2 3 ° 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
A MODEL RESIDENCE STREET. 
In his article on “Residence Streets,’’ in the 
September number of Park AND CEMETERY, Mr. 
O. C. Simonds expresses the opinion that “the ar- 
tistic treatment of a residence street is as important 
as the acquiring of beautiful public parks.” 
The writer of the present article assents to all 
that Mr. Simonds’ statement involves and believes, 
further, that the beauty of a city as a whole depends 
far more upon the character of its streets than upon 
any system of elaborate but remote parks. 
Almost every city can point to one street or 
avenue the beauty of which has given it a reputation 
as wide as that ot the city itself. One handsome 
thoroughfare, however, 'does not make a beautiful 
city. The problem of civic beauty is presented in 
the average residence street. 
Some of the readers of Park and Cemetery 
may be interested in the result of an attempt to 
solve in some measure, this problem. 
The street in which the experiment here re- 
corded took place, was opened two years ago in a 
medium class residence section of Rochester, N. Y. 
The width is sixty feet, the location possessing no 
natural advantages over other streets in the vicinity. 
The surface improvements on most of the streets 
in the neighborhood consist of a roadway twenty- 
eight or thirty feet between curbs and built of 
gravel, macadam, brick or asphalt; rough cut 
stone curbs in four foot len gths and gutters of the 
same material twelve inches wide; a grass space 
between sidewalk and curb from four to eight feet 
in width and decorated with a row of trees which 
vary as to size, kind and distance apart according 
to the fancy of the individual owners of the adjoin- 
ing frontage. The remainder of the sixty feet is 
devoted to sidewalks having a width of four to 
five feet, and a strip of lawn inside the walk prac- 
tically belonging to the lot owner. The lots front- 
ing on the street range as to grades from the side- 
walk level to terraces of from one to three feet. In 
several instances, even though the sidewalk and 
streets maintain a perfectly uniform grade (nearly 
level), the lots constitute a series of terraces as 
though each owner were ambitious to live a little 
above his neighbor. 
The accompanying diagram illustrates the char- 
acter of the improvements and, to some extent, the 
appearance of Dartmouth Street. The method of 
construction is as follows: — 
First: A main sewer was laid with laterals 
leading to the inside of each of the lots so as to pre- 
vent future tearing up of pavement, sidewalks, or- 
namental plots, etc.; gas and water mains, with 
similar laterals were also put in place, the gas main 
being laid between the sidewalk and the curb on 
one side of the street and the water main in the 
same location on the opposite side. 
The next step was the laying of a combined curb 
and gutter of the “Parkhurst patent” being made of 
Portland Cement, sand, etc., upon a foundation of 
concrete. This curb, which was new to this section, 
is almost as hard as granite and has successfully re- 
sisted the frosts of two winters. It is not only hand- 
some in appearance, but there being no joint be- 
tween the gutter and the curb, all water is carried 
to the surface laterals, and does not find its way 
beneath the curb and pavement to the detriment of 
the latter. A six inch concrete foundation with a 
five inch crown was then laid over the entire street 
between curbs. On this was laid a half inch sand 
cushion, and a pavement of vitrified brick laid in 
rows at an angle of thirty degrees (n^t at right an 
gles, as shown in the cut.) 
After the pavement was thoroughly tamped into 
place, liquid cement was poured over the entire sur- 
face binding the bricks together in a solid mass. 
The curbing at the street intersections is turned on 
a radius of thirteen feet. 
Five feet cement sidewalks were next laid al- 
lowing a space of ten feet between sidewalks and 
curbs for decorative purposes. The customary 
triangular space occurring at the intersection of the 
sidewalks at street crossings is filled with cement, 
identical with the sidewalk, thus avoiding the four 
patches of bare ground usually seen at street cor 
ners. 
A scheme was devised for permanently marking 
the location of the sewer, gas and water laterals, 
also the lot lines which does away with the usual 
stakes. Dies were made with the letters “S.” “G,” 
and “IV.,” indicating, sewer, gas and water. They 
were impressed into the fresh cement of the side- 
walk as it was laid, indicating exactly the location 
of the pipes. To indicate the lot line an “arrow” 
was used in the same manner. This plan obviates 
unnecessary digging in search of these pipes at the 
time of building. 
Thus much for the utilitarian. Now as to the 
artistic features. 
It will be observed that the shade trees are set 
inside of the sidewalk, leaving a strip ten feet wide 
between the sidewalk and curb for purposes here- 
inafter described. 
The trees selected were American Elms, set 
fifty feet apart, one at the corner of each lot. The 
shrubbery used in the decoration of the street be- 
tween sidewalk and curb was selected with a view 
to variety of foliage and flower, and only those 
varieties employed which are naturally dwarf or 
which, by careful pruning, could be kept so low as 
not to obscure the view across the street. Every- 
