OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 



147 



commodate the smaller animals like the 

 raccoon, puma, lynx, beaver and jirairie- 

 dog, together with a large collection of 

 bears, Alpaca goats, llama and deer. The 

 cages are carefully screened from the ad- 

 joining streets and playgrounds and may 

 be viewed only from one side. Especial 

 pains are taken to provide backgrounds 

 for each cage. Behind the dens, service 

 paths and storage accommodations are 

 provided, to which the public are not ad- 

 mitted. The naturalistic group is con- 

 nected with the formal scheme by a large 

 foot-bridge, which spans one of the main 

 driveway entrances of the park and pre- 

 vents undesirable and dangerous ming- 

 ling of carrage and foot traffic. This 

 bridge forms an attractive gateway to the 

 new mall, but, for obvious reasons, it 

 cannot be arranged upon the a.xis of the 

 scheme. 



The "greeting," centers in a great cen- 

 tral carriage circle already partly con- 

 structed. Gateways and other architect- 

 ural features adorn this end of the panel. 

 Buildings are to be provided for birds, 

 reptiles, antelope, bison, lions, primates, 

 and for the administration of the zoo. A 

 definite line of setback is arranged for 

 these edifices, which are to be made sub- 

 ordinate to the great mall, and which 

 must not be of such height as to become 

 conspicuous objects in the great play- 

 steads and open landscapes of the park 

 itself. The Administration Building 

 has ample yards adjoining it for the re- 

 ception of animals, for shipping, or hous- 

 ing of wagons and implements, and for 

 storing and handling food. This admin- 

 istrative work is assisted by the "Valley 

 Road," — a thoroughfare designed thirty 

 years ago for a traffic short-cut across the 

 park, and which may consequently be 

 used constantly by service wagons of the 

 zoo without intrusion upon pleasure 

 driveways. 



Thus far the actual construction work 

 has been confined to an herbaceous gar- 



den, to extensive bears' dens, to a large 

 flying-cage, and to a bird-house. Grad- 

 ing and planting work in connection with 

 these features is also under way. A gen- 

 eral scheme for the arrangement of bears' 

 dens is shown in Fig. 2. This scheme 

 provides for ample shelter dens, and for 

 cages which face upon a semi-circular 

 concourse approached by a wide stair- 

 case. Spectators are to view the bears 

 over a marginal fillet of shrubbery, and 

 through a heavy cage fence, which is 

 capped with a wide steel hood in place of 

 the usual teasers. A detail of this con- 

 struction is shown in Fig 3. This hood 

 is intended to afford shade to the cage 

 floors, and at the same time to reduce the 

 array of bayonet-like teasers, which are 

 usually so conspicuous and objectionable 

 a feature in dens of this kind. These 

 hooded tops are supported upon slender 

 iron columns and follow a perfectly hori- 

 zontal course, independent of the slope of 

 the ground. The hoods abut against high 

 masonry cyclopean walls, which are 

 pierced with simple openings covered 

 with heavy stone lintels. No attempt is 

 made to secure naturalistic effects in 

 these structures. The floors of the dens 

 are covered with granolithic slabs raised 

 on piers of concrete, so giving a continu- 

 ous air-space underneath, to allow for the 

 growth of roots of trees which stand in 

 the dens. Water is provided freely in 

 four large basins with inclines, and hy- 

 drants are liberally installed for washing 

 the dens. The first plans showed rather 

 a natural or rustic treatment for the 

 dens, but it was seen that they could not 

 be kept thoroughly sanitary with such 

 rough floors, and the wall-surfaces fur- 

 nished the bears foothold for escape. So 

 it seemed better to use a style of masonry 

 which was frankly substantial, and suited 

 not less to the safety of the public than 

 to cleanliness of the dens. No pains have 

 been spared, however, in the final de- 

 signs, to secure agreeable backgrounds, 



