RECREATION PARKS 



Shelters in more formal placing which refer directly to lines of the 

 plan must, especially when of focal value, be designed with recognised 

 architectural dignity. As discussed in the chapter upon Architecture 

 in Parks, the buildings in very large parks, when unaffected by near- 

 ness of other architecture, may be permitted a certain freedom and 

 picturesqueness of style, though never to the point of appearing fan- 

 tastical or grotesque, or suggesting the abandonment of architectural 

 style altogether. The larger buildings for park purposes should 

 always be of a permanent material and of worthy design, and never 

 the cheaper sort of wooden building, excused as being temporary, that 

 remains for all time detrimental to the character of the park. 



" GARDEN " UNITS 



Zoological gardens, when included in parks, should be arranged 

 so as to have real landscape value, embellishing rather than destroying 

 the extensive area they necessarily occupy. The zoological gardens in 

 the Borghese Park in Rome and one in Verona show an arrangement 

 of animal exhibits in a naturalistic setting that both increases their 

 educational value and is in harmony with park development. The 

 National Zoological Garden in Washington is semi-naturalistic in the 

 placing of the different exhibits, but many cages are conspicuously 

 retained and arranged in some respects as to still suggest the circus. 

 In the parks of small cities without possibility of zoological collections, 

 there may be introduced one or two zoological features, such as sea 

 lion basins, a bear pit as at Berne, Switzerland, or open-air aviaries 

 that will not require extensive knowledge and expense in up-keep. 

 Deer preserves in large parks might well become again the feature 

 they used to be on private estates, such as may still be seen at 

 Mt. Vernon. Flocks of grazing sheep, as in Franklin Park in Boston, 

 serve as a picturesque and interesting note in a park landscape, and in 



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