The New, Much-Improved Hyde Park in Downtown Fort Worth – Progress From Car Space to People Space
May 3, 2011 at 7:00 am | Architecture & Urban Design | Tags: Downtown, Parks & Plazas, SoDo, urban design
What was for many years a tiny sliver of park space and a unsightly parking lot (that replaced a historic library that didn’t have to be demolished) has, at long last, been transformed into space for humans. Hyde Park, the old park space on 9th between Houston and Throckmorton in Downtown, has been reborn into a dramatically improved new form.
The Hyde Park reconfiguration has gotten rid of a jumbled collection of traffic lanes crisscrossing the area between the historic Flatiron and Houston Place Lofts buildings on the east and the civic hub of City Hall, the Public Safety & Courts Building, and the Lanham Federal Building on the west. A radically simplified and smaller, slower street configuration has been created, and the large swaths of unused space that once only held traffic have been turned into a series of lovely park and plaza spaces and extra-wide, tree-lined sidewalks, along with a bus plaza for The T.
Above, we’re standing in front of the Public Safety & Courts Building in what was once part of traffic. We’re looking toward the Flatiron Building into the heart of the new Hyde Park. On the right, the beloved Panther City fountain that was once surrounded by only a small patch of grass now occupies a commanding spot in a combination plaza & park space looking out over the larger area. This part of Hyde Park was once 9th Street, as it zagged to the south toward Throckmorton.
Looking at the Public Safety & Courts Building itself reveals another dramatic improvement. This was nearly all traffic space previously, with only small pedestrian refuge islands for crossing. Now, this swath of traffic space has been turned into an attractive public plaza leading from the steps of the Public Safety & Courts Building to the south, closing the gap between PS&C, City Hall, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
Here, we’ve come further north, and are standing roughly at the intersection of the new 9th and Throckmorton, looking toward the Flatiron, the Park Central Hotel, and the Panther City fountain. A wide, tree-lined hardscape rings the significantly larger Hyde Park, replacing traffic space. In the center is a larger, gently sloped grass park space, free of obstruction for recreation or relaxing.
Across the street, another significant improvement has happened to the streetscape. This has been a parking lot for years, after the demolition of the old Fort Worth Public Library building (a story that didn’t have to turn out that way – a tale for another day). Now, though, this space has been reclaimed for people – it’s now part of Hyde Park, a grassy park space ringed by wide walkways. Getting rid of the parking lot not only makes this stretch immediately more attractive and enjoyable, but it also helps open up much better views of the Houston Place Lofts and the tiny Bryce Building (just out-of-frame to the left).
Looking south into the heart of Hyde Park from the parking-lot-turned-park-space.
The Panther City fountain’s new, improved place of honor at the convergence of Hyde Park, in the shadow of the Park Central Hotel and the Flatiron Building.
Looking out from the Panther City fountain north toward the Houston Place Lofts, looking out across the beautiful, radically better Hyde Park.
Gazing out from the Panther City fountain toward the Public Safety & Courts Building and City Hall, toward the new PS&C Building plaza.
This calmer, substantially more people-focused space also serves as a transit plaza for T buses, with larger shelters on both sides.
The new Hyde Park is such an incredible improvement, it’s hard to fully get across how much better this space has become. The area around 9th between Houston and Throckmorton used to be fairly dreary and barren, apart from the historic building stock and the Panther City fountain. Now, it’s an excellent piece of public space and car-space-to-person-space reclamation.
The only real thing missing at this point is engagement – by which I mean the engagement of the space with active uses. This could take a few different forms. The Flatiron and Houston Place Lofts buildings ought to be immediately making plans to add ground-floor retail or restaurants that directly interact with the new park space. This would create a more appealing and safer environment and promote much more usage of the park. Meanwhile, the areas around the PS&C and Lanham Federal buildings and the large plaza areas around 9th & Throckmorton would make ideal spots for some creative artisanal food carts or trucks, as the Federal and PS&C buildings have no capacity for their own ground-floor retail or restaurant spaces. I’d also like to see some tables & chairs set out in the hardscape plaza areas for people to sit and congregate (and these would work even better with active uses like food carts and ground-floor restaurants).
With some active use engagement, the new Hyde Park could become a very popular public space indeed. The design itself is excellent and an incredible improvement, and would lend itself well to such uses. It also drives home how sorely needed the long-overdue public plaza in Sundance Square is (that plaza would replace the two parking lots straddling Main Street between 3rd, 4th, Houston, and Commerce).
The new Hyde Park really is a big improvement – and it’ll be a home run with some active uses engaging its peripheries. Make sure and head downtown to check it out.