where you finisheach plot. The slightest possible winding of the roads and walks, without disturbing their direction could also be brought on without hardly any noteworth expenses. This would give more harmony than anything else with the exquisitely beautiful formation of the landscape all around. Here if ever should be a rich display of flowering shrubs and perennial plants, which flower (once planted) continually both in spring and in the fall, just the seasons in which you need the prettiest decoration. Of course you will have to look out for such shrubs as will grow to the desired height, large enough to give wanderers shade beneath their foliage, but not great enough to overreach the commanding capacity of the, in the rear, already too low looking Club House; this latter desirable quality would be highly reached by executing above mentioned undulation of the rear platform. 4) The unsightly looking watertank standing so near the House I should like to surround with a spiral staircase of iron, surmounted with an observatory, and covered with a projecting and shadowing roof, all wind up with creeping vines, and, at the base, covered with high shrubbery plantings. 5) To further improve the picturesque appearance of the Club House itself I should like to see the roofs transformed into covered platforms in different levels with balustrades and lots of horizontally flying flags streaming on the Racing Days. The color of the Club House could be enlivened with some richer tints in the mouldings, around the fillings and on the ornaments. 6) Statuaries and urnes intermixed with some cooling fountains and water-spouts on appropriate places would give the finishing touch to a spot unique in its naturally picturesque and wonderfully beautiful situation, with which surely no other racecourse in the world can compete. For this latter purpose it would be necessary to furnish an other watertank, locate this on the other side of the rear platform, not exactly symetrically located, weighted of the same small size.7) On entering the grounds from the great gates the Race Course is the most prominent feature, which must be seen from every where, therefore here we do not need any high=grown vegetation, but we could of course, if wished for, locate perennia flower groups wherever desired, thus enliving the monotony of the often meager grassfields. I should say this is more needed here than in England, because the dryness of the climate does not produce the emerald lawns with their freshness and extent, as is the case abroad. Therefore the smaller our lawns the better, the more shadowed by trees and colored by flowering plants the less is the emerald missed. 8) The Great Stone is hereafter the essential structure of the grounds. Here I should like to plant some of those Italian Pines, which have 40 to 50 feet high stems, at the top covered with a perfect umbrella of branches often 30 to 40 feet in diameter. This would preserve the grass and at the same give shade to visitors, without obstructing the view from the stand, but disturbing considerably the pleasure of outsiders, who would then hardly see anything going on inside the enclosure. I would also decorate the stand itself with quantities of those horizontally streaming flags, and dress the attendants and servants in gay red or white nice uniforms, some thing which ought not to be forgotten with the men who attend to the racing horses, and in their present appearance on the arena look worse than loafers. 9) Wherever means would allow it, I should like to have small fountains spreading coolness in the air and refreshing both men, animals, and vegetation. 10) On the sharply ascending mounds I propose to plant Bignonia radicanls, Lycium barbarum and other climbing vines to cover the too sunburned slopes. And along all the fences we should plant highgrown shrubberies to cover these simple constructions entirely. These planting to finish in beautiful and harmonious contour lines either running out in the lawns or following the fence linein appropriate places, or hiding the stables wherever need. 11) To the left of the great entrance I should build some shades for waiting equipages, with such high ascending roofs that even from the carriages you could appreciate the races, especially if rainy weather prevented from walking around. 12) All the roofs of Shades, Stands and Stables should be covered with the climbing Wistaria chinensis, thus preventing the heat to pierce the roofs, and in case of fire you never could have a greater protection. 13) Finally I should like to irrigate the whole ground, partly for the vegetation in a fresh and prospering condition, partly for watering the track whenever needed to avoid that dust, which often prevents from seeing more than the first horses in a race. Many of these suggestions may be considered unnecessary and many other may come up while surveying the grounds and working the project out under your supervision. This is only one day's impressions and may serve to show some experience in this kind of works. Suggestions concerning the Improvements of The Race Course Grounds of the Coney Island Jockey Club. When seeing you last Sir my intentions were to lay before you a colored sketch of how to improve these grounds, but the absence of a complete survey, and the incompleteness of the small of the smallest maps in the describing pamphlet and especially the incorrectness of the boundary lines make this impossible for me at present. For this purpose I should have to make a complete survey in a reasonable scale, say of 50 feet to One inch, locating every tree and all other obstacles on the ground.Many points of what has been said about Jerome Park may serve here also. But considering the improved and more and more ornamental way of decorating the Sea Shore Hotels on Coney Island, my opinion is that you ought to adopt far more accomplished designs for adorning your new grounds in a before unthought of manner. These greater expenses, such views will carry with them, I think can be easily repaid by adopting the place to a more continual use than only for the racing season, and then only for the racing hours. therefore I am now going to submit to your consideration ideas which may not serve your purposes, but which I present to you as a climax of projects, out of which you may pick out whatever may be acceptable, and bind me to follow your own more practical judgment, if you should find proper to engage my services. the three first conditions for a beautiful and picturesque nature are 1) an undulated ground, 2) water surfaces and cascades and 3) a luxurious vegetation. Now your grounds here are flat as a pancake. Your have very properly raised the grounds in front of your Grand Stand. Correct. But that amphitheater position ought to be carried out on different places outisde the Course, even without Wooden Construction. So for instance I propose to locate two small artificial ponds of natural boundary lines on the two opposite corners of the great stand across the course and surround them with undulated ground. Some thing alike the miniature park created on the "Champs do Mars" in Paris 1869. These ponds I should like to use as aquariums with grotto passages around them, making fine refuges from the burning summerheat or a rainy day. On the, from the dug out earth, thus created higher altitudes behind the ponds I would build on the one end a fine Restaurant on the other a splendid Cafe, and between both the clubhouse on a yet higher elevation On the right hand from the entrance I would provide for a complete Tivoli with Musik Stands, Swings, Shooting Ranches, Archeries, Croquet Grounds, Cricket grounds all manly Sports, Dancing plans and Bazaars etc. etc. By all these arrangements my object would always be to keep the great number of the people on the spot at all hours, after the races as well as on not racing days or racing seasons. Behind the Grand Stand in the little wood I would locate many small stands for the selling of different provisions. Further away a Bazaar again. Through all these arrangements and outside the course I would lay out a magnificent drive along which the undulating ground should role, exposing on each elevation some novelty pavilion. The space inside the Course Tracks I would, of course without disturbing the steeplechase ground, arrange for Roman Chariot Driving, Circus Productions, Line Dancing, Popular Games and innumerable other attractions. The Club House in front of the Grand Stand across the Course should be built in Moorish Style, some thing besting all that has been seen before. No Queen Anne, No Easlake here, them being only the remembrance of the "Decadence" of the Architecture. On Sundays I would invite for forenoon and afternoon Concerts with 4 or 5 bands and 2 choirs performing from as many different stands. I should not even hesitate to have scientific discussions raised on other hours or lectures given by prominent men. If such amusements were attended by the swell of your own Club, they would turn very popular and your Exchequer would surely not suffer thereby. To the highest pitch of performances I would count Tournaments of the Mediaeval times and "Quadrille Bals a Cheval" executed by ladies and gentlemen of your own Club and acquaintances. I should propose "Pieds a Terres" for Ladies and Gentlement on horseback as well as for Coach Driving Parties with accommodations for toilets and restaurants as proposed in Jerome Park, but of more substantial constructions. In the sandy soil of Long Island we need irrigation all over and cooling fountains at short distances. The water can easily be reached at 25 feet of depth and the machinery is only a question of how much money. The planting and covering therewith all the enclosure the stables, the remises and other unsightly spots, as well as the perennial and annual flower show should here be executed in first style mosaic and carpeting designs. The thoroughly executed earthworks for producing the most luxurious vegetation is the only attraction on a place where nature has done nothing and considering the great expenses of such works, I have not hesitated to direct your mind to way and means of finding your exchequer (if needed?) Yours most respectfully, Knut Forsberg 18 years landscape architect to the King of Sweden late of Central Park, Prospect Park, and Washington estimate for Engineering Drawing and Specifications For performed inspection and proposals, including traveling and an assistant. $25.00 For surveying the grounds in a scale of 50 feet to one inch locating every tree and other obstacle, taking all the levels for every 1 foot higher altitude, making one topographic map of the grounds as the are, an other as they shall be executed, a third map for the planting with catalogues for each tree and flower per acre. $5.00 For making a model of the grounds of cork and wax, showing the new shape per acre. $5.00 To both estimates for a number 1 execution of the work and 1 for the execution in a less laborious manner Conditions 1/3 to be paid when the survey begins 1/3 to be paid when drawings are accepted and found satisfactory and 1/2 when the model is finished (if wanted) Jerome Park. Knut Fosberg's report on L.A.