Today Michael Wyetzner of Michielli + Wyetzner Architects joins AD in New York for an in-depth walking tour of Central Park. Everything in Central Park got there by considered choice, not by nature, and the park as we know it today is the result of a design competition held in the 1850s. From hidden through-roads to its calming bodies of water, join Michael as he walks you through why Central Park is the best-designed city park in the world.
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00:00 (birds chirping)
00:02 Central Park is the most famous city park in the world.
00:08 But did you know, of its 843 acres,
00:11 every single tree, shrub, and flower
00:14 were placed by design and not by nature?
00:17 I'm Michael Weitzner.
00:19 I've been an architect in New York City for over 35 years.
00:22 And today, I'm gonna show you some of the hidden details
00:25 that make Central Park
00:27 the greatest metropolitan park in the world.
00:29 (upbeat music)
00:32 In the 1840s, the concept for a large-scale park
00:38 in Manhattan was proposed by poet William Cullen Bryant
00:41 and one of the fathers of American landscape architecture,
00:44 Andrew Jackson Downing.
00:45 Their dream would come to life in the 1850s,
00:48 when the city of New York held a design competition
00:50 for the Central Park on the island of Manhattan.
00:53 Over 30 entries were submitted,
00:55 and the ultimate winner was the park as we know it today,
00:58 designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted
01:01 and architect Calvert Vaux.
01:02 Behind me is the Derry.
01:07 This may not be one of the most famous buildings
01:09 in the park, but it has a tangible connection
01:11 to one of the initial requirements
01:13 of the design competition.
01:15 And it's part of what made Vaux and Olmsted's design
01:17 so ingenious and distinct from the other submissions.
01:20 This building is in the center of the Children's District,
01:23 which was incorporated into the design
01:25 after the competition in order to accommodate
01:27 younger visitors to the park.
01:29 The Derry was a place for children
01:30 to have access to fresh milk,
01:32 which at the time in the late 1800s
01:34 was not something everybody had.
01:36 And you can see it has a bit of a Brothers Grimm
01:38 fairy tale feeling to it.
01:40 But there's another part of this building
01:41 that you can't see, that extends down two stories
01:45 to the ground just on the other side of that fence,
01:47 where it meets one of the transverse roads
01:49 that allow traffic to cut through the park.
01:52 A transverse road is basically just a road
01:54 that allows traffic to cross through the park,
01:56 which is important because the park covers
01:58 51 city blocks, north to south.
02:01 The original design competition required a minimum
02:04 of four transverse roads across the park.
02:07 Everybody else essentially left them on the surface,
02:10 which cut the park into basically five equal pieces.
02:13 Vaux and Olmsted's design was the only one
02:15 that designed them in such a way
02:16 that the traffic would be on a lower level
02:18 than the rest of the park,
02:19 essentially submerging them so that the immersion
02:21 in nature of park guests would not be disturbed.
02:24 [upbeat music]
02:26 This piece of iron sticking out of this boulder
02:32 is not an oversight.
02:34 In fact, it's a survey bolt that marks
02:36 the original street grid of Manhattan.
02:38 The original commissioner's plan of 1811
02:40 never included designs for a large park
02:42 in the middle of the city.
02:43 But the streets that were once here were removed
02:46 and the land was incorporated into the park,
02:48 and it was really quite a transformation.
02:50 At the time this park was conceived,
02:52 the entire city wasn't as densely populated as it is today.
02:56 But there were still settlements in the area
02:57 that would become the park, including Seneca Village,
03:00 one of the earliest free black settlements in New York.
03:03 Everyone living on what would become park land
03:05 was relocated by eminent domain,
03:07 the controversial government mechanism
03:09 for seizing property where owners are compensated
03:12 but must vacate.
03:13 And Seneca Village, tragically, was included in that.
03:16 But it wasn't just relocating homes that took place.
03:19 Vaux and Olmsted's design called for a radical departure
03:22 in the thinking of what a grand civic garden should be.
03:25 They rejected the idea of highly formal, rigid gardens
03:28 like those designed exclusively for the wealthy.
03:30 Instead, they proposed a naturalistic setting
03:33 filled with meadows, woodlands, gurgling streams,
03:37 and surprising vistas.
03:39 The resulting work involved shifting
03:41 over five million cubic yards of soil,
03:44 planting over 500,000 trees and shrubs,
03:47 and excavating more than seven lakes
03:49 and other bodies of water, all done by hand.
03:52 In fact, the boulders like this one,
03:54 which the bolt is sticking out of,
03:56 are the only original pieces of natural landscape
03:58 in the park.
03:59 And even many of these were unearthed,
04:01 scraped, and cleaned to appear as they do today.
04:05 This is the last remaining survey bolt in Central Park,
04:08 and I don't wanna spoil the fun of finding it for you.
04:11 So I'll let you search the 843 acres for it.
04:14 [gentle music]
04:17 [birds chirping]
04:19 Central Park is a big place,
04:24 and it's easy to get turned around.
04:26 But if you do, here's a tip.
04:28 There are more than 1,800 lampposts in the park
04:30 that tell you where you are, if you know where to look.
04:33 At the base of the lamppost,
04:34 you can find a set of numbers
04:36 that indicate where you are in the park.
04:39 But it's a bit of a secret code.
04:40 The first two numbers represent the nearest cross street
04:43 between 59th Street and 110th.
04:45 And the last two numbers tell you
04:46 which side of the park you're on.
04:48 Even numbers mean east, and odd numbers mean west.
04:51 [gentle music]
04:53 Over my shoulder, you can see the Bethesda Terrace,
04:58 at the center of which is the beautiful Bethesda Fountain.
05:02 A grand fountain was also one of the original requirements
05:05 for the design competition.
05:06 And this one satisfies that requirement
05:08 and commemorates the importance of water in New York City.
05:11 Titled "Angel of the Waters,"
05:13 this sculpture was created by sculptor Emma Stebbins,
05:17 who was the first woman to receive a commission
05:19 for a major public work in New York City.
05:21 The statue commemorates the completion
05:24 of the Croton Aqueduct in 1842,
05:26 which brought fresh water to New York City,
05:28 which was actually a really big deal,
05:30 because before that, cholera and yellow fever
05:33 were a big issue because of unclean water.
05:36 And in fact, Bethesda Terrace takes its name
05:39 from the Gospel of Saint John,
05:41 which refers to the healing waters of Bethesda in Jerusalem.
05:44 Although now it is filled with sculptures
05:46 depicting historical figures, such as William Shakespeare,
05:49 Robert Burns, and Sir Walter Scott,
05:51 "Angel of the Waters" was the only sculpture
05:53 that was created as part of the original design of the park.
05:56 And even though this statue was created by a woman,
05:58 all of the statues depicting real people in the park
06:01 were only of men, until the statue of Sojourner Truth,
06:04 Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
06:07 was created in 2020.
06:08 These later statues line possibly
06:10 the most recognizable part of the park, known as the Mall,
06:14 which has been featured in countless films and TV shows.
06:17 This is one of the most formal design elements of the park,
06:20 a grand promenade that leads directly to Bethesda Terrace,
06:23 which the designers called the heart of the park.
06:27 The city was reluctant to build the terrace
06:29 at first due to costs,
06:31 but Vaux convinced them by saying nature first,
06:35 second, and third, architecture after a while.
06:39 And basically what that means is
06:40 nature has been the priority,
06:42 but at some point we need some architecture.
06:45 And this became the place for it.
06:47 The design of the arcade is like the nave of a church,
06:50 but submerged.
06:51 It has this incredible ceiling with over 15,000 tiles
06:55 made in England by the Minton Tile Company,
06:57 who famously made tiles
06:58 for many cathedral floors in Europe.
07:01 This arcade is actually the only place in the world
07:03 where these tiles are used for ceiling.
07:05 Although it is highly ornate and ingeniously designed,
07:09 it also remains true to the naturalistic vision
07:11 of the park's overall design,
07:13 with carvings depicting natural scenes
07:15 as well as symbols of the Four Seasons.
07:18 The act of walking down these steps
07:20 through the arcade and out to the terrace
07:23 is one of the great architectural experiences
07:26 in New York City.
07:27 You walk down the stately mall,
07:29 step down into this dimly lit underground space.
07:32 Basically you're just walking under a roadway,
07:34 and suddenly you're in this church-like,
07:36 almost sacred space.
07:38 The rows of stone arches,
07:39 the imported English tile ceiling,
07:41 the intricate trompe-l'oeil panels,
07:43 it all creates an atmosphere of reverence.
07:46 And then when you emerge,
07:47 it opens onto this grand terrace
07:50 with the statue of an angel set against the backdrop
07:53 of the lake and the forest in the distance.
07:56 Over my shoulder is what's known simply as the lake.
08:04 It's actually only four feet deep,
08:05 but it covers 22 acres.
08:08 So in addition to the lake,
08:09 there's six other man-made bodies of water in the park,
08:12 including the Harlem Mirror, the Loch,
08:15 the reservoir, the pond, and others.
08:17 And they were all intended to have a calming effect,
08:20 echoing the serenity of natural bodies of water
08:23 in the natural landscape.
08:24 But of course, none of this is naturally occurring.
08:26 It was all designed and constructed.
08:29 Even the beautiful waterfalls that you see in Central Park
08:32 are fed by tap water.
08:33 You can actually drink them.
08:35 The idea to create naturalistic vistas throughout the park
08:38 was partly inspired by the paintings
08:39 of the Hudson River School.
08:41 These paintings were enormous in scale
08:42 and depicted awe-inspiring natural scenes.
08:45 Some of them are hanging in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
08:48 which of course is situated inside the park.
08:50 In fact, the original Met building
08:52 was designed by Calvert Vaux along with Jacob Ray Mould.
08:55 The other notable feature about this lake
08:57 is the bridge that crosses it, the Bow Bridge.
09:00 It was originally designed as a suspension bridge,
09:03 like the Brooklyn Bridge.
09:04 But they decided to go with an arched bridge
09:06 because they were concerned that the towers would distract
09:08 from the naturalistic setting.
09:10 The whole bridge is cast iron with a span of 87 feet.
09:13 It's actually the second oldest cast iron
09:15 bridge in the United States.
09:17 There's over 36 bridges in the park.
09:19 Known as arches, most of them are both bridges and tunnels,
09:23 which is a very New York thing.
09:24 Each one is unique and ornate and has its own personality
09:28 and character.
09:29 But even more importantly, they're
09:31 also very clearly visible examples
09:33 of the way the park is organized for visitors to navigate it.
09:36 There's actually four vertical layers to the park--
09:40 the transverse roads, which are submerged below grade,
09:43 and three other circulation paths--
09:46 the drives, which were intended for horses and carriages,
09:49 the bridle paths for horseback riding,
09:52 and the footpaths for pedestrian traffic.
09:54 These arches, these bridges and tunnels,
09:57 intertwine vertically so that these different circulation
10:00 paths can cross each other without creating traffic
10:03 at the intersections.
10:04 The drives pass over the bridle and footpaths,
10:07 allowing uninterrupted use of each different circulation
10:10 path.
10:10 It's also a really clever way to separate
10:12 these different types of transit while maintaining a seemingly
10:15 pastoral landscape.
10:16 And so it actually accommodates a lot of traffic
10:18 without it feeling like there's a lot of traffic.
10:21 Vaux and Olmsted intended the park
10:22 to be enjoyed by all the people of the city, working class
10:26 and wealthy.
10:27 But at the time, an unfortunate byproduct
10:30 of these vertically layered circulation paths
10:32 was that they also separated the classes from one another,
10:36 because people of lesser means couldn't afford horses,
10:38 let alone carriages.
10:40 Thankfully, that is no longer the case.
10:41 And the paths are used interchangeably by everybody
10:44 from all walks of life.
10:45 [MUSIC PLAYING]
10:48 So behind me, you can see Belvedere Castle.
10:52 Belvedere basically just means "beautiful view" in Italian.
10:56 It's built on Vista Rock, one of the highest
10:57 points in Central Park.
10:59 It was intended as a place to get broad, sweeping views
11:01 of the park and the surrounding cityscape.
11:03 There are many places in the park where
11:05 you can lose sight of the buildings that surround you
11:07 and feel removed from the city.
11:09 But climbing the tower of Belvedere Castle
11:11 brings modern Manhattan back into view
11:13 and reminds you that this natural landscape sits
11:16 within a great metropolitan city.
11:17 The other function of this high vantage point
11:19 is that Belvedere Castle serves as a weather station.
11:22 So every time you hear the amount of rainfall or snowfall
11:26 in Central Park, they are referring to that spot
11:28 right behind me.
11:30 The castle is made out of Manhattan schist, which
11:32 is the same stone found throughout the park,
11:34 like the boulder that the survey bolt is driven into.
11:38 And it appears to actually grow out of that rock
11:40 and become a building.
11:41 What's really interesting about this building
11:43 is that it's built at 3/4 scale, which
11:44 makes it appear further away than it actually is
11:47 and gives it this sort of magical fairy tale quality.
11:51 Originally, it was designed to be two castles,
11:54 but the budget was cut.
11:55 And Jacob Ray Mould designed that wooden pavilion
11:59 in lieu of the second castle.
12:01 Some of the other things you can see from the castle
12:03 is the Great Lawn, the Delacorte Theater,
12:05 where they perform Shakespeare in the park,
12:07 and Turtle Pond, which actually is home to turtles.
12:11 The Great Lawn was actually a reservoir
12:12 when the park was first built. But in 1931,
12:15 they filled it in with rubble from the excavation
12:17 for the foundations of Rockefeller Center
12:19 and the 8th Avenue subway.
12:21 And now, this beautiful green expanse
12:23 is the site of many famous concerts
12:25 and home to a number of sports fields
12:27 and other community activities.
12:28 You can also see the Ramble from the Tower of Belvedere
12:31 Castle.
12:31 The Ramble is one of the parts of the park that
12:34 feels the most like it's always been here,
12:36 like it's completely natural and not man-made,
12:39 and that you could get lost on a walk in the woods.
12:42 And it's the perfect manifestation of the idea
12:45 that a soothing walk in nature could
12:46 happen right in the middle of New York City.
12:49 There's so many amazing things in Central Park
12:51 that we just didn't have time to cover.
12:53 If you'd like to see a part two on Central Park,
12:55 Let us know in the comments below.
12:57 (upbeat music)