Detail from "Proposed Long Range Development Plan, Allegheny
Commons” by Simonds & Simonds.

The firm of Simonds & Simonds, Landscape Architects put forward that plan to renew Allegheny Commons in 1966. Spearheaded by the firm’s principal John Ormsbee Simonds, the plan called for gardens; tree-shaded lawns; play areas; a band shell; an expanded conservatory and aviary; and a re-imagined, Modernist Lake Elizabeth called “a lake-fountain-lagoon complex.” The lake’s purpose was described as follows:

This dramatic and expansive water feature will provide another North Side magnet, attracting thousands of citizens and visitors each season. It will be surrounded with broad tree-lined walks, plantings and benches, and will feature overlooks, bridges, a small boathouse, and a small restaurant with outdoor dining tables fronting the lake. While the whole of the water area will be used for summer boating, a shallow area of the lake will provide ice skating in the winter.
- Landscape Architecture (July 1967)

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