112 



having special value from its association with highly improved resi- 

 dences. 



By adopting the line of Franklin avenue for the boundary on the 

 south, about half the space between an observer standing on Look- 

 out Hill and the horizon will seem to be occupied by the lake and 

 the park. This effect will of course be merely an optical one, but 

 a visit to the site will show at once that it will be all-sufficient to 

 divert the attention of the visitor from the land occupied for agri- 

 cultural purposes, and will serve to render the sea view more at- 

 tractive. This advantage will be considerably increased, if the 

 ground immediately beyond Franklin avenue should be appropriated 

 for a parade ground, or any other public purpose which will prevent 

 it from being occupied by tall buildings. A nearer boundary than 

 Franklin avenue would probably fail to realize the effect desired in 

 this particular. 



It is proposed to widen Vanderbilt avenue to one hundred feet, 

 as far as the lrmits of the property at present owned by the Com- 

 missioners ; also to widen Ninth avenue to one hundred feet, as far 

 as the limits of the park are proposed to extend ; also to widen Fif- 

 teenth street, the Coney Island road and Franklin avenue, as shown 

 on the plan, wherever they connect with the proposed boundary 

 lines. In all these cases, the additional width is proposed to be 

 added on the side of the road next to the park, leaving the lines on 

 the opposite of the road as already laid down on the city map. 



On the additional ground thus obtained, it is proposed to con- 

 struct a thirty feet side-walk, shaded by a double row of trees, so 

 that an ample gas-lighted and umbrageous promenade will be of- 

 fered to the public in the immediate vicinity of the park, after the 

 gates are closed at night. The comparatively close planting of these 

 avenue trees will moreover help to shut out the houses that will be 

 built on the opposite side of the street from the view of the visitors 

 who may be in the interior of the park. 



ARRANGEMENT OF EXTERIOR STREETS. 



In conclusion, we wish to offer a few suggestions with regard to 

 the management of some parts of the ground outside of the park 

 boundaries. 



Although, for the reasons given at the beginning of this report, 

 we think it desirable that the section of the site, as originally es- 

 tablished, lying east of Flatbush avenue, should be abandoned as a 

 part of the park, it does not follow that the lines laid down on the 



