Promenade

History

The term promenade, referring to an area of ground suitable for walking and riding, was generally applied to urban public spaces. It derived from the French promener (to walk), and was associated with walking as a leisure activity. As many observers noted, “barren” or primarily utilitarian spaces could be converted into promenades, often through the addition of such ornamentation as fences (to mark paths or walks) and trees, shrubs, and grass. Many places designated as promenades were also referred to by other terms that described either their accessibility to the public (such as public square or ground) or their association with entertainment (such as park or pleasure ground). Examples include the State House Yard in Philadelphia [Fig. 1], the Battery Park in New York [Fig. 2], Boston Common, and the national Mall in Washington, D.C., all of which were also called promenades (see Common, Mall, Park, Public garden, and Square).

“Promenade” notably did not refer to the entire space encompassed by an urban public space. Instead, it designated a prominent walk or avenue within its boundaries (see Avenue and Walk). Shade trees, passage of sufficient breadth, and a resilient surface made these walks suitable for promenading. This form of social exercise was connected intimately with the rituals of fashionable display and decorous interaction. Respectable women were frequent patrons of promenades because of social conventions limiting where they could take exercise and seek entertainment. Note, for example, Fanny Kemble’s desperate search in 1839 for a promenade at one of her husband’s plantations at Butler Island, Ga. This function required promenades to be not only suitably appointed but also sufficiently free of the exhibition of such vices as public drunkenness. In the case of New Orleans in 1801, it appears that drunkenness sabotaged efforts to convert public walks into promenades [Fig. 3]. This was the case along the levee and Place d’Armes (renamed Jackson Square).

Because promenades were associated with walking, the term was also applied to portions of buildings that provided ample space for walking, such as an arcade, gallery, piazza, porch, terrace, or veranda (see Arcade, Piazza, and Terrace). As covered

structures, the latter two were particularly well suited for patrons walking in inclement or hot weather. Outdoor promenades lined with shade trees offered a similar kind of buffer from the elements.

ALH