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Fn 1907 Margaret Olivia Sage established the Russell Sage Foundation with an initial gift of $10 million to undertake projects of social significance. She may have been trying to redeem the reputation of her late husband; Sage was one of the shrewdest operators of the late 19th century, working with Jay Gould to ruthlessly develop railroad and transit monopolies. An early project of the new foundation was the establishment of a model housing community. In 1908 it bought a sizable tract in a largely undeveloped section of Queens, which it later named Forest Hills Gardens. As architect and landscape architect, respectively, the foundation hired Grosvenor Atterbury and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., son of the designer of Central Park. The two men developed a sophisticated plan of winding streets of varying width and a program for dwellings of various sizes, from modest attached buildings to substantial suburban houses. They had in mind both the Garden City movement then current in England and the renewed study of European medieval towns, especially in Germany, by Camillo Sitte. The team studied traffic patterns, soil conditions and even which birds were native to the site -- and which could be lured to nest there by leaving out loose string and cotton. But the goal was not simple charity, for the Sage Foundation wanted to turn a profit and encourage other developers to forsake the gimcrack style of suburban development that was sweeping out from New York. In 1911 Atterbury wrote that he was keen to avoid the "subtle odium which attaches to 'model' things . . . a slightly sanctimonious atmosphere." Although Forest Hills is famous today for its comfortable suburban houses, Atterbury and Olmsted made its focus a lozenge-shaped open space opposite the railroad station. Station Square is unusual for New York, a truly enclosed square in the manner of medieval cities. On the north side, the Long Island Rail Road runs along an elevated embankment. The other three sides are taken up with apartment buildings -- one a former hotel -- in German medieval styles, with tile roofs, half-timbering, stucco, brick and eccentric towers. These buildings themselves are separated by streets, but they are connected at the second-floor levels by pedestrian bridges, some still usable, that enclose the space. The square is paved in red brick; cars give off a characteristic "rupple rupple" sound as they pass through, softening their intrusion. At the center of the square a small park has benches, plantings, two picturesque guard stations and, on a recent sunny morning, several people reading newspapers and drinking coffee. In 1911 the Craftsman magazine attributed to the town center "that air of dignity and solidity observed or felt in many old-world cities but usually lacking in America." The railroad station is of simple design, an open shelter with projecting eaves and a tile roof, covered in stucco. But this stucco is a careful mix of concrete, pebbles and broken brick or tile, giving it a reddish cast and a gemlike character. A double stairway rises from Station Square, flanked by planted beds. In 1914 House Beautiful magazine wrote that it had "something of the terraced garden effect of the northern section of Italy." Station Square is one of the most successful public spaces in New York City, certainly equal or superior in design and effect to something like the Plaza at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Click here for To go back or continue to read about the beautiful place. |