page_title: Washington Park Historic District (Albany, New York)
section_title: Construction of the park
hierarchical_section_title: Washington Park Historic District (Albany, New York) / History / Construction of the park
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of Washington Park, Albany, NY in 1878
context_page_description: Washington Park in Albany, New York is the city's premier park and the site of many festivals and gatherings. As public property it dates back to the city charter in 1686, and has seen many uses including that of gunpowder storage, square/parade grounds, and cemetery. The park is often mistaken as being designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, as it incorporate many of the philosophical ideals used by Olmsted when he designed Central Park in Manhattan. The park is about 81 acres in size with the 5.2-acre Washington Park Lake, a roughly 1,600-foot-long and 140-foot-wide lake, in the southwestern corner.
  Not only is the park historic, but so is the mostly residential surrounding neighborhood. Many architectural works line the streets facing the park, designed by some of the most famous architects of the late 19th century, including Henry Hobson Richardson. At least two governors of New York lived in buildings facing Washington Park outside of their term in office.
context_section_description: The New York Legislature passed a law in 1869 authorizing the creation of a large public park on the spot and the creation of the Board of Trustees of the Washington Park of the City of Albany (later Commissioners). John Bogart and John Cuyler drew the plans for Washington Park in 1870. Bogart had worked for Olmsted and Vaux on Central Park in New York and later Bogart was the chief engineer for the New York City Department of Parks from 1872 to 1877. From 1869 to 1872 R.H. Bingham was the chief engineer in charge of the drafting of the plans and the supervision of construction, after 1872 his assistant William S. Egerton took charge. It was under Egerton that the formal garden settings were planted.
  Work on the Washington Parade Grounds between Willett and Knox streets was begun in July 1870 and finished by the end of the year. During 1871 the former cemetery was landscaped and that area reopened as part of the park. The section of Washington Park between Lexington (formerly Snipe) and Robin streets was the focus of work in 1873, including the damming of the Beaverkill to form Washington Park Lake. In 1874 focus shifted to roughly 15 acres (61,000 m²) along Madison Avenue from Lake to Robin and a footbridge was built over the lake in 1875. Nine acres of mostly row houses along Knox Street north of Madison were purchased, destroyed, and landscaped in 1880; this included the area that would be the site of the King Memorial Fountain. The large house and landscaped grounds of John Taylor was the last part of the park to be purchased, in 1882, since 1889 it has been the site of tennis courts. The northwestern corner that is cut out of the park's otherwise rectangular shape was never part of the park; those plots were mostly owned by the Barnes family and developed into urban mansions facing Thurlow Terrace and Englewood Place. The process of buying and improving the land piecemeal was criticized because each improvement raised the value of the existing land that still needed to be purchased. The increase in property value can be shown through the value of the lands surrounding Washington Park almost doubling in the six years in which the majority of the park improvements were made; from $2,696,688 in 1869 to $4,843,440 in 1875. The properties next to Washington Park on Robin Street, which was renamed Englewood Terrace, increased in value from $9,500 in 1875 to $175,800 by 1891.
  The Commissioners were given by the state additional powers to build and maintain approaches to the park and other parks as well, this allowed the commissioners to build a series of boulevards around the city. Western Avenue from the northwestern corner of Washington Park to the location of the toll gate of the Western Turnpike was under the purview of the commissioners. Work on the road began in late 1876 and was finished the next year. The total construction cost of the park, including purchasing the real estate and improving Western Avenue, was $1,073,020.91. In 1878 Northern Boulevard (today Manning Boulevard) was constructed by the commissioners, it extended from the western end of their jurisdiction on Western Avenue north and east to the intersection of Clinton and Central avenues. In 1896 the state legislature also gave the commissioners authority over Lake Avenue from the park corner at Madison Avenue south to New Scotland Avenue (then- Albany, Schoharie, and Rensselaerville Plank Road). In addition to boulevards the Commissioners of Washington Park also gained control of other existing parks, and built new ones throughout the city, including Academy Park, Bleeker Park, Hudson Avenue Park, Clinton Square, Rensselaer Park, St. Joseph's Park, Townsend Park, Beaver Park (later Lincoln Park), and the former grounds of the Dudley Observatory. In 1900 the board of commissioners was transformed into the Bureau of Parks in the Department of Public Works and later the bureau became a separate department.
caption: Map of Washington Park in 1876; north is to the top-right.
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