The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-05-11
Engineer William Ham Halls
Ideas on How Best to
Build Them.
THE PARK IDEA SHOULD RULE
Suggestions by Landscape En-
glneer on a Topic of Gen.
eral Interest.

local pleasure drtUewGyS rapidly increase,
npteh has been said about their routes and but
little about hOw they ought to be built.
Almost the same amount Of money WiU
make driveway superb or commonplace,
according to the taste and intelligence nth
'ohtch 1t IS planned, and most people tciu
agree that l0hen any of the anriUGIed oppOr-
t1tnttleS IN tis line possessed By this peninsula
are grGSped 1t should be done IN a fitting wdy
and IN the tUay that lcM giUe the most beauty,
pleasure and fame that it is practicable to
attain
Colonel William Ham Hall discusses belo10
the question of hoU boulevard from the park
south ought to be built. He Is q Uidely
krlOton civil and landscape engineer, and has
giUen mach study to bouLeuard and park con-
StritctiOn. He acds the engineer and Superi1l-
tendent Of Golden Gate Park during Sir or
seuen gears Of its improvement, and has since
at times been consulting engineer to the Park
Commission. HIS ideas are those of both a
ciUI engineer and landscape gardener, and
4Cble he deals definitely NTH a boulerard
south from the park much that he says would
apply elsewhere.
Taking for granted as being already well
established the advantages OF and benefits
TO be derived from grand drive or boule-
ward leading out of San Fran cisco's park
through the county of homes to the Garden
City, we may well at this stage discuss the
character which should be given it and the
considerations that ought to govern in its
location, design and construction.
Distinctly and unequivocally this should
be pleasure drive-a travel-way for the
enjoyment of locomotion and of passage
through the country via sacra, in so far
that it should be held sacred from profana-
zion by the hoofs and wheels of trade and
business.
Moreover, it should not only be made
and reserved as way for individual means
Of carriage, distinctively from public or
collective means such as railways, by
VII atever power the carriages of these lat
ter might be propelled-but, with equal
decision, it should be kept apart even from
contact with or juXtaposition to this class
of tracked public highway Neither the
''iron horse" nor death the motor"
should be in evidence, except at distance
and unavoidably to those who wheel and |
ride along the boulevards.
- do not stop to argue this point, for aside
from the plain unitarian reasons which |
uphold it, there are principles involved
whose discussion would lead into longer
chat and one of more esthetic nature than
the topic yet calls for.
:. Not only should there be no railway OF
any type designed alongside OF or with the
! boulevarde, but, if possible, rights-of-way |
for this latter should be obtained on condi- |
tions such that no commercial highway of |
any character could in future, be placed |
within. say, 200 feet of 1t, except by the |
exercise of the power of eminent domain, |
which, OF course, could not be done away |
with.
t;ob+ +roro1 aIoo4-;o ro;I,,-or +b-o,,cb |
the country to be trav ersed by this boule
ward is surely a thing to be desired, but it
is no more desirable feature or accom-
paniment of a high-class country road
that it is of a city parkway or of drive in
a city park. 1t would be even more obiec-
tionable alongside of a distinctly rural
boulevard than alongside of a city park
way, and there is room enough through
the country to admit of a widely separate
location for it.
These thoughts may be taken as giving
the KEY to the whole idea of the improve
ment. We should think of the boulevard
as rural parkway from Golden Gate to
Garden City-an intra-county park. With
this fundamental idea well fixed we are
prepared to answer the query: What
Should be its character? Broadly: First,
this character should be to the best serving
OF its primary purpose; and second, such
as is closely in keeping with Its surround
ings in each locality traversed.
Now, the primary purpose is that of at
fording a way for agreeable locomotlon
throughout the route. Attending this is
the attainment of an advantageous outlook
upon the country around and into the
more characteristic and attractive parts of
it in detail
That the trip may be agreeable the road |
surface should not only be smooth, with |
out extreme hardness, BIZ: the route should |
avoid unnecessary indirectness; the loca- |
ton and design for construction should |
afford all the variety in the way of curva- |
ture, gradients and landscape treatment |
which the several localities traversed seem |
to call for, and extreme wind and sun eff |
fects should be guarded against. In other |
words, this boulevard may be treated in |
connection with Its surroundings, as |
park study from beginning to end
The short, straight avenue fianked by |
rows of trees of umbellated form and shad- |
; ing character, the long, straight avenue
held between columns of trees OF fastigiate |
growth and imposing effect, the broad, |
Sweeping drive with easy curvature amid !
scattered single specimens or small groups |
of spreading trees, the winding, narrow |
road whose curvature COMFORTS not only to |
governing forms of topography but to
heavier groupings of varied foliages the
canyon drive held between hillside and
stream channel and following their
crooked alignments amid growths entirely
foliage and arrangement, the mountain or
hillside road with rock points guarded by
suitable walls and with canyon or ra-
vine crossings made on bridges OF design
in keeping with their siteS-these all
should find place and repeated introduce
tons into the design of this boulevard,
each according with its part of the route
covered.
To describe the proposed bouleyards as
ga broad drive fanked by double rows OF
trees or as two parallel drives with a
row of trees between and row on each
side" or in any way to imply uniformity
of treatment throughout, is grievous mis-
take. That suita ole portions of it should
be so treated goes without saying, but only
suitable portions and only limited part
in any one stretch. Our climate is es-
pecially not well adapted to the straight
alignment of ways for travel with fanking
rows of trees. A straight road anywhere
within the influence of San Francisco
winds and fogs is bound to have bleak,
inhospitable aspect for many days in each
year, and to be disagreeably dust-swept a
large part of the time. Moreover, the
kinds of trees adapted to make avenue