Restoration

The Central Park Conservancy is constantly working to enhance, restore, and improve Central Park. Did you know that 85% of the funding needed to care for the Park comes from the generous donations of our supporters? Show your support by donating or becoming a member today, or continue reading to learn more about the Conservancy's most recent restoration projects.

Reconstruction of the Landscape West and North of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Project Timeline: February to June 2013

Project Details: This project consists of a comprehensive reconstruction of the landscape directly adjacent to the west and north sides of the MET. The work consists of rebuilding drainage and irrigation infrastructure and park paths; landscape restoration, including amending the soil, establishing lawn, and installing new plantings; and the installation of new site furnishings including lights, fences, benches, and drinking fountains.

Tots Playground

Project Timeline: January 2013 through Summer 2013

Project Details: This comprehensive reconstruction of Tots Playground aims to enhance the playground’s relationship with the Park and the adjacent Adventure Playground. In response to the small size of the space and current use patterns, it also aims to improve the play experience for the youngest playground users.

The work includes:

• Modifying the footprint of the playground from a rectilinear to a circular shape, to better blend with the surrounding landscape.
• Providing new play equipment and features including swings, a water feature, a sand area, and contoured landforms. The playground will be bound by a low seat wall; beyond a low fence will weave through plantings.
• Rebuilding storm drainage and water supply infrastructure.
• Supplementing existing planting surrounding the playground.
• Rebuilding surrounding Park paths to be accessible.

Site History: The playground known as Tots Playground was constructed in 1956, the last playground created during the administration of Robert Moses. It was a result of a highly publicized conflict between upper west side neighborhood parents and the administration of the Parks Department known as the "Battle of Central Park."

In 1956, Robert Moses planned to construct a new parking lot for Tavern on The Green to the north of the entrance drive at 67th Street, on a well-shaded, grassy area adjacent to one of the marginal playgrounds. The landscape slated for the parking lot was well-used by mothers and their children in the neighborhood, as a place to gather, picnic, and run around on the grass. Mothers described it as "an unofficial playground" and would often sit on the benches along the outside of the playground fence, from which they could keep an eye on children playing both inside the playground and in the landscape.

When the mothers discovered the plans, they quickly launched a protest to prevent the project from going forward. They contacted the press and local politicians and staged a protest at the site where a bulldozer had already mobilized. Despite a substantial amount of negative press, Moses pushed forward with the project and in a clandestine effort, directed the first round of construction to take place at night. The mothers awoke to find a portion of the landscape razed and numerous trees removed. They intensified their protest, hiring a lawyer who managed to convince a judge to put a temporary stop to the work, in part by arguing that the expansion of Tavern on the Green was a serious encroachment on the Park. After a few months of stalling, the Parks Department decided not to risk going to trial and the potential for additional negative publicity and cancelled the project. With the landscape already significantly altered, the Parks Department decided to offer what it considered a concession to those who had opposed the parking lot: they would create a new playground on the site.

The resulting playground was somewhat typical of other Moses-era playgrounds. It included standard play equipment such as swings, a slide, and a small jungle gym. It was about one-third of the size of the typical playground, however, and its rectilinear form—determined by the plans for the proposed parking lot—contrasted with the ovoid footprints of the typical perimeter playgrounds. To accommodate the playground, new paths were added and existing paths reconfigured, including the relocation of a section of the Bridle Path to the east.

The playground has been rebuilt twice. In 1968 it was rebuilt based on a design by Dattner who had redesigned the adjacent playground as "Adventure Playground" in 1966. It was intended as a complement to that playground, with smaller scale play features intended for younger children. In 1987, the Conservancy renovated the playground, installing new post-and-platform play equipment, a sandbox, safety surfacing, and drainage infrastructure. The swings from the existing playground were retained, along with the benches which lined the perimeter of the playground. The program of use was also maintained and the playground was designed for use by pre-school age children.

The East 110th Street Playground at the Harlem Meer

Project Timeline: Fall 2012 through Summer 2013

Project details: The project includes a complete reconstruction of the East 110th Street Playground and improvements to enhance and restore the surrounding landscape, aiming to better integrate playground with the Park. This represents the first full reconstruction of the playground since 1979.

The project will:

• Reconstruct the playground as a series of distinct play spaces connected by a winding boardwalk. Play spaces will include a new and expanded water feature, a large wooden climber and both strap swings and bucket swings.
• Incorporate an area without equipment inside the playground, for safe unstructured play.
• Add new plantings inside and surrounding the playground and a low discrete playground fence, to help better integrate the playground with the Park.
• Restore the landscape surrounding the playground, including rebuilding the path along the Meer, rebuilding infrastructure, restoring lawn areas and adding new plantings.
• Expand the shoreline across from the playground, adding boulders and plantings, and created stepped access to the water’s edge.

Site History: The site of the Harlem Meer was added to the Park in 1860, when the original boundary at 106th Street was extended to 110th Street. The low-lying swamp in the northeast corner of the expanded park site was drained to create the Meer, a naturalistic lake surrounded by a planted landscape on its north side and rocky bluffs on its south side. A boathouse was built in 1930, and the first playground on the site was constructed in 1936 as part of Robert Moses's original perimeter playground system. Over the rest of the 20th century, the area was increasingly urbanized: in the 1940s, the Parks Department built a larger boathouse, a concrete edge around the shoreline and a steel picket fence separating the paths, water and lawns. The playground, as well as the Meer, experienced a period of decline and neglect like the rest of the Park. The playground's reconstruction in 1979 was a small improvement in a blighted landscape until the Conservancy began a dramatic restoration of the Harlem Meer in the late 1980s, including the building of the Charles A. Dana Discovery Center in the early 1990s. In 1996, the Conservancy also partially renovated the playground but retained most elements of the 1979 construction.

COMPLETED: Rhododendron Mile

Project Timeline: spring 2012 through fall 2012

Project Details: The Rhododendron Mile restoration project aims to improve the landscape and minimize the urban character of the drive. Olmsted and Vaux originally saw this piece of land as one of the greatest challenges in the Park due to the straight line of the Drive, which conflicted with the design of the rest of the Park.

Project details include:

• Reconstruction of the pedestrian path with new porous asphalt paving, curbs, drainage infrastructure, pipe rail fence, and new site furnishings.
• Replacement of the granite block margin between the pedestrian path and the Drive with a planting bed containing evergreen ground cover and low shrubs.
• New canopy trees to reestablish the allée effect of the original sycamore maples.
• Installation of structural soil mix to enlarge the root zone of new tree and shrub plantings.
• Soil improvement with the addition of organic matter and fill to change the grade of the slope next to the Fifth Avenue wall, increasing the sense of separation from the urban grid.
• The recreation “Rhododendron Mile,” by planting different varieties of rhododendrons and azaleas in undulating drifts with deciduous and evergreen shrubs interspersed to provide backdrop and contrast.
• Plant new canopy trees closer to the Drive to fill gaps, provide shade, and restore the historic character of the landscape.
• Installation of additional irrigation infrastructure to serve areas between the bridle trail and the Drive, and between the Drive and the perimeter wall.

Site History: The thin stretch of Central Park between 86th and 96th Streets east of the Reservoir has concerned Park designers as early as Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. They worried that the mandated Reservoir might divide the Park in two and turn the eastern stretch into “a mere passage-way for connection”. The solution was a line of sycamore maple trees planted along the carriage drive, a parallel bridle path to the west, and the addition, in 1903, of an elevated pedestrian path with plenty of benches. In 1908, one of New York City’s most prominent philanthropists, Mrs. Russell Sage, offered a large gift of rhododendrons to the Park, allowing for the expansive planting that gave Rhododendron Mile its name. Samuel Parsons Jr., the landscape architect who supervised the project, described the white, pink, red, and purple blossoms as having “a billowing effect,” giving the area a pastoral effect. Since then, piecemeal alterations have favored automobile traffic flow over other improvements, turning the stretch into the hurried “mere passage-way” that Olmsted and Vaux feared. In the following decades, the Rhododendron Mile began to deteriorate like much of Central Park due to mismanagement. While improvements have been made, this area hasn’t been comprehensively reconstructed since the early 20th century and doesn’t resemble what it once was. 

COMPLETED: Bridge 24

Project Timeline: March 2012 through April 2012

Project Details: On June 9, 2010, a vehicle accidentally struck the crown of the bridge, causing the cast iron structure to shift out of alignment and compromise its structural integrity. Initial inspection following the incident revealed that the structural connections had been significantly impacted. Shoring was installed to stabilize the bridge and enable it to be used while a comprehensive repair and restoration was designed. In addition to repairing the structure, the restoration includes replacing the existing decking as well as ornamental elements that have been damaged or are missing, and painting the entirety of the ornamental cast iron.

Site History: Completed in 1866, Bridge 24 is one of twenty-eight original ornamental bridges in Central Park. These bridges were designed to contribute to the scenic quality of the landscape.

You can read more about Bridge 24 here.