New park benches
Father and son, mother with baby carriage, and other pedestrians sitting on benches under leafy trees along median strip; convertible automobile in left background. Caption: "New park benches and new footpaths add to the comfort of residents of Eastern Parkway from Ralph to Washington Aves."
Center for Brooklyn HistoryEastern Parkway Greenway, Brooklyn.
Eastern Parkway was designed with a 20-foot wide foot and bicycle path flanking either side, adorned with park benches and octagonal tiles under the shade of elm and maple trees. Frederick Law Olmsted described the road he co-designed as "a shaded green ribbon, absolutely formal or strikingly picturesque." It is the first parkway meant exclusively for personal and recreational traffic.
Designers Calvert Vaux and Federick Law Olmstead were inspired by Under den Linden in Berlin and Avenue Foch in Paris. The parkway met Ocean Parkway, which was designed simultaneously. The two roads connected Prospect Park with East New York
Urban Archive