New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-11-15
THE RIVERSIDE DRIVE.
NEW YoRK's MAGNIFICENT PLEASURE THOR
OUGHFARE.
ATTRACTIONS OF THE BEAUTIFUL ROAD ON THE
BANK OF THE HUDsoS-soME CON-

lions of New-Yorkers; but at the same time, III mas
| q nrcsont which makes it an ornament to the city
and pleasure and delight to the cltizehs.
ride drive or stroll along this beautiful stretch on
the bank of the broad Hudson leaves strong con-
viction that in the Drive New.York really pos
sesses one Of the notable pleasure thoroughlares OIL
the world. The next impression to form Is d neh-
tal picture of what the place will be IN lew oec
| ados when the avenues of trees will have reached
more mature growth, when the adjacent puoho
land will have been bcautifed, when the Grant
Memorial will have been finished and when row
| Of handsome modern residences Will na'e "eeh
| built on the inland side of the Drive.
! Nature has done her share toward making the
| avenue n pleasure spot of unusual charm ana
beauty: she has endowed it with situation on
| commanding height and has spread out, ior the
delectation of those who visit it, an abrupt decline
of green then the widc shining bosom OF the hopie
Hudson beyond that the tall Palisades, with their
covering of shrub and foliage, broken by occasional
! patches of bare earth and stone; next line Oh
hills. surmounted by rcstful forests, and, poured
| around ALL the ocean Of the sky, with It's almost
| human moods, from the clear, smiling, happy face
of perfect summer day to the roaring, crashing,
| flashing rage and fury of the storm.
WHAT MAN HAS DONE.
In comparison with all this, what man has done
his part of the work has been of some magnitude.
The irregular hill top has been graded and ex.
, tended toward the river; lines of shade giving,
| landscape autifying trees have been set out;
carriage roads, bride paths and promenades have
| been built along the bluff smooth lawns have
| been formed flowers and sbrubs-not many OF
them so far-have been added to natures display OF
vegetation, and few artistic homes have been
erected along the city-ward edge of the Drive.
Yes, human hands have done not little, and time
and generous Board of Estimate and Apporuon-
ment are all that are needed to finish the artificial
cmbesbing of the thoroughfare.
Nature, much as she has done for Riverside
Drive might have done more. She might have
made its course lie over a comparatively level
stretch, bur instead of this she made the land a
succession of hills A deal has been done to soften
these abrupt changes of grade, but the Drive is still
an undulating line. There few places how
ever, in which horses will not keep up trot with
out being urged
This disadvantage Of having to mount ascents is
forgotten, however, one let's his eye rest
on the broad glittering band of water and the
prcciptous bank Of green beyond. Ii is this view
TO the west which, above everything else. makes
Riverside Drive the bright jewel in the citys crown
which it Is With the aesthetic feelings alive to
this bounty of Mother Nature would be an in
crate indeed to let the mind dwell in dissatsfac-
ton on such petty details as mere changes OF
grade.
THE DRIVE AND SIMILAR ROADS ABROAD.
1t is the landscape spread toward the setting sun
which enables New-York to fear no comparison OF
Riverside Drive with similar avenues abroad.
Berns Inter den Linden is beautiful and an i'm
posing stretch but it is Short and is dependent en-
trey on itself for its attractIveness. fit setting
to show up the jewel to advantage is lacking.
Londons Rotten Row is famous for its associations
and for the cavalcade which graces it, but the in
rinsic beauty which it possesses never gets beyond
the conventional.
In Naples alone, travellers say, is to be found q
road which rivals Riverside Drive in the magniti.
cent view it affords This thoroughfare cngs to
the hills lying behind the city. The Bay Of Naples.
the fame Of which travellers have carried to the
ends of the earth lies the west, and overhead is
the Italian sky with its unrivaled softness Of tex
ture and glory of cOloring. The imagnations Of
even housekeeping persons can easily feel the rap
TUE of the scene:
One who has never been TO Naples, however,
need not cause himself overmuch regret at his ill
fortune if he will sunset from Riverside Drive
on day when the conditions are favorable. 1t is
not necessary to make comparison between what
lie Will witness and the view from the Ncapolitan
to bemoan JOY he never knew, in the presence of
such splendor as that in which the suns declining
rays light up the western heaven. The panorama
of the coors, glowing in rich brilliancy stretch
ing away in benign mclowness, is one to arouse a
love for the beautiful even in clOd
WHAT THE ORIGINAL rLANs WERE.
Riverside Drive is by no means what it would be
had the original plans for it been carried ont. The
Park was established in 1867; the work of laying
it out being begun in the following year. The idea
at first was to have a noble thoroughfare one hun
dred feet broad at every point, and sweeping al
most straghty from Seventy -second-st. to One
hundred "a nd-twenty nnthst. with but little
variation from perfect levclness. When the en-
gineers had studied the topography of the park and
had recloncd the cost OF such an undertaking they
gave a long, low whistle and said that the tan
payers would never be willing to spend SO much
money.
The expense would have been enormous so it was
wisely decided to compromise with nature and to
make as fine a driveway as the expenditure of a
reasonable sum would permit Accordingly, there
is no attempt at having the Drive Of equal width at
every point Where the rocks and hills did not
offer too serious an obstacle promenades drives and
bride paths were laid out, separated by lires of
elms or naples. Where the geological forces had
placed themselves record as being firmly OPP
posed TO o driveway one hundred feet wide the en-.
gireers, instead OF spending fortune in oyercom.
ing that opposition, narrowed the road.
In consequence, the drive proper has an average
width of only forty-ve feet and the road set aside
for riders on horseback, which is thirty feet wide
stretches only about twO-thirds Of the entire dis
lance. There are. besides. walks along either edge
The drive does not follow the line of private
property the east side, but in places is nearly
one hundred feet from it, This variation is due
TO the way in which the land lies. The space be-
the road proper and the stoop line is laid out
lawn. So that the occupants of the houses in
the avenue may reach their homes a narrow SUM-
Lnc LII IL