Author: Jessica Leigh Hester / Source: Atlas Obscura
Today, someone wandering all of Central Park’s 840 acres will encounter wooded rambles, rocky outcrops, vast meadows, glassy waters, ornate fountains and arches, and boulevards lined with trees.
The notable urban green space is a hodgepodge of different landscapes, each of which was proposed, sketched, and built for visitors.This particular, familiar mix, though, was far from guaranteed. Before Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won the bid (and a prize of $2,000) to design the park in 1858, more than 30 other proposals were in the running. These reveal dueling 19th-century ideas about what public spaces should look like—and few are starker in contrast to the final design than the one submitted by John J. Rink.
The competition was open to all—and to level the playing field a bit, each entrant was given the same information and criteria. There was a topographic map of the land, and a handful of necessary features, including a parade ground, playgrounds, and at least four transverse roads at regular intervals. (In their winning design, Olmsted and Vaux proposed transverses below grade, to keep traffic moving without impinging on the view or pedestrian safety.) And none could exceed a $1.5 million budget.
One entrant proposed a pyramid, while George Waring Jr., a drainage engineer, went deep into the weeds on the park’s water infrastructure—and little else. The New-York Historical Society, which holds a copy of Waring’s entry, noted that while “the drawing is rich in topographical detail, it is sparing in actual design,” and its “footpaths…
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