PARK AND CEMETERY. 
436 
the people. It must be a part of us, 
and part of our landscape if we hope 
for something that will be lasting, 
and remain for our descendants, not 
as a curiosity, but as something that 
belongs to them. It matters little 
whether we are justified from a prac- 
tical or commercial standpoint to use 
concrete for the various forms it is 
adapted to. It must first of all fit its 
surroundings. Park building, as men- 
tioned before, is one of the fine 
arts, and therefore “art first, and art 
last.’’ Our aesthetic senses must be 
the deciding factor. However, there 
is one admirable feature about con- 
crete work. It improves when partly 
covered with rambling vines, and 
watch out for the great Mississippi 
Valley! 
* * * * 
Following Mr. Jensen’s paper at the 
convention was an interesting discus- 
sion by a number of the park super- 
intendents from which we quote as 
follows : 
John F. Cowell, Buffalo: “It has 
always seemed to me that we were 
using concrete in construction be- 
cause it was a cheap material. There 
are certain uses to which concrete 
can be put where it has perhaps no 
ecjual, but where we are using it in 
structures that are to be ornamental, 
it seems to me we are using it because 
there has been an attempt at imita- 
tion of something else.” 
J. F. Foster, Chicago; “I am not 
prepared to talk on concrete construc- 
tion because there are a great many 
details connected wdth that work that 
one should know in a technical way. 
I am heartily in sympathy with Mr. 
Jensen’s proposition that concrete or 
any other building material should 
stand for what it is. The use of con- 
crete, of course, for foundations is 
a very valuable thing and we appre- 
ciate its value. The use of concrete 
in interiors, in basements such as we 
saw today, is immaterial as to sur- 
face, but when it comes to the con- 
struction of any building or park 
CONCRETE SHELTER, ORNAMENTAL LAMP POST AND GARDEN HOUSE, WEST PARK SYSTEM, CHICAGO. 
some of our climbing friends delight 
in blanketing 'concrete structures. 
Covered with vegetation, even during 
the winter months, concrete work 
takes on a different aspect, and warms 
up considerably, so do not despair, 
for after all it is a paramount and 
desirable material in our work o£ 
park building. It lends strength and 
character to our buildings. It gives 
an impetus of wealth and greatness 
to park construction, and in this way 
impresses us with the wonderful 
wealth, strength and greatness of this, 
the greatest of all countries. Here 
on the western plains we admire 
horizontal lines so much; lines that 
are characteristic of the plains them- 
selves, and no material exemplifies 
these lines as well as concrete. It 
is on these .great plains that con- 
crete work is being studied and used, 
and where great results have been ob- 
tained, more than anywhere else, and 
it is from this great prairie country 
that we expect great results. Friends, 
it is cheap. At best most of our con- 
crete work is nothing but an imita- 
tion of the natural stone; it is arti- 
ficial stone in itself. I should rather 
disagree with Mr. Jensen that the 
appearance of concrete cannot be im- 
proved by making it look like stone; 
under certain conditions I think we 
are justified in doing it. It is the 
thing we are doing every day, and 
some of the best concrete construc- 
tion in the country has been given a 
surface which is not a concrete sur- 
face and a color which is not a con- 
crete color. We want it to look like 
some building material we have been 
in the habit of using. In the tropics 
of both hemispheres concrete has 
been very largely used in construc- 
tion for a great many years. They 
were using concrete in the East In- 
dies and in the West Indies before we 
knew anything about it, and really 
the finest work in concrete I have 
ever seen has been within the lines 
of the tropics. Even there I think 
structure the visible side of that con- 
crete should not be something that 
looks like what it is not, a stone. 
It is a composition, and the difficulty 
has been in the use of concrete. The 
reason it has not been more gener- 
ally accepted as a surfacing material, 
is the fact that an effort has been 
made to have it look smooth and 
finished like dressed stone. That can 
be accomplished, but the result for 
appearance’s sake is a failure. We 
have built in the South Parks nine 
concrete buildings, one in each of the 
play parks. Not one of those build- 
ing has anything but a concrete sur- 
face, and it stands for nothing else. 
The surface is perfectly satisfactory 
in every way as to color and texture, 
and you all know that concrete is 
durable. Perhaps the best results 
have been obtained with one-quarter 
inch stone placed in the forms in a 
very dry condition, so that when it is 
packed the moit,ar does not get to the 
surface against the f.acing of the 
