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2015Report of the Committee

ON

PARKS and MUNICIPAL ART

OF THE

BROOKLYN LEAGUE

ON THF	-------- ~

Central Public Library Site

Approved by the Executive Committee
February 23,1911.Brooklyn, January 24, ign.

TO THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE,

THE BROOKLYN LEAGUE,

Brooklyn, N. Y.

Gentlemen :—

Your Committee on Parks and Municipal Art has, at the request
of several members of the League, given a hearing on the subject of
the location of the Central Library Building of the Brooklyn Public
Library. At the hearing held January 19th, Messrs. William Augus-
tus White, William I. Nichols, John Thatcher and Theodore L.
Frothingham presented statements to the Committee in favor of a
change in the site proposed for the Central Library Building, and
Messrs. David A. Boody and Frank P. Hill in favor of the present site.

Your Committee held an adjourned meeting on January 23rd
when it took into consideration the statements made at the previous
meeting, and the site proposed for the Library at the junction of
Flatbush Avenue and Eastern Parkway.

After a full discussion the Committee voted unanimously to
recommend that the Executive Committee of the League disapprove
of the site selected for the Central Public Library, and also to recom-
mend that the Executive Committee ask for a hearing before the
Library Board on the matter of the site.

The Committee respectfully recommends approval by the Exec-
utive Committee of the following resolutions:

Whereas: The Library Board have selected for the site of the
proposed Central Library Building the triangular plot bounded by
Eastern Parkway, Reservoir Hill and Flatbush Avenue, and now
used as a Public Park; and

Whereas : Disapproval of this site was made by the Architectural
experts Messrs. Carrere & Hastings, and also by the BrooklynChapter of the American Institue of Architects, and any approval
of the site by Messrs. Carrere & Hastings was conditional only on
an equal building being erected upon the opposite side of the
Prospect Park Plaza Entrance, and also that two such buildings
should form part of a group of buildings to surround the entire
Plaza ; and

Whereas: No steps have been taken, or seem likely to be taken, to
the erection of such a group of buildings;

Therefore be it Resolved: That the Committee on Parks and Munic-
ipal Art are unanimous m recommending that the Executive Com-
mittee of the Brooklyn League urge disapproval of this Park as a
site for the proposed Central Library Building, on the ground that:

ist, without a corresponding building on the opposite side of the
Prospect Park Plaza the erection of such a building would be
inappropriate and inharmonious with the Park Entrance and its
adjacent Architectural features and apartments and other unsuit-
able buildings will probably be erected opposite to the proposed
site and to the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences;

2nd, that this site is unsuitably located for the Central Library
Building of a Borough of 1,700,000 people;

3rd, that it is insufficient in area;

4th, that its irregular shape and its proximity to the reservoir
would entail very excessive cost of building construction and would
hide the beautiful water tower;

Stht that the Parks of the Borough are now of insufficient area
and should not be encroached upon for	rposes:

6th, that the Library Board be respectfully requested to grant
a hearing on this subject and that the Committee on Parks and
Municipal Art be instructed to attend such hearing if granted, and
to present these resolutions aud a copy of the report of the Com-
mittee to the Library Board and to the Board of Estimate and
Apportionment.The Committee presents the following memorandum in connec-
tion with its recommendations:

MEMORANDUM

on Site for the Central Public Library.

The selected site is a scalene triangle approximately 232 feet
on the Eastern Parkway; 600 feet on Flatbush Avenue, and 650 feet

along the base of the western embankment of Prospect Hill _Reser.____

voir, and the apex of the triangle at the junction of Flatbush Avenue
and the Parkway is cut off so as to leave a frontage on the Plaza of
80 feet. The area including the foot of the western slope of the
Reservoir embankment is about three acres.

The size of this plot is by far too small for a Central Public
Library for a community like Brooklyn, which now has a population
of 1,700,000, and which will, before the Library Building can be
completed, have a population of 3,000,000, or three times the popu-
lation of the entire district of Boston with all its surrounding cities
and towns.

The shape of the proposed site being triangular, makes neces-
sary, for the given area of the Library Building, a large amount of
exterior wall surface, which is the most expensive part of the build-
ing and also makes necessary a plan of construction much more
expensive than a rectangular plan.

The plot is so small that the plans that have been made for the
building bring it within ten feet of the sidewalk on two great thor-
oughfares—Flatbush Avenue and the Eastern Parkway—ajnd make

necessary o high building.

The estimated cost of the Library Building, provided that the
ground is favorable, is $5,000,000. But in case the ground should
be found to contain quicksand and be otherwise unfavorable, as has
been found to be the case in the Prospect Park Plaza, in Prospect
Park and several nearby localities, the expense may be considerably
increased.Strong disapproval of the site was made by the Brooklyn Chap-
ter of the American Institute of Architects as expressed in the follow-
ing extract from the minutes of their meeting held Oct. 30, 1905:

"Resolved'. That the Brooklyn Chapter of the American Institute of
Architects hereby expresses its disapproval of the triangular plot
bounded by Eastern Parkway, Reservoir Hill and Flatbush Ave-
nue as a site for the proposed Public Library Building as being
altogether unsuitable, insufficient in size, destructive of the appear-
ance of the Park Entrance, and lacking in all essentials for
successful architectural treatment, and of necessary future devel-
opment of the Library.

It was iurther moved, seconded and carried, that the President
be empowered to request of the Mayor at an early 3afe^rfTeafMTg~-
by the whole Chapter together with representatives of the Brook-
lyn League and other civic societies.}1

Signed,

Daniel G. Malcolm,

Secretary,

The placing of a Library on this corner was approved by the
Architects, Messrs. Carrere & Hastings, on two conditions: (1) that
an equal building should be erected on the opposite side of the
Prospect Park Plaza Entrance, and (2) that such two buildings
should be part of a general plan of buildings to surround the entire
Plaza. Unless these two things were to be done in due course the
Architects, Messrs. Carrere & Hastings, did not approve of the
triangular site above described for the Library.

A large corresponding building on the opposite site would cost
not less than $5,000,000, making a total outlay for the two buildings
of- $toJ-0-OO-,000, -without- the land. The cost of improvement of lands
on the East, West and North of the Plaza, on a sT^Trc^iiiFnTaTau:
with that proposed for the Library would be in the neighborhood of
$25,000,000.

The City can have no legitimate use for buildings surrounding
the Plaza at a cost of $35,000,000.

The triangular site is badly located for the reason that it is not
easily accessible. Those approaching it from four-fifths of the areaof Greater New York must approach it across the Eastern Parkway
or across Flatbush Avenue, both of which are broad avenues that
are in constant use by automobiles and carriages, or in the case of
Flatbush Avenue by trucks and trolley cars.

The Library Building planned for the triangular site is out of
harmony with the Museum Building of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts
and Sciences being erected within the same Park area, is out of
harmony with the beautiful water tower on the Eastern Parkway
opposite Underhill Avenue, and it is out of harmony with the Soldiers'
Monument situated within the Plaza.

The present triangular area as laid out forms a beautiful vista
for all those who approach Prospect Park from the West, i^orth and
_Eas£, and it contains a monument to Henry W. Maxwell, a noble and
public spirited citizen.

A map of the public lands about the Reservoir, including the
Museum site and the East side lands, formerly so-called, demonstrates
the misfortune of attempting to place a flat-iron building on this tri-
angular site coming close to the sidewalk, while the neighboring
building of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences is set 150 ft.
back from the Eastern Parkway and is not too far removed from the
Parkway.

A larger and much better site can be secured for the Central
Public Library Building on the north side of the Eastern Parkway
between the Plaza and Washington Avenue on lands a part of which
belong to the City, and at moderate cost. Taking into account the
extraordinary expense of building a flat-iron building and the fact
that when built it cannot be enlarged without giving up the Prospect
Hill Reservoir, it is much more economical for the City that the
Central Public Library Building of Brooklyn be placed on the north
side of the Eastern Parkway.	.... ...... - _

We must not make a mistake, similar to the one made in New
York when the Post Office building was placed at the apex of a tri-
angular site that was entirely out of harmony with the classical City
Hall Building. If any building were to be erected on the triangular
site it should be in keeping with the Institute Museum Building. It
would appear that it would be better that the City should lose whatlittle money has already been expended on the plans for the proposed
building rather than to expend many millions of dollars in creating a
structure in an undesirable locality at an exhorbitant cost—a struc-
ture like the New York Post Office, which would continue for gener-
ations to come to be a civic blunder.

Respectfully submitted,

Gilbert Elliott,

Chairman.

Approved by the Executive Committee
Febr uary 23, 1911.

John P. Gkib, Secretary.This book is a preservation facsimile produced for
the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
It is made in compliance with copyright law
and produced on acid-free archival

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