112 
McKim, Mead & White were officially designated as architects 
for the laboratory building and conservatories to be erected in 
the Garden. 
In December, 1910, Messrs. Olmsted Brothers submitted 
a preliminary plan for the grounds, and Messrs. McKim, Mead 
& White completed the preliminary plans for the laboratory 
building and the conservatories. Both plans were approved by 
the Board of Trustees of the Institute, by Mr. Samuel Parsons, 
the then Landscape Architect of the Department of Parks of 
the City, and by the Hon. Michael J. Kennedy, Park Commis- 
sioner of the Boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. In April, 
1911, working drawings and specifications for the southern 
section of the laboratory building, and the northeast wing of the 
conservatories, and the general heating plant between the two, 
were completed by the architects for advertising and public let- 
ting. ‘he contract was finally let to Cockerill & Little Co., for 
$55,800, in accordance with a resolution of the Board of Esti- 
mate and Apportionment, adopted at its meeting of January 4, 
1912, approving of this sum as the estimate of cost. ‘The work 
on this section began on April 8, 1912, and the contract called 
for its completion in 150 working days. Owing to various and 
prolonged delays, the buildings were not ready for occu- 
pancy until September 25, 1913, on which date they were first 
occupied. Details concerning appropriations, plans, bidding, 
letting of contract, and commencement of work on the second 
section (the main plant house), and concerning appropriations 
for maintenance have already appeared in the REcorD. 
On February 1, 1911, the Garden lands were turned over 
to the Institute in pursuance of the agreement made between 
the City of New York and The Brooklyn Institute of Arts and 
Sciences, on December 28, 1909. The work of developing and 
planting the Garden was begun on April 1, and as previously 
recorded in the Recorp, the Garden was first opened to the 
public on May 13. 
he original area of the Garden, exclusive of the site 
of the Central Museum, comprises approximately thirty-nine 
acres, lying south of the Central Museum building of the In- 
stitute and the Mt. Prospect reservoir, between Flatbush Avenue 
