GENERAL PLANNING OF A PARK SYSTEM 45 



ience measure. With the widening scope of activities of park and recreation 

 departments many of these areas and structures were turned over to such 

 authorities for operation and management. Thus some of the properties 

 of this type have been inherited by park authorities. 



In other instances, in order to meet the need for facilities of this char- 

 acter in congested centers of population, park authorities of their own 

 initiative have acquired sites and erected structures, generally combining 

 both shower bath and swimming facilities. Buffalo, New York City, Phila- 

 delphia, Chicago and Boston are a few of the cities where areas of this 

 type are under the control of park and recreation governing authorities. 



The necessity for areas and structures of this character is chiefly con- 

 fined to those sections of cities having a high density of population. 



2. Sites for Community Houses. An ideal location for a community 

 house is in a playfield-park; in fact a community house is considered an 

 essential feature of a fully developed playfield area. While there are hun- 

 dreds of community houses publicly owned throughout the United States 

 on sites separate and apart from the common types of park properties, 

 especially in the small municipalities, examples of such structures on indi- 

 vidual sites u,nder the control of park and recreation authorities are exceed- 

 ingly few. It is a form of development to which park and recreation 

 authorities as community-wide recreation agencies may well give serious 

 consideration, especially in congested sections of cities where high realty 

 values prohibit acquisition of playfield areas and the erection of community 

 houses thereon, but where it might be possible to secure a building site 

 upon which to locate a community house for the indoor recreations of the 

 people. In the better residential sections, a community house is a most 

 valuable social-recreation asset even if not located on a playfield property, 

 although it is more desirable wherever possible to combine on the same site 

 both outdoor and indoor recreation facilities. 



In lieu of actual ownership of sites for structures providing indoor 

 recreation facilities and of ownership of the structures themselves by park 

 and recreation authorities, these authorities, as the major agencies for 

 handling community recreation, will of necessity have to make use of facili- 

 ties owned or controlled by other public agencies or private associations 

 or corporations. This cooperative use of facilities owned by other agencies 

 is practiced to an extensive degree by recreation authorities in Buffalo, 

 Detroit, Oakland, and many other cities throughout the country. 1 



1 There is considerable confusion in terminology with respect to structures providing indoor recreation 

 facilities or services. Thus field house, recreation center and community house are often used interchangeably. 

 Field house in this book will be denned as a structure providing the necessary facilities needed in connection 

 with athletic fields or other sports and games centers. A community house is a structure providing facilities for 

 a wide variety of activities for both children and adults. Recreation center as used to refer to a building is 

 practically synonymous with community house. The term is sometimes used to refer to an entire area, inclusive 

 of the building. 



