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Register
of Historic places in the 1972 brought new attention to the park’s historic,
cultural, and social importance. With more neighborhood involvement, the park
began to be viewed as a renewed “social center for families and community.”
By the 1970s several neighborhood associations joined together in an effort
to deal with the future of Washington Park. The Washington Park Conservancy
was founded in 1985, the same year the Washington Park Historic District was
included within the newly designated Albany Urban Cultural Park, a special
program of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic
Preservation. A legacy from the last century, Washington Park continues to be
used and appreciated. As it is studied and interpreted, its historic fiber and
character will be better understood and protected.
A
detailed visual inspection of existing conditions in Washington Park was
carried out in January and February
of 1988. A thorough record of four bodies of information was compiled: 1.
Circulation, 2. Built Elements
3. Landscape Composition, and 4. Soils and Water. The entire park was
recorded on Exhibit 1:
Existing Conditions, Circulation and Built Elements and Exhibit 2: Existing
Conditions, Landscape Composition.
The exhibits are included here for your reference. They serve as a record of
the existing conditions
in Washington Park early in 1988.
On
Exhibit 1: Circulation and Built Elements, a!l visible built elements are
recorded. The elements include: drive and traffic lights, high intensity
sports lights, overhead wires, chain link fences, signs, monuments,
structures, play equipment and all the paths, drives, drive parking, pavement
and traffic barriers that comprise the circulation system. Since
1900, four changes have occurred at the edges of the park that have altered
the arrangement the entries and exits. Streets were opened extending Sprague
Place, Northern Boulevard and Lancaster Streets into the park in areas
originally designed as path and landscape areas. The former entry and exit at
the corner of State and Willett Streets was removed. In addition, projects in
1970’s significantly altered the use of park drives by three pavement
reconfigurations and numerous bollard and chain drive closures. As a result
of these changes, vehicular circulation on park drives is divided into drives
open to public and drives open to service and security vehicles. The drives
in each category are portrayed on the exhibit as “Full Access Drives” or
“Service Access Drives.” The
park drives are surfaced in asphalt and are in generally fair condition, with
some poor and some good areas. About one-third of the drives have relatively
new granite curbs. The balance are edged with grass. Former cobblestone
swales and drainage grates are apparent in some areas and may be covered with
paving, mud or grass in others. Parallel
parking for area residents is currently allowed on public road edges. Curbs,
bollards, wood guard rails and railroad tie barriers restrict parking to
paved surfaces where they occur. Where no barriers exist 6 to 12 feet of
roadside landscape is damaged from car tires. The
park path system is annotated in four categories: historic path paved,
historic path mud/grass, new path paved, and new path mud/grass. These
categories represent the materials of each path and also |
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Click here for pages 41 thru 60