Moravian Preservation Master Plan.indb - Society for College and ...

Moravian College • Preservation Master Plan
Missing features:
• North arm of circular drive
• Stone landing at top of stairs
Views and Vistas
The dramatic view from Main Street, up the
sloping lawn to Comenius Hall, is one of the most
important features of this character area today (see
figure 5-75). The potential impact of this view is
somewhat inhibited by elements such as the large
shrubs that flank the central walk and ornament the
statue of Comenius, as well as street furnishings
such as benches and trash receptacles.
Figure 5-81. Stone landing at the top of the stairs across from the
front door of Comenius Hall (Moravian College Archives).
Contributing features:
• View of Comenius from Main Street
Vegetation
Figure 5-82. Axial view from the front of Colonial Hall to
Comenius Hall (JMA 2008).
Street (figure 5-82). There, the walk is framed by a
stone gateway (see Landscape Structures, below).
Other circulation features include concrete
sidewalks along Main Street and Locust Street, a
narrow concrete sidewalk that runs alongside the
south arm of the circular drive, a concrete access
ramp and sidewalk associated with the Chapel,
and a concrete sidewalk that leads from Locust to
the Old Quad (see figures 5-76 and 5-77).
Contributing features:
• Main Street
• Locust Street
• Elizabeth Avenue
• South arm of circular drive
• Central walkway
The Comenius Lawn character area possesses a
variety of significant vegetation, some dating to
the late nineteenth century. Of particular note are
the four large trees, extant, that were planted after
the construction of Comenius Hall and appear in
historic photographs that appear to date to shortly
after the construction of the Harvey Memorial
Library in 1907 (see figures 5-73 through 5-75, 5-77,
and 5-79). The two large purple beech and two large
oaks that frame the central pavilion of Comenius
Hall are of relatively slow-growing species and
appear to be the same trees depicted as saplings in
the historic photographs. These photographs also
suggest that a variety of trees were planted in the
lawn area at that time, including purple beech,
oak, cedar, maple, and an evergreen that may be
either fir or spruce. A similar variety of species
exists today, including purple beech, pine, maple,
dogwood, magnolia, oak, gingko, and cedar.
This mix of species that highlights differences
in color and texture is not unusual in public
landscape design from the late nineteenth and early
twentieth century. This romantic style of planting
design was made popular by the publications of
Andrew Jackson Downing, particularly A Treatise
on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening,
in which he promotes as appropriate for Gothic
style buildings the Picturesque landscape, with
its “bold projections, deep shadows, and irregular
outlines” (Downing 1850:75). Trees selected for
such a landscape “should in many places be old
and irregular, with rough stems and bark, and
pines, larches, and other trees of striking, irregular
John Milner Associates • October 2009 • Chapter 5 • Cultural Landscapes • 103