"Getting the Plan"

149

Figure 112
Grading the Playstead,
1887.

make generally consisted of removing inappropriate elements. As Olmsted expressed his design aims for Franklin Park:

The intention is to make no change in any of the present leading features of the ground except with the purpose of giving a fuller development, aggrandizement, and emphasis to what are regarded as the more interesting and effective existing elements of the scenery, and of taking out or subordinating elements that neutralize or conflict with those chosen to be made more of.²⁵

Olmsted's design by subtraction is more clearly illustrated by photographs than by drawings. Figure 112 shows the Playstead being graded in 1887. On the topographical map of 1884 the Playstead site appears as an open field, marked only by a few trees near a former property line. The Playstead and all low-lying sections of the park required extensive drainage and minor contour changes, but the construction crews worked around the existing trees. In the finished design (Figure 113), we see an

Figure 113
The Playstead completed.