Staff of the Regional Plan
It would be difficult as well as invidious to make acknowledgments to members of the staff by name. The list of full-time workers and coadjutors is a long one. Under the directorship of Mr. Thomas Adams, the staff has worked in such a spirit of mutual cooperation that it would be hard to attribute any part of what has been accomplished to one person alone. Different chapters or volumes of the reports have been, to be sure, signed or initialed by individuals; but there has been consultation concerning everything and the Director of Plans and Surveys has been more or less responsible for a great deal that he has not signed.
General Director of Plans and Surveys
- Thomas Adams
Administration And General Direction Of Plans And Surveys
- Henry James, Consultant on Special Studies
- Leslie S. Baker, Staff Secretary, 1923-28
- Lawrence M. Orton, Secretary, 1928-29
- Theodore T. McCrosky, Assistant on Special Studies
- Frances Perry
- Margaret A. Purdy
- Lorraine C. Smith
- Loretta P. Hendrick
- Ruth A. Hemenway
- Inez Price
- Dorothy B. Morris
- Cecile Randau
Engineering Division And Planning Studies
- William T. Wilgus, Consultant on Studies of Transportation and Port Development
- Ernest P. Goodrich, Consultant on Traffic Studies
- Daniel L. Turner, Consultant on Transit
- Robert Whitten, Consultant on Planning Studies
- Francis. S. Swales, Consultant on Architectural Studies
- Harold M. Lewis, Executive Engineer
- Raymond A. O’Hara, Chief Assistant Engineer
- Frederick W. Loede, Jr., Landscape Architect
- C. Earl Morrow, Assistant Landscape Architect
- George A. Schiller
- Alfred Chanchick
- Harry H. Hemmings
- Harold A. Merrill
- John Rannells
- Kathryn M. Duffy
- Lulu Fisher
Economic Division
- Robert M. Haig, Director
- Roswell C. McCrea, Consultant
- Donald H. Davenport, Special Studies
Social Division
- Shelby M. Harrison, Director
- Lee F. Hanmer, Director of Recreation Studies
- Clarence Arthur Perry
- Charles J. Storey
Legal Division
- Edward M. Bassett, Director
- Frank B. Williams, Associate
Public Relations Division
- Flavel Shurtleff, Director
- Wayne D. Heydecker, Field Secretary
- Meta D. Osmer
- Hilda Reich
Advisory Committees
The Committee has been fortunate in obtaining advice from many eminent experts. Not only numerous individuals, but also groups of architects, engineers, lawyers and city planners have rendered valuable help. Members of the following committees have actively participated in making studies and plans or have freely given their time for the discussion of problems.
Committees Of Architects
In 1923, advisory committees of architects generously gave their services in preparing drawings and plans dealing with specific areas and problems as follows:
City Hall And General Plan Of Manhattan
- Cass Gilbert, Chairman
- Welles Bosworth
- Guy Lowell
- Lawrence Grant White
East Side Waterfront
- D. Everett Waid, Chairman
- Chester A. Aldrich
- Louis Ayers
- John W. Cross
- William A. Delano
- Frederic C. Hirons
- Henry F. Hornbostel
- Egerton Swartrout
Fifty-Ninth Street And Traffic Studies
- Harvey W. Corbett, Chairman
- William A. Boring
- Arnold W. Brunner
- Burt L. Fenner
- Charles A. Platt
West Side Waterfront
- Thomas Hastings, Chairman
- Donn Barber
- Charles Butler
- John Russell Pope
The following architects cooperated in the above studies:
- Henry Dumper
- Hugh Ferries
- William Gehron
- Thomas Newton
- Bruce Rabenold
- Perry Coke Smith
- Francis S. Swales
Organization of Work of Committee
In October 1922, Mr. Raymond Unwin, F.R.l.B.A., Chief Architect of the Ministry of Health, England, presented a report to the Committee on “New York and Its Environs as a Regional Planning Problem from a European Point of View.”
M. Jacques Lambert, Architect, Paris, made a study of gardens and parks in Manhattan in 1923.
Committees of Engineers and Lawyers
The following committees have acted as consultants to the members of the staff in the engineering and legal divisions of the work:
Advisory Engineering Committee
- B.F. Cresson, Jr.
- Jay Downer
- Ernest P. Goodrich
- Charles W. Leavitt
- L. V. Morris
- Frederick Law Olmstead
- Charles U. Powell
- Arthur H. Pratt
- A. M. Reynolde
- Amos Schaeffer
- Morris R. Sherrerd
- Daniel L. Turner
- George C. Whipple
- William J. Wilgus
Advisory Legal Committee
- James Byrne
- Alfred T. Davison
- Harrison P. Lindabury
- Isaac N. Mills
- Frank H. Sommer
Advisory Planning Group
During 1923, the following group of city planners made a preliminary path-finding study of the Region and prepared maps and reports dealing with land uses and means of circulation:
- Thomas Adams, Chairman; assisted by Hale J. Walker
- Harland Bartholomew; assisted by L. D. Tilton
- Edward H. Bennett; assisted by H. T. Frost
- George B. Ford; assisted by Ernest P. Goodrich
- John Nolen; assisted by Philip W. Foster
- Frederick Law Olmsted; assisted by Henry V. Hubbard
Special Services
At different stages during the preparation of the Plan, special services have been rendered for brief periods by the above and other experts, whose names are given, with the titles of the reports they presented, in the Regional Survey Volumes.
Regional Council
A Regional Council, composed of 150 individuals, largely representatives of planning agencies throughout the Region, was formed in April 1925, and held several meetings in 1926 and 1927. The Committee on the Regional Plan appreciates the cordial cooperation and assistance of members of the Council.
Cooperation of Public Authorities in the Region
The Regional Plan Committee has been peculiarly successful in securing the generous collaboration of all the public authorities which have been approached for assistance in making surveys and plans. As a result of this collaboration, united action has been promoted in many cases with profitable results.
The bureaus of the three states that deal with problems relating to regional planning, and the State Highway Commissions have shown every willingness to cooperate. The Departments of Labor in the three states supplied the industrial data from which the conclusions of the Economic Survey have been drawn.
The City of New York and its various departments have at all times rendered willing aid to the Committee. Other cities, counties, boroughs, villages and towns have all shown a ready acquiescence in giving information and in assisting with the study of local conditions. During the period since May 1924, there have been appointed in the Region a large number of new planning commissions, including the City Committee on Plan and Survey in New York City, and several county Park and Planning Commissions. This progress has been largely due to the work of organization of the staff of the Regional Plan which has aroused an increased public interest in regional, city and town planning.
The state, municipal and county authorities that have collaborated in making studies of problems and tentative plans, or in furnishing needed information, include the Port of New York Authority, the New York State and New Jersey Interstate Bridge and Tunnel Commissions, New Jersey Board of Commerce and Navigation, New York Transit Commission, North Jersey Transit Commission, Board of Transportation (New York City), Long Island State Park Commission, Westchester County Park Commission, Palisades Interstate Park Commission, Essex County Park Commission, Union County Park Commission, and the New Jersey League of Municipalities.
A number of national and local organizations, including the railroad, telephone and general public utility corporations, and such societies as the Playground and Recreation Association of America, the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society and all Chambers of Commerce in the Region, have also rendered valuable aid whenever approached.
Appointment Of City Committee On Plan And Survey Of New York
In June 1926, Mayor Walker appointed a City Committee on Plan and Survey consisting of over 500 members, with Justice Morgan J. O’Brien as Chairman, for the purpose of making a comprehensive study and preparing plans for the future development of the city. At the request of the Mayor, the staff of the Regional Plan cooperated with the City Committee in carrying on its studies and in preparing its reports.
Assistance Obtained from Departments of the Federal Government
The Committee is indebted in a special degree to the United States Geological Survey of the Department of lnterior and to its Director, Dr. George Otis Smith, and his staff for the valuable service they rendered to the Regional Plan in producing an excellent reproduction of the 1 to 62,500 scale U.S. Geological Survey Topographic map on an enlarged scale of 2,000 feet to 1 inch for the greater part of the Region. The Chief of the Air Service, through the War Department, has also furnished valuable maps of parts of the area.
Volume II - A Note from Thomas Adams
The making of the Regional Survey and Plan, described in this and the preceding nine volumes, has been a work of collaboration on the part of a large number of persons. This fact did not prevent proper recognition being given to those who made individual contributions to the eight volumes and numerous supplementary monographs that analyzed and described the Survey. It has, however, presented some difficulties in assigning credit and responsibility to persons who have made contributions to the two volumes in which the Plan itself is presented. The first of these volumes was so much a joint undertaking that it was thought best to issue it as the work of members of the staff of the Regional Plan. This, the second volume, also is the result of much collaboration. While I am personally responsible for the ideas and conclusions it contains, these ideas and conclusions are the fruit of a continuous process of discussion of facts, tendencies and principles by members of the Committee and its staff, over a period of seven years.
Among those whose contributions to the Survey and Plan have been outstanding and not adequately acknowledged in the volumes are Mr. Frederick P. Keppel and the late Nelson P. Lewis. Whatever achievement the work of the staff may represent is due in large measure to the inspiring and skillful leadership of Mr. Keppel and the guidance of Mr. Lewis, with his unique engineering ability and knowledge of New York, during the early years of the undertaking.
At all stages, the assistance and advice of Mr. Edward M. Bassett, Mr. Henry James and Mr. Robert Whitten have been especially valuable. It is believed that, in the main, the volumes constitute a “body of doctrine” that will be endorsed by all who have shared in the task of making the Survey and Plan.
In preparing the text describing the proposals, and in carrying out the extensive editorial work that has had to be undertaken, I have enjoyed the able collaboration of Mr. Harold M. Lewis and Mr. Lawrence M. Orton. Technical contributions of value have been made by Mr. C. Earl Morrow. Painstaking secretarial work has been efficiently carried out by Miss Frances Perry and Miss Loretta Hendrick; and also by Miss Abby R. Pike, who has prepared the indexes for this and all preceding volumes.
The names of those, including several eminent architects, who have cooperated in preparing designs for specific projects, are mentioned in the text or are printed under the drawings illustrating the designs, but no names are given on plans or drawings chat have been produced by the joint efforts of members of the staff. With few exceptions, the making of plans and drawings has been the result of collaboration. One of the exceptions is the contribution of Mr. Eric Gugler, who, with the aid of Mr. Paul Manship, made the design for the monumental treatment of Battery Park. This has been a labor of love on their part and is gratefully acknowledged on behalf of the Regional Plan Committee. The plan of Radburn is an independent, but none the less significant, contribution to the plan of the Region. It was prepared for the City Housing Corporation by Mr. Clarence Stein and Mr. Henry Wright, in consultation with Mr. Robert D. Kohn and Mr. Frederick L. Ackerman, and with myself as representing the Regional Plan.
May I use this opportunity to say, on behalf of the staff, that the confidence imposed in us by the Committee and its Chairman, Mr. Frederic A. Delano, their untiring patience and unfailing soundness in leadership, have contributed in a major degree to the completion of a task chat, with all modesty, has required unusual concentration of will and energy.
- Thomas Adams, General Director of Plans and Surveys