PARK UTILITIES 



in a park of small area, it is possible to provide a public comfort build- 

 ing that shall be in every respect inoffensive, and may be made ex- 

 tremely decorative, contributing even to the park beauty. It is a 

 matter of design. The very effective treatment of the entrances to 

 the underground stations in the park at the Public Library in Xew 

 York City, well studied and choice in design, has been contrasted with 

 the miserable structures in Madison and Union Squares and used to 

 substantiate the argument for underground stations. The contrast is 

 striking, but is more applicable in the sense that the former is an 

 example of good architecture correctly placed, while the latter would 

 be condemned both for wretchedness of architecture and for incorrect- 

 ness of location. 



LOCATION AND DESIGN 



In regard to the locating of comfort stations, they should always 

 be kept away from the centre of the park. To a person looking within 

 a park, all objects within the range of his vision will come in for a 

 share of his attention; and any building, no matter for what purpose 

 erected, will attract some of his interest. In that respect a comfort 

 station located well within the park area becomes an object of interest, 

 for there may be both agreeable and disagreeable objects of interest. 

 As a general rule to be observed, no building in a park should be 

 located where it will command attention as a foreign element; for 

 while it is not the purpose of park design to create any illusion of 

 naturalistic landscape transplanted to ur})an site, it is within the 

 province of park design to render park scenery as naturalistic as 

 possible in agreeable contrast with the usual architectural scene. It 

 is, therefore, desirable to place such building where it will escape the 

 attention of a person looking within the park. This necessarily means 

 either at his elbow, as it were, or at the far side of the park from which 

 he may be entering. In other words, public comfort stations should 



304 



