Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-09-04
ACRES Of ROOFS USED
AS PLACES FOR PLAY
Many Recreation Centers Provided
on Tops Of New York.
Buildings.

An ample and delightful playground
Is the Top Of New York; acres upon
acres Of roof space with not a thing
above except the broad, blue heavens
or the night sky a-glitter with thou
sands Of silvery fire points. The city
is 80 remote down there at the bottom
of those innumerable chasms that it Is
easily forgotten. says The Edison
Monthly. But it has taken New York
long time to realize the possibilities
of its tiled and timed covering, and it
is question yet whether the city is
fully awakened to the value. except
the commercial, of its hundreds of
roofs.
Back in the sos DR.. Governor M
tops for recreation. and for a time the
city was interested. Still the attention
was merely temporary, and only within
recent years have roof gardens aside
from those in connection with theaters
and hotels) become popular.
Used by Blind Boys.
There are. however. some very in
teresting skyscraping Fairgrounds and
pleasure spots in Manhattan. whose ex-
tstence one never suspects while trav-
cling at tho bottom of the city's street
canyons. For instance, who could fancy
that ten stories overhead on 59th street
a troop Of blind Boy Scouts goes whirl-
ing about a roof top on roller skates,
or that Of evenings on the same roof
blind men and women dance in the
glow Of colored electric lights? And
who would believe that atop the stately
Hendrix Hudson apartment house on
live sol IN nvsSHy
toboggan slides and swings add delight
to the apartment house youngsters ex-
istence? OF course, these are used
From until every day in the year
dozen or more delighted youngsters
romp up there above the city, utterly
oblivious of the uniqueness of their
playground.
First Of It's Kind.
This ten-story playground and kin
dergarten is the first Of its kind in
the city. The northwest corner of the
big fiat roof of the apartment house
has been fenced off with ten-foot
picket stockade, which gives 1t the ap-
pearance Of huge backyard. One sec
ton is partly covered, to guard against
rainy weather. and there, in the In
closure, the children of apartment
jewellers play to their hearts content,
or, rather, they play until they are
called upon to spend little time In a
tiny classroom, also on the roof, for a
kindergarten is conducted there by a
trained Instructor. OF course. the
youngsters play in the classroom, too,
only there they play scientifically.
Contains Running Track.
The mere thought of a blind person
ho ~ hill 10
weird, to say the least, but New York
has two lofty roof gardens for the ex-
elusive use of the sightless. One is To-
Gated on the top of the Lighthouse
of the New York Association for the
tural injunction to make a battlement
for, besides a high brick Are wall on
either side, steel and wire fence has
been constructed at the front and rear
ends. A similar structure incloses the
spacious fire escape, and all sharp
corners on the roof have been modi-
fed. On the fire escape, the upper
platform of which is in the form Of a
circular running track and at least
five feet broad, blind boys roller skate
and conduct drills And evenings in the
summer time the roof space (the front
OF winch Is OlVlQeu OH lNtO t"o SHcl-
ters and decorated with shrubs and
palms) is devoted to dances and en-
|tertainments.
Away From City's Noise.
The Hebrew Association for the
Blind conducts a similar roof garden
on the Bank Of the United States
building, at II Delaney street. Here
the blind of the East Side spend their
evenings far above the noise and ex-
element of that districts busiest thor
oughfare. The building is the tallest
in the neighborhood and In an excel
lent location for the purpose to which
it's roof has been devoted Last sum-
mer the roof was used by the sightless
of the tenement district during the
daytime. as well as In the evening.
Through the effort of the president of
the bank, Joseph s. Marcus, who faith
cred the establishment of the recrea-
ton spot, visitors to the roof were
cared for by attendants during the day
Their meals were served to them and
they were provided with collection
of books in the Braille system from the
State Library. At night the roof was
outlined with strings of colored cleo
trio lamps, and usually some form of
entertainment was undertaken.