Five years ago, New York City officials learned that a slightly moldy trove of 128 construction plans for local parks was slated for sale through Christie’s. The city requested that the sale be called off, and since then those 19th-century drawings have been repaired and returned to the government. The city is now planning to put them on display.

The retrieved drawings, which measure up to four feet long, were mostly produced between the 1850s and 1890s and represent park designs by stars like Frederick Law Olmsted, Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mould.

The pages, a few of which are stamped “Take Care of This Drawing and Return to Department of Public Parks,” give instructions for artisans who were creating infrastructure and features like lampposts, tiled archways, music pavilions, animal enclosures, refreshment stands and fountains. The images also depict planned attractions that were never realized, including a Paleozoic Museum in Central Park.