The Plan

 

A restored Fosdick Field as viewed from the corner of Best Street and Michigan Avenue

Take the Virtual Tour of a Restored Fosdick Field or see the gallery at the bottom of this page for many more images! 

There are many bridges to cross before final a design of the field is complete, but here are a few features that can be expected:

  • The full campus will be restored by removing Fosdick Street, which was created in 1977. This will unify the full campus once again and allow students to make their way to the field without the safety hazard of crossing a street.
  • The grand front staircase at the front entrance will lead down to the field - just as it did starting with the opening of the reconstructed of Masten Park High School in 1914.
  • A combination of 'pastoral and practical.' An all-weather field will be installed in the middle of the plot and would be available for use throughout the day for physical education classes and athletic contests for the Buffalo Public Schools. At the same time, the field will be surrounded by natural burms and streetscapes which will enhance the aesthetics of the western approach to our historic school building and neighborhood. This will allow spectators to be able to sit and enjoy sporting events. Students, neighbors or medical campus employees would be able enjoy a book or quiet lunch amidst some nature in the middle of the city.
  • The land the school stands on was the site of the first Frederick Law Olmsted 'pocket park' known as Masten Place. The campus currently retains at least three trees thought to be Olmsted plantings. The pathways and plantings of the restored Fosdick Field have been carefully designed by landscape architect Oscar Traynor to echo those of the original.
  • A tunnel under the west patio of the school, from the athletic locker rooms in the new annex to the field, allowing students to enter the field without having to make their way up and down two flights of stairs. This tunnel will also provide storage for the field eliminating the need for any sort of an out building that would intrude on the setting or views of the school building which is on the National Register of Historic Places.