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http://www.centralpark.org/history/
UNIT 4. History of Central Park
The rich history of Central Park dates back to the mid-1800's. In this area of the site, you
will learn of its early history up through its recent past.
Also, take time to explore the many statues of the Park and learn how the Park fits in with
today's popular culture.
The New York Public Library has made an extensive selection of their collection of
Central Park stereographs available at the following site:
http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/art/photo/Dennis/central/central.html
Central Park was the first landscaped public park in the United States. Advocates of
creating the park--primarily wealthy merchants and landowners--admired the public
grounds of London and Paris and urged that New York needed a comparable facility to
establish its international reputation. A public park, they argued, would offer their own
families an attractive setting for carriage rides and provide working-class New Yorkers
with a healthy alternative to the saloon. After three years of debate over the park site and
cost, in 1853 the state legislature authorized the City of New York to use the power of
eminent domain to acquire more than 700 acres of land in the center of Manhattan.
An irregular terrain of swamps and bluffs, punctuated by rocky outcroppings, made the
land between Fifth and Eighth avenues and 59th and 106th streets undesirable for private
development. Creating the park, however, required displacing roughly 1,600 poor
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residents, including Irish pig farmers and German gardeners, who lived in shanties on the
site. At Eighth Avenue and 82nd Street, Seneca Village had been one of the city's most
stable African-American settlements, with three churches and a school. The extension of
the boundaries to 110th Street in 1863 brought the park to its current 843 acres.
The question of who should exercise political control of this new kind of public
institution was a point of contention throughout the nineteenth century. In appointing the
first Central Park Commission (!857-1870), the Republican-dominated state legislature
abandoned the principle of "home rule" in order to keep the park out of the hands of
locally-elected (and primarily Democratic) office holders. Under the leadership of
Andrew Green, the commission became the city's first planning agency and oversaw the
laying out of uptown Manhattan as well as the management of the park. After a new city
charter in 1870 restored the park to local control, the mayor appointed park
commissioners.
In 1857, the Central Park Commission held the country's first landscape design contest
and selected the "Greensward Plan," submitted by Frederick Law Olmsted, the park's
superintendent at the time, and Calvert Vaux, an English-born architect and former
partner of the popular landscape gardener, Andrew Jackson Downing. The designers
sought to create a pastoral landscape in the English romantic tradition. Open rolling
meadows contrasted with the picturesque effects of the Ramble and the more formal dress
grounds of the Mall (Promenade) and Bethesda Terrace. In order to maintain a feeling of
uninterrupted expanse, Olmsted and Vaux sank four Transverse Roads eight feet below
the park's surface to carry cross-town traffic. Responding to pressure from local critics,
the designers also revised their plan's circulation system to separate carriage drives,
pedestrian walks, and equestrian paths. Vaux, assisted by Jacob Wrey Mould, designed
more than forty bridges to eliminate grade crossings between the different routes.
English For Arch & Civil II
Prepared by : Indra Tj
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English For Arch & Civil II
Prepared by : Indra Tj
CENTRAL PARK
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A. SKIMMING
Read the reading above quickly than re-write with your own words ( in English )
B. READING & UNDERSTANDING
1. Where is the Central Park situated ?
2. Central Park was very famous as what ?
3. How big is the Central Park ?
4. Who is the designer of the Central Park ?
C. FIND MORE INFORMATION
Please find more information about the Central Park from different source within the
WebSites and shared it with your colleagues in the class next week.
D. THE ALPHABET
A [ei]
B [bi:]
C [si:]
D [di:]
E [i:]
F [ef]
G [dji:]
H [eitj]
I [ai]
J [jei]
K [kei]
L [el]
M [em]
N [en]
O [ou]
P [pi:]
Q [kyu:]
R [a:]
S [es]
T [ti:]
U [yu:]
Z [zed]/
V [vi:]
[zi:]
W [dabelyu:]
X [eks]
Y [wai]
E. NAME
Pada waktu anda diminta mengisi suatu formulir, ada beberapa istilah yang mungkin
membingungkan anda, diantaranya :
First name
Christian name atau Given name
Kemudian diikuti dengan :
Surname
Last name atau Family name
Biasanya seseorang ingin memperoleh keterangan siapa nama anda, atau misalnya anda
ingin bertemu dengan seorang pimpinan perusahaan maka ia akan bertanya dengan :
May I have your name, please ?
Kemudian ada beberapa contoh yang perlu anda ketahui, yang mungkin merupakan
respon dari jawaban anda tadi :
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Please repeat that.
Will you repeat that, please ?
Will you please repeat that ?
Would you please repeat that ?
Would you mind repeating that ?
Please spell it.
Will you spell it, please ?
Will you please spell it ?
Would you please spell it ?
Would you mind spell it ?
* Would you mind……….adalah bentuk permintaan yang paling sopan.
Dibelakang bentuk ini harus selalu dipakai bentuk ing : repeating, spelling…..
Adakalanya kita mendengar kalimat permintaan yang lebih halus lagi :
* Would you be so kind as to carry my bags ?
F. OTHER EXERCISE
Please spell these word below :
1. Coffee
2. Sugar
3. World
4. Young
5. Extra
6. BANDUNG
7. SWITZERLAND
8. ANTARTIC
9. NEW ZEALAND
10.River
Berlatihlah meng-eja nama anda sendiri, dan alamat tempat tinggal anda.
Selain itu cobalah berlatih menyebut nomor tilpon rumah anda dan nomor tilpon
genggam ( mobile phone ) anda.