Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-04-07
MAKING THE MOST or
THE SCHUYLklLL'S CHARMS
There 10 Notable Precedent for the
Fslrmount Park Art Associations
Plan In the Accomplishments 4, &
...,.,.,s of Other oitIes !,

4 that river has two banks That fact in
nature enormously increases the magnitude
OF the Fairmount Park Art Associations war
commemoration plan to make 1uviaI
memorial out of the Schuylkill from League
Island to Valley Forge, as 1t is also
responsible for the preponderance of lake
side, seaside and bayside over riverside Inn
provements in great cities throughout the
world. There are exceptions, Of course
notably in Paris, but as a rule It is the sea
drive or lake front which is the show spot
of many modern municipalities 5!.a
A Schuylkll of one-sided loyeliness would
be- and in places 1t is today. incompietely
decorative. From waterworks to the Falls"
the right bank of the stream, in addition to
Its original natural charms, presents with
few exceptions a neat and orderly aspect.
The roadway is well kept, the park grass
receives adequate attention, the river en-
bankmehts are, save for few stretches, in
good condition - ~ va.
On the summer days the regrettably in
trusive. railroad is fairly effectively hidden
by fine old trees and hills In leafless times
the ornate and blatant structures of Brew
cry Town" offend the vision turned east of
the Lincoln statue. IT remains TO be seen
whether bone-dryness will have any effect on
architectural reform. @.n .a
rINHE opposite bank, however from the
Il Spring Garden street to the Grard
avenue bridge presents much more serious
dtsfgurements. The railroad Is in olsen
chanting evidence, especially the elevated
freight line H., oiS
traffic. 1t is true that grass has been planted
on both the artificial and natural activities,
but locomotive smoke casts heavy pail over
the scene, and although a driveway has been
made close to the rivers edge, the choice Of
cinder paving for the roadbed Is hardly pro-
ductive Of artistic allurement. Indeed, the
entrance to the West Park drive, imme-
diately below the vaduct portion of the
Spring Garden street bridge. is about the
shabblest introduction conceivable to one of
the foremost of the worlus municipal
pleasure grounds.
Conditions are bettered above Girard ave-
nue.. Memorial and Horticultural Halls grace
the high ground on the left bank and the
Pennsylvania Railroad has made its exit
from the Park. On the right side the Colo
NAL mansions including the gem of Give
den, crowning miniature mountains. and the
many evidences of careful park superin-
tendence, coupled with the lavish outlay Of
natural beauties. render the Schuylkill en-
vironment as far as the Fails well worthy
to become the nucleus Of a suitable war;
memorial improvement.
The scene also suggests the vast proper
tions of the proposed undertaking, which ainls
not only at the artistic redemption" of the
Schuylkill through the stockyard dump heap,
ttha - Nd ,,lt
between the Fairmount dam and League
Island, but also north of the Falls" where
scenery abounds. but where indus
trial intrusions along the banks so often mar
the picture. ..... ,.,'--
The whole scheme is little short of n,onu-
mental but that Is no reason why the idea
should be merely patronzingly dismissed
Other states and cities have embraced adorn-
ment enterprises of great scales. Even the
partial completion of a worthy undertaking
is better than nothing done. The redemption
of, say, ten miles of the Schuylkll would be
a fine thing, Strengthening hope in the ulti-
mate fruition of the whole proposal.
TNHE model improved" river of the world
i is perhaps the Seine. From the Pont
d'Austerlitz to Passy 1t flows between neat
stone embankments, inevitably the right sort
for a city. 1t is spanned by graceful bridges,
its quais are usually spacious, appropriately
mindful Of both commercial and artistic exi-
gencies, and at times. particularly at the
Cour la Refine and Champs Elysees reaches,
they are green and ree-decked.
Beyond Passy, even In art-loving Paris,
degeneration sets in. The two banks are not
always equally attractive. st. Cloud is charm
ing, but the view toward the city proper has,
in parts, suggestion Of the Schuylkill
lapses .-.
Doubtless the new Paris that must come
with a reconstructed world will inaugurate
reforms. and the whole serpentine course to
St Germain may be eye-gaddening There
would be slim chance of that result had not
an inspiring beginning been made.
London provides a specimen Of one-sided
riparian betterments. The Thames embank-
ment though not long, is a masterpiece Of
its kind. The Surrey side" with its pickle
factories, is, however, decidedly unbeautful.
1t is beyond the city proper that the really
parklike Thames begins. The Schuylkill
decorators" could learn a great dea! from
that ingratiating scene. Lyons. Of prime i'm
portance industrially, has done well with
the muddy Rhone and the peilucid Same,
which meet within her limits Seville.
on a comparatively small scale. has accom-
plished much with the yellow Guadalquivir
subordinating the railways pictorialy and
emphasizing parklike adornment in LAS
pelicias'-that animated pleasure ground
iustfying it's musical and seductive name
r>UT it is when municipal establishment
Dis relieved from concerning itself with
both banks of a body of water that some of
the most striking improvements flourish
American cities are entitled to an honorable
position in such work, and nowhere more
than on the Great Lakes, along the shores of
which Chicago. with Its Michigan avenue;
Cleveland with it's municipal building area,
and Milwaukee, with its boulevards. have
accomplished wonders. Along the Gulf the
Galveston sea-wall drive, Of course. deserves
first mention.
Abroad handsome watersde parkways and
boulevards are legion, and 'at no place is
the municipal performance more striking
than in Rio Among cities Of the globe, the
capital of Brazil quite takes the palm for
spiendor of natural environment The great
bay of the River of January fanked by
the fantastic Carioca mountains and the more
distant organ range, Is of almost upbeliev-
able tropic beauty. ~ -,
But for years the metropolis on its shores
crowded on a narrow ledge and huddled
t.tll hraa 60