Heritage Park

Houston & Bluff Streets - 1976

Designed by Landscape Architect Lawrence Halprin, this park sits on the natural bluff of the Trinity River.  It features a series of terraced walkways that are accompanied by a stream of water.  The water starts at the high point of the site flowing over two walls of water.  The wall on the south side of the park is a sheer concrete wall with the water flowing over an inscription on the inside of the park.  The wall on the west side has the water flowing over a diagram of the layout of the original fort, which occupied the land just to the west of the park on top of the bluff.  From the water walls, there are a series of troughs where water flows along side the walkways.  As the walkways traverse down the hillside, the water follows them.  Sometimes the water is at the pedestrians feet, while others the water flows at eye level.  The lowest part of the park, near the Paddock Viaduct (Main Street Bridge), has the water flowing in two large waterfalls over the concrete.  When the walkways reach the steepest part of the Trinity Bluff, there is an overlook, cantilevered and perched over the bluff itself.  The overlook offers an excellent view of the convergence of the Clear and West Forks of the Trinity River, the Paddock Viaduct, and the historic power plat situated across the river.  The Paddock Viaduct (NR, RTHL) allows North Main Street to cross over the Trinity and was an engineering feat when it was completed in 1914.  It was the first reinforced concrete arch bridge completed in the United States.