English: Princes Park Lake Princes Park was the idea of Richard Vaughan Yates and the first public park to be designed by Joseph Paxton. The park was a private venture financed by the sale of building plots for the grand villas around the park's periphery. The serpentine lake was formed by damming Dickinson’s Dingle, its contours giving the impression of a long, winding river and many of the villas overlooked this tranquil scene. It was also the site of the ornamental Swiss boathouse, rockeries and the Chinese bridge which are all long gone, the ruins of the boathouse can be seen behind the fisherman. The park opened in 1842 but was not finished until 1845, public access was limited to certain areas until the last century.