Morningside Park will be City’s tenth scenic landmark. On July 15, 2008, Landmarks voted to designate Morningside Park a scenic landmark, the first since 1983. Designed by Central Park architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the park consists primarily of a stone cliff between 110th and 123rd Streets, separating the neighborhoods of Morningside Heights and Harlem. Built between 1867 and 1895, the 30-acre park also features curvilinear walks, a buttressed stone retaining wall, a pond, and a waterfall. At an April 10, 2007 hearing, Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe expressed strong support for designation. 4 CityLand60 (May 15, 2007).

Morningside Park has undergone some substantial alterations in its history, including a playground installation by Robert Moses in the 1940s. In the 1960s, Columbia University planned to build a gymnasium in the park, a plan that was ultimately quashed by student and community protests. Neglected throughout much of the 20th century, the Parks Department undertook a large restoration project in 1989. (read more…)

Work will make Firefighter Memorial accessible via paved curvilinear pathways. Landmarks issued a binding report approving the design for new pathways at Riverside Park, a scenic landmark built in 1873-1875, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, and located between West 99th Street and West 101st Street in Manhattan.

In the Landmarks application, the Parks Department proposed to connect the Fireman’s Memorial Monument, at West 100th Street on the Hudson River, to existing paths located at West 99th Street and West 101st Street by installing six-foot wide curvilinear pathways with asphalt pavement, granite block edging and drainage channels. The plan will also replace damaged plants and asphalt pavement on adjoining pathways.

In approving the work, Landmarks found that the pathways were simple in design and harmonious with Olmsted’s original design. Landmarks also said that the proposed pathways will provide barrier-free access to the Fireman’s Memorial Monument and repair degrading and drainage problems. Finally, Landmarks determined that the proposed work would not detract from the significant architectural and historic character of the park. (read more…)