Origins of The Park
On a 1947 trip to the Detroit children's zoo in Belle Isle Park, Oakland nurseryman Arthur Navlet saw a collection of small nursery rhyme themed buildings, and wanted to create something similar in Oakland's Lake Merritt Park. His hope, though, was to create much larger sets that children could climb in and interact with. After getting the backing of the Lake Merritt Breakfast Club, a civic organization devoted to improving the park, he took his ideas to William Penn Mott, Jr., then director of Oakland's parks department. Mott and the Breakfast Club were able to raise $50,000 from Oakland citizens among the sponsors: Earl Warren, Clifford E. Rishell, Joseph R. Knowland and Thomas E. Caldecott to create the park.
Navlet hired fantasy architect William Russell Everritt to design the original 17 sets. Everritt originally presented models which followed a standard fantasy architecture: straight-sided, "precious" buildings in gingerbread and candy. When told his models were too staid, he delightedly destroyed them and came back with buildings with no straight sides and outre colors and textures. It was exactly what Navlet was looking for.
Read more about this topic: Children's Fairyland
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