Practical Planning: Arthur Shurcliff

Practical Planning: Arthur Shurcliff. . “The artistic vistas are not an accident. The streets were designed by one of America's foremost architects, Arthur [Shurcliff], of Boston.” – Wildwood Companies advertisement, Fort Wayne Sentinel, 1917 , In 1912, George Kessler, a nationally significant landscape architect, completed his design of Fort Wayne's Park and Boulevard System. State Boulevard was part of Kessler's plan, but did not pass through Brookview due to many obstacles: a railroad to the west, a transportation corridor to the cast (the abandoned feeder canal and Leo Road – later North Clinton Street), and Spy Run Creek in the center. Landscape architect Arthur Shurcliff met the challenge in 1917 with his plan for Brookview. The original State Boulevard alignment, and the sweeping curve known to generations of motorists, crossed Spy Run Creek and extended across the north edge of Fort Wayne. Shurcliff used an existing street at the east edge of the neighborhood for a seamless transition into Brookview. Shurcliff's curvilinear streets accented the natural beauty of Spy Run Creek and its embankments. Eastbrook and Westbrook Drives connected to Clinton Street at the south until 2009, when the Clinton Street Bridge was replaced. A green belt stretches north from Headwaters Park along Spy Run Creek through Lawton Park to Brookview Parkway and Vesey Park. , [Captions] , Top left: The remnants and resulting land-use influences of this feeder canal presented a design challenge for Shurcliff on the east side of Brookview, although the canal was no longer in use after c. 1880 (ACPL Community Album) , Bottom left: The historic State Boulevard bridge was constructed in 1927 and demolished in 2020 (ACPL Community Album) , Bottom right: Arthur Shurcliff of Boston designed State Boulevard and the streets, residential lots, and landscape of the Brookview neighborhood (Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation) , Imagining History: In the re-design of State Boulevard, the City of Fort Wayne wanted people to see Shurcliff's original design. Look across the street and past the Spy Run Creek bridge. Can you spot the old path of State Boulevard?