New York is a city that always surprises. Its history is a recent history but one made up of layers, of man’s radical interventions in nature and the land, and sometimes the very area we think we know well is the one that holds the most striking surprises.
La breve storia di Central Park
Not everyone knows that Central Park, seemingly an unspoiled corner of nature in the heart of New York City, is actually man-made, and that every single square meter of its 341 hectares has been carefully planned and built.
But let’s take a step back in time: in the 1811 master plan that guided the development of New York City, Central Park was not even mentioned. But soon exponential population growth made it necessary to revise things. In fact, between 1840 and 1850, the population of New York City doubled from 327,000 to nearly 600,000. Most New Yorkers still lived at the southern tip of Manhattan, but urban planners predicted that the expanding metropolis would soon occupy the entire island. If New York wanted to be a world-class modern city on par with Paris and London, it needed a green space open to all, similar to the Tuileries Gardens or Hyde Park, where residents could find refuge from the noise and pollution of city life.
Poor New Yorkers who lived in the Tenements, the tenement buildings of the time, in terrible conditions, worked six days a week and certainly did not go on their day off to either the Hamptons or the Catskills. The idea was that Central Park was supposed to be the way to enjoy nature without leaving the city.
In 1853, it was decided to allocate 775 acres, about 314 acres, mostly still undeveloped, within the Manhattan grid-between Fifth and Eighth Avenues, from 59th to 106th Streets-to create what would become Central Park.
The chosen area was not beautiful, hilly and verdant as it is today; on the contrary, it was rocky, rugged and uneven, full of swamps, rocky outcrops, wild groves and hilly terrain.
This was an area geologically shaped by the passage of glaciers during the last ice age, which explains the presence of metamorphic rocks, the local stone called Manhattan Scist, still visible today in many parts of the park. The soil was poorly fertile and difficult to cultivate, which is why it was not particularly coveted by the wealthy landowners of the time.
The transformation of what was considered uncultivated and impervious land into one of the world’s most visited and beloved parks represented one of the largest public works projects in 19th-century America. Between 1857 and 1866, more than 20,000 workers, armed with picks, wagons and gunpowder, removed and reshaped nearly 7 million cubic feet of rock and soil, the equivalent of about 200,000 cubic yards, shaping Central Park and transforming it into the green oasis and masterpiece of public art we know today.
Il progetto di Central Park come manifesto di democrazia urbana
The original design of Central Park, known as the Greensward Plan, was created in 1857 by landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. Initially, the plan extended from 59th but to 106th Street and did not include an extension to 110th Street, which was not added until later in 1863, bringing the northern boundary of the park to what we know today.
Underlying the Central Park Project was the idea of democratic nature as medicine for the city and its citizens. Olmsted and Vaux believed that nature had a restorative power over body and mind and that the citizens of an expanding metropolis like New York City needed a green refuge to escape from the hustle and bustle, smog, and social tensions. The park was conceived as an urban antidote, accessible to all: rich and poor, natives and immigrants. A park without gates blocking entry, as in the mansions of affluent New Yorkers.
Mappa dalla tavola di presentazione Greensward n. 2, 1858. Collezione di disegni del Dipartimento dei Parchi e delle Attività Ricreative | via Archivi Municipali di New York.
The idea was to recreate a picturesque, almost romantic landscape, as in English paintings and European gardens of the 1700s. Everything is constructed with scenic care, like a play in which the visitor is the protagonist. A living work of art, designed to educate taste, elevate the spirit, and unite people, in a space where nature was accessible, curated, and scenic, but never elitist.
Unlike other public spaces of the time, Central Park was thus designed to provide spaces for everyone: walking, carriage, picnicking, sports, art, contemplation. The design included separate paths for pedestrians, horses and carriages to avoid conflict and facilitate coexistence. It was a revolutionary idea for the 19th century: to create a place where social classes could meet in harmony, surrounded by beauty and greenery.
“A great urban park must offer an experience of freedom, beauty and equality” – Olmsted
I lampioni di Central Park ed il loro piccolo segreto
The design of Central Park follows the romantic idea that the New Yorker, upon entering the park, should get deeply in touch with nature, and that in order to do so, he should almost lose himself in nature itself. And the park in fact is made for getting lost: the constant changes of direction of its avenues, the paths going up and down, the sudden clearings, in some parts of the park really felt like getting lost. Let’s also consider that the height of the buildings at the time was contained and that the park is often at a lower level than the street, so once you entered the park, what you could often see were only the tops of the trees.
Now, with residential towers to the south of the park and luxury condominiums on either side of it, it certainly is easy to get your bearings.
A unique way to figure out fairly accurately where you are is to refer to the lampposts. Each cast-iron lamppost in the park has a four-digit number engraved on the base. This code is used to accurately identify the location of the lamppost.
The first two digits indicate the nearest cross street to the lamppost, and the last two digits provide more specific information about the proximity of the lamppost to the east or west side of the park. Even numbers, e.g. 02, 04, 06, indicate that the lamppost is located on the east side of the park, toward 5th Avenue. While odd numbers, e.g. 03, 05, 07, indicate the west side, toward Central Park West. Lower numbers indicate a location closer to the edge of the park, while higher numbers indicate a location closer to the center of the park.
It sounds like a complicated system, just as Manhattan’s grid seems complicated the first time you visit the city, but once you become familiar with the system, you realize that it is simple to use.
For example, if on the lamppost it says “9703,” the number 97 indicates that we are close to 97th street, the number 03 being odd that we are in the west side of the park, and being a low number means that we are quite close to the edge of the park. On the other hand, if the lamppost says “9746,” the number 97 indicates that we are close to 97th street, the number 46 being even that we are in the east side of the park, and being a high number means that we are closer to the center of the park.
This system was originally designed to help park staff locate and maintain streetlights, but today it can be a useful orientation tool for visitors and certainly a curiosity that few people know about.
Bethesda Terrace punto d’incontro tra natura, architettura e vita pubblica
Olmsted and Vaux envisioned Central Park not only as a place of natural beauty, but also as a democratic space accessible to all citizens, and the Bethesda Terrace was to represent just that spirit, the symbolic and visual center of Central Park.
The terrace is located at the intersection of the Mall, the long tree-lined promenade to the south, and the Lake, The Lake, to the north. This central layout, this north-south axis, interrupted by the large Bethesda Fountain, creates a dramatic composition that guides the visitor to the heart of the park.
The terrace is on two levels and connects the Mall’s open space with the quieter shores of the lake. The designers incorporated elements of classical architecture, sandstone arches, carved columns, and a monumental staircase descending to the fountain. Ornaments were designed by Jacob Wrey Mould, and every detail has symbolism related to nature and the seasons.
Olmsted and Vaux carefully took care of the visibility and perspectives: from the terrace you could see the lake, the boats, the bridges, the hills. It was a scenic and symbolic center, a place designed for contemplation but also for sociability. Bethesda Terrace was the point where the various souls of the park met: the formal soul of the Mall, the romantic soul of the lake, and the natural soul of the surrounding woods. In this sense, it was not only physically central but also conceptually central to the original design.
L’angelo delle Acque e la prima donna a ricevere un incarico pubblico
The Bethesda Fountain was added in 1873 and is topped by the Angel of the Waters, sculpted by Emma Stebbins, the first woman to receive a public commission in New York for a major work of art.
The statue depicts a winged female angel and below her four cherubs representing temperance, purity, health and peace. The angel holds a lily, a symbol of purity, in one hand and blesses the water below with the other. Her figure symbolizes healing, inspired by the Gospel of John and the construction of the Croton Aqueduct, which not only fed the fountain but also provided drinking water to a city long affected by infectious diseases caused by an unsafe water supply.
In pop culture, the fountain has appeared in many movies and TV shows including Mama Missed the Plane, Gossip Girl, Avengers, and Manifest.
Strawberry Fields e la connessione con l’Italia
In the area between 72nd Street and Central Park West, just across the street from the Dakota Building where John Lennon lived and where he was murdered on Dec. 8, 1980, is Strawberry Fields, a small, teardrop-shaped garden designed by landscape architect Bruce Kelly and opened on Oct. 9, 1985, Lennon’s 45th birthday. The name Strawberry Fields comes from the Beatles’ song Strawberry Fields Forever, inspired by an orphanage in Liverpool.
The heart of this space is the famous Imagine Mosaic, New York’s only tribute dedicated to the memory of John Lennon, surrounded by American elms and benches. The mosaic is an official gift of the City of Naples to the City of New York, and was made entirely in Italy by Studio Cassio, a historic Neapolitan workshop founded over a century ago by Lorenzo Cassio, who later became director of the Vatican Mosaic Studio.
Brothers Fabrizio and Antonio Cassio, heirs to the tradition, are globally recognized masters for their restoration work on sites of the highest historical value such as Pompeii, St. Peter’s Basilica, the Baths of Caracalla, and the Roman National Museum.
After World War II, the Studio started a new artistic line called Civil Art, with the aim of making mosaic accessible to the general public, and the Imagine mosaic is certainly one of the greatest symbols of this artistic movement.
The mosaic design is inspired by a Pompeian mosaic preserved in Room No. 58 of the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, reproducing classical motifs in black and white. The MANN’s collection of mosaics, mainly from Pompeii, Herculaneum, and other archaeological sites in Campania, represents outstanding examples of Roman mosaic art, documenting the taste and excellence achieved in this art, showing the techniques and subjects most widely used in a period from the 2nd century B.C. to the 1st century A.D. With few exceptions, mosaics were used to decorate floors, often with large and complex figurative scenes.
Central Park’s circular, black-and-white Imagine mosaic, created by master artist Antonio Cassio and his team, is a modern reinterpretation of one of these ancient Pompeian mosaics and is decorated with a single word: Imagine, the title of John Lennon’s iconic song that has become a universal hymn to peace.
Not far from the mosaic, on a rock in Manhattan Scist, is a bronze plaque listing 121 countries that contributed to the creation of the Garden, officially recognizing Strawberry Fields as a Peace Garden. Each of these countries contributed donations and flower plantings, but it appears that architect Bruce Kelly suggested to Yoko Ono that she choose only one of the gifts, knowing that installing them all would be an impossible feat. The widow chose the gift from Italy, creating yet another link between our country and New York, yet another story to be revealed and told.
Seneca Village e la comunità afroamericana libera di Manhattan
During the 18th century, the impervious part where it was decided to create Central Park was home to only a few isolated farms, market gardens, and a few rudimentary homesteads, inhabited by German, Irish, and free African American immigrants. There was no coherent road system, and the area was considered peripheral and inhospitable to the city’s rapidly growing center.
Nature was predominant: streams, natural ponds and marshy lands were inhabited by wildlife, while some forested areas provided wood and shelter for animals. Living conditions were harsh, but offered some autonomy and isolation for those seeking a life away from the urban hustle and bustle.
It was not until the early 19th century that we began to see more organized human presence, culminating in the emergence of communities such as Seneca Village, which between 1825 and 1857 became one of the most significant free African American communities in Manhattan.
In 1825, a young black shoemaker, Andrew Williams, paid about $120 for a plot of land between West 82nd and West 89th Street. The area became a refuge for black New Yorkers seeking to escape racial discrimination and unhealthy living conditions in Lower Manhattan.
In 1855, Seneca Village was home to about 225 people, two-thirds of whom were black. The village consisted of wooden houses, three churches, a school for black children and a small cemetery.
Many of the residents of Seneca Village owned their homes, a right that also guaranteed them the ability to vote. The government acquired that land through the power of forced eminent domain, and by 1857, Seneca Village residents were forced out of their homes. The village was demolished between 1857 and 1858 to make way for Central Park, and for decades it was forgotten. Today there are several memorial elements in the park commemorating Seneca Village to honor its memory after decades of oblivion. From 2001 onward, Central Park Conservancy, archaeologists and historians have worked to bring its history to light.
The information panels, located between 85th and 89th streets on the west side of the park near Central Park West, tell stories about daily life, families, churches, schools, and the general context of the African American and Irish community, while also displaying historical maps and period photographs.
Plaques and plaques at ground level can be seen in the ground indicating the spots where some of the houses were located, where the three churches (AME Zion Church, All Angels’ Church) and the school for African American children stood.
Non-invasive excavations were conducted between 2004 and 2011 to find material remains from Seneca Village. Findings included shoes, kitchen utensils, dishes, buttons, books, and glassware. These items provided a better understanding of the community’s lifestyle and level of affluence, which far exceeded what had been imagined.Top of FormBottom of Form
La parte a Nord: la zona più inesplorata e selvaggia
The final extension in 1963, given by the addition of the areas between 106th and 110th, was motivated by the enormous success of the park and the desire to symmetrically complete the landscape design even though the area has somewhat different characteristics from the rest of the park, such as more rock outcrops and wooded areas.
The northern part of the park then, between 85th and 110th streets, which now partly occupies the area where Seneca Village once stood in addition to the 1863 extension, in fact resembles a miniature national park more than a corner of Manhattan.
The North Woods is one of the wildest and most natural areas in the entire park. Here Olmsted and Vaux wanted to recreate the feel of a New England forest, using old-growth trees, rock outcroppings, streams, stone bridges, and winding paths up and down between hills.
This area of the park is also one of the richest in terms of biodiversity: in particular, the trails there are in the area of the Loch, the stream that flows between man-made waterfalls, are popular with birdwatchers. Over 200 species of migratory birds can be seen here at certain times of the year. Some of the best spots include the area around the Blockhouse, an 1814 military structure, the banks of the Harlem Meer, and the stone bridges that cross the Loch.
The Harlem Meer, is a nature-inspired man-made lake, a body of water located in the northeast corner of the park near 110th Street and 5th Avenue. Created between 1861 and 1863, it was inspired by a pre-existing natural pond in the area and is surrounded by weeping willows and wooden walkways, making it a perfect spot for relaxation and reflection.
The atmosphere is very different from the central and southern parts of the park: tranquility and connection with nature reign here, making it an ideal place for those seeking silence, meditation or solitary walks.
Un enorme parco ma non il più grande
Although Central Park is one of the most iconic parks in the world and certainly the most famous park in New York City, however, it is not the largest park.
The title of largest park in New York City goes to Pelham Bay Park, located in the Bronx, which covers more than 1,120 hectares, nearly three times the size of Central Park. This vast green space includes Orchard Beach, wooded areas, trails and natural areas.
Uno scorcio del Pelham Bay Park | via Harriet Tubman Charter School
In second place with 937 hectares we have the Greenbelt, considered the green heart of Staten Island and consisting mainly of a vast forested aera with trails, lakes and nature reserves.
Van Cortland Park, in the Bronx, the third largest, has an area of 464 hectares, and contains sports fields, a swimming pool, a golf course and one of the city’s oldest forests.
In fourth place at 363 hectares we have Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, whose name will probably be familiar to tennis lovers. Within the park is the famous Unisphere, the Queens Museum and the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, where the U.S. Open is held.
And finally in fifth place we find Central Park, at 341 hectares, the largest park in Manhattan, the most famous park in New York City and one of the most visited parks in the world, with more than 42 million people a year.
La New York da scoprire è sotto i nostri occhi
Beyond the glow of Times Square and the frenetic pace of Manhattan, New York City offers hidden treasures to those who know how to look. Even seemingly well-known places such as Central Park hold surprising stories, hidden corners and details that escape those who merely pass by. Just slow down, observe, and let your curiosity guide you: that is when the city reveals its most authentic side and becomes a personal experience, to be treasured in your heart and cherished forever.
The article New York to discover: Central Park comes from TheNewyorker.
