There?s an inviting new feature to Par-la-Ville Park which Mayor Lawson E. Mapp describes as a ?work of art? and hopes will draw more people into what has always been a shaded sanctuary for residents and visitors alike since the early 1900s.

The Mayor officially opened the new entrance to the park in a small ceremony late yesterday afternoon. The new features include the ornamental iron entrance and gates, brickwork which completes a small courtyard at the entrance to the park and a bronzed City crest.

The new features were completed in less than a year at a cost of about $75,000.

The Corporation of Hamilton?s Park Superintendent, Steven DeSilva said he was inspired by parks and gardens in Europe and the United Kingdom. Wanting to proceed with an improved park entrance, Mr. DeSilva worked with the Chairman of the Corporation?s Parks Committee, David Dunkley, to produce a design with the objective to improve what was seen as an inadequate entrance to a major city landmark.

This was accomplished by the demolition of the public rest rooms, which Mr. Dunkley described as an ?eyesore? and the creation of ?an aesthetically pleasing, and highly functional public space?.

Mr. Dunkley said the small square, or courtyard, will serve not only as an entrance to the park, but will also be used for small functions and events. ?I always envisaged the area would bring people together,? he said.

Former Polish resident Tomasz Wendowlowski and his son Jack, of Iron Dukes in Ontario, Canada, who specialise in ornamental iron work, made the actual gates and railings which were installed by Corporation staff in both Engineering and the Parks Departments once they arrived on the Island.

The brickwork at the entrance to the park was designed by Mr. DeSilva and installed by Paradise Construction while the new City crest that will adorn the gates was sculpted and cast by world-renowned English sculpturer, Donald Brown. Mr. Brown was on hand yesterday to unveil the new City crest which he said took about six months to create and was cast in bronze at a foundry in New York.

Mr. Lawson said he was committed to the continuing beautification of the City of Hamilton.

?Whether it be a new park like Jubilee park and the soon-to-be-completed Cedars Garden, or public gathering places with Dr. E.F Gordon Square, or simply improving on a park entrance, it all helps to keep our city green and an aesthetically-pleasing environment in which Bermuda residents and visitors can work, shop and be entertained,? he said.

The Corporation does intend to construct new public rest rooms inside the park in the foreseeable future.