House and Garden 
Green fef Wicks, Architects 
THE BUFFALO SAVINGS BANK 
Illustrating the effective use of building sites at angular intersections of streets 
demand for the acqui¬ 
sition of comprehen¬ 
sive systems. 
I n the early eighties 
an agitation began in 
London for the estab¬ 
lishment of small open 
spaces. The move¬ 
ment was reflected in 
this country by the 
formation of associa¬ 
tions with the same 
object in view. T he 
cost of acquiring small 
parks in the central 
portions of cities 
quickly caused a vivid 
realization of the error 
of former generations 
in not securing such 
spaces before they were 
built upon. When 
New York had to pay 
for three small parks, 
covering barely nine 
acres, as much as it paid for Central Park, it 
needed no further argument to show the 
folly of repeating the mistake. 
When suburban recreation grounds were 
being acquired, it was foreseen that it would 
be comparatively easy to join them by wide, 
tree-lined avenues. It is perhaps hard to 
determine how much this suggestion was due 
to the example of European cities in so far 
as the replacing of their surrounding walls 
by boulevards is concerned. At any rate, 
about 1893 the initiative was taken toward 
the acquisition of comprehensive systems in 
this country. 
In that year, under the leadership of 
Charles Eliot, the park system of Boston 
was begun. In joining as a complete whole 
the parks that existed in 1893 and combin¬ 
ing with them larger outlying reservations 
joined by connecting parkways, it has had and 
is still having a very great effect throughout 
the country. But other cities were little be¬ 
hind Boston. Indeed, Kansas City began a 
remarkable development in the same year, 
1893, an d the Essex County Park System of 
New Jersey, the greatest county system in 
the country, was begun only a year or two 
later. 'I'his county system is likewise hav¬ 
ing effect, and the Park Commission of the 
neighboring Hudson County is, at this writing, 
preparing its first annual report. Some cities 
have systems partly acquired, others are just 
beginning. The movement is international 
and the Canadian Government has recently 
received the report of an expert on the im¬ 
provement of its capital, Ottawa, through the 
acquisition of a park system. The cities of 
the Pacific slope have had plans prepared. 
North, south, east and west the compelling 
desire is spreading. Comparatively little 
notice has been taken of this universality of 
the movement and yet it is distinctly one of 
the most hopeful characteristics of the pres¬ 
ent day. It has therefore been suggested 
that a series of short papers be published, 
dealing with the subject more in detail. 
The park system of Buffalo is one of the 
most interesting so far constructed. It offers 
variety. It has accepted conditions as it 
found them. The first or inner ring of parks 
and parkways has nearly been completed. 
The opportunity was exceptional. The 
great curse of American cities is the regu¬ 
larity of their city plans. Built on the rec¬ 
tangular gridiron system, of which the un¬ 
fortunate plan of William Penn for Philadel- 
97 
