P 



CHAPTER IV 



" PASSING-THROUGH " PARKS 



ASSING-THROUGH parks are considered to embrace those 

 most limited in size. They comprise the park portions of civic 

 centres, " down-town " squares and open spaces, the park areas 

 located at points of street divergence or termination, and the large 

 number of irregular left-over areas which might be termed " odds- 

 and-ends " in civic development. Many of the parks falling in this 

 group are so small as to permit little park treatment other than for 

 the quick glimpsing of those passing through or by them ; but, for that 

 very reason, their design and composition should be such that the 

 quick impression given may be a forceful and expressive one. 



The term " passing- through " has been elected as most designa- 

 tive of the character of the parks enumerated under that heading. In 

 the early morning until the hour when most business offices commence 

 work, the passing of human beings through the public parks located 

 between their homes and the business districts suggests nothing so 

 much as the express service in the subways. A continuous stream 

 of humanity with set faces and eyes straight ahead, now in congested 

 formation, now in open file, passes in unbroken, undeviating lines 

 across the parks in several directions, the different cross lines inter- 

 weaving and dovetailing in a truly remarkable fashion. Any land- 

 scape development in the parks for the attention or enjoyment of 

 these rapidly moving throngs is superfluous; any park design that 

 shall retard their flood and ebb tide will be ill received. Such parks 

 must be designed for absolute accommodation and convenience of 

 traffic, with all other considerations secondary. 



There may be permitted, however, in the development of these 

 parks a certain amount of civic beautification which will not inter- 

 fere with lines of passage, and yet proffer enjoyment and recreation 



NOTE See diagram in Appendix. 



78 



