Great highlight of a wonderful urban space. What I love most about Cathedral Park is the choice of green in this hardscape - Sycamore trees... transparent crown, elegant shape and stature, a damn near perfect "urban" tree, like the sister London Elms of Paseo de Gracia in Barcelona or the Roman Embankment.
Also, sycamores are salt, pest, and drought resistant, another reason they're damn near perfect urban trees.
About "green space." It is one of the worst architecture and planning euphemisms to enter the general lingo. It is as meaningless as "built space." Imagine a developer pointing at a map of a tract of land, saying, "Well, we'll going to put some built space here and here" and the community nods in approval because they enjoy being hip to the cool architectural jargon. Wouldn't you demand to know what kind of "built space?" A factory? A rowhouse? A mall? A gas station? A school? A ramp garage?
We should demand the same specificity when someone talks about "green space." Do you mean mulch and shrubbery strips? A formal square with a monument or fountain? A pointless grassy berm? An Olmstedian meadow? A nature preserve?
We'd all be able to see more clearly what kind of park designs work in cities and what kind do not, as Steel tries to do here, if we all purged "green space" from our vocabulary. As we see in the case above, "green space" is hardly an automatic urban amenity.
I couldn't agree with you more, Steel. In this tiny place, people actually gather and seem to like being together; it feels like a city in this little part of downtown; whereas so many other parts of Buffalo just seem to be dead. The architectural elements are superb; their collisions are wonderful.
My favorite place to be outside downtown. When I talk about green space, this is what I think of--trees and public space. I lalso ove Sycamore trees. But I have to say with regard to the park across Main Street from here: the only thing that park needs to be more popular is seating. Lunch crowds at Cathedral Park take every available seat. Put benches and a few tables across the street and watch that park with get used as well. (although being bounded by buildings sure beats being bordered by busy streets).
the real problem with the park across the street is the lack of easy accessibility for pedestrians. This space works so well because it is one of the few places in downtown were people are put before cars.
True, but you can cross Main Street to get over there. And there's only the occasional trolley or cop car to worry about on Main.
I attend the cathedral, and the 9am service is held in the park for the summer; it's such a nice change to be outside in public space in the city we all love and among my friends and neighbors. sometimes we forget how splendid cathedral park is when we concentrate on the beauty of the cathedral's interior. by drawing us out into the community and into the park, it reminds us that we are there to serve our community, not just ourselves. i'm so glad to read how many others love cathedral park as much as all of us at st. paul's do!
On a minor side note, the historical marker commemorating Shelton Square, which once stood in Cathedral Park, is reportedly in storage somewhere inside the Cathedral. It would be nice to have it reinstalled in the park and accessible to the public again.
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