- Central Park is the most famous city park in the world,
but did you know of its 843 acres, every single tree, shrub,
and flower was by design and not by nature?
I'm Michael Wyetzner.
I've been an architect in New York City for over 35 years,
and today, I'm gonna show you some of the hidden details
that make Central Park the greatest metropolitan park
in the world.
[soft uplifting music]
In the 1840s, the concept
for a large scale park in Manhattan was proposed
by poet William Cullen Bryant
and one of the fathers of American landscape architecture,
Andrew Jackson Downing.
Their dream would come to life in the 1850s
when the city of New York held a design competition
for the Central Park on the island of Manhattan.
Over 30 entries were submitted,
and the ultimate winner was the park as we know it today,
designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted
and architect Calvert Vaux.
Behind me is The Dairy.
This may not be one of the most famous buildings
in the park, but it has a tangible connection to one
of the initial requirements of the design competition,
and is part of what made Vaux
and Olmsted's design so ingenious
and distinct from the other submissions.
This building is in the center of the Children's District,
which was incorporated into the design
after the competition in order
to accommodate younger visitors to the park.
The Dairy was a place for children to have access
to fresh milk, which at the time,
in the late 1800s,
was not something everybody had.
And you can see it has a bit
of a brother's grim fairytale feeling to it.
But there's another part of this building that you can't see
that extends down two stories
to the ground just on the other side of that fence
where it meets one of the transverse roads
that allowed traffic to cut through the park.
A transverse road is basically just a road
that allows traffic to cross through the park,
which is important,
because the park covers 51 city blocks, north to south.
The original design competition required a minimum
of four transverse roads across the park.
Everybody else essentially left them on the surface,
which cut the park into basically five equal pieces.
Vaux and Olmsted's design was the only one
that designed them in such a way
that the traffic would be on a lower level than the rest
of the park, essentially submerging them
so that the immersion in nature
of park guests would not be disturbed.
[uplifting music]
This piece of iron sticking out
of this boulder is not an oversight.
In fact, it's a survey vault
that marks the original street grid of Manhattan.
The original commissioner's plan
of 1811 never included designs
for a large park in the middle of the city,
but the streets that were once here were removed,
and the land was incorporated into the park,
and it was really quite a transformation.
At the time this park was conceived,
the entire city wasn't as densely-populated as it is today,
but there were still settlements in the area
that would become the park, including Seneca Village,
one of the earliest free Black settlements in New York.
Everyone living on what would become park land was relocated
by eminent domain, the controversial government mechanism,
for seizing property where owners are compensated,
but must vacate, and Seneca Village,
tragically, was included in that.
But it wasn't just relocating homes that took place.
Vaux and Olmsted's design
called for a radical departure in the thinking
of what a grand civic garden should be.
They rejected the idea
of highly formal rigid gardens
like those designed exclusively for the wealthy.
Instead, they proposed a naturalistic setting,
filled with meadows, woodlands, gurgling streams,
and surprising vistas.
The resulting work involved shifting
over 5 million cubic yards of soil,
planting over 500,000 trees and shrubs,
and excavating more than seven lakes
and other bodies of water, all done by hand.
In fact, the boulders like this one,
which the bolt is sticking out
of are the only original pieces
of natural landscape in the park,
and even many of these were unearthed, scraped,
and cleaned to appear as they do today.
This is the last remaining survey bolt in Central Park,
and I don't wanna spoil the fun of finding it for you,
so I'll let you search the 843 acres for it.
[uplifting music]
Central Park is a big place
and it's easy to get turned around,
but if you do, here's a tip.
There are more than 1800 lampposts in the park
that tell you where you are
if you know where to look.
At the base of the lamppost,
you can find a set of numbers that indicate
where you are in the park, but it's a bit of a secret code.
The first two numbers represent the nearest cross street
between 59th Street and 110th,
and the last two numbers tell you
which side of the park you're on.
Even numbers mean east and odd numbers mean west.
[uplifting music]
Over my shoulder, you could see the Bethesda Terrace,
at the center of which is the beautiful Bethesda Fountain.
A grand fountain was also one of the original requirements
for the design competition,
and this one satisfies that requirement,
and commemorates the importance
of water in New York City.
Titled "Angel of the Waters,"
This sculpture was created by sculptor Emma Stebbins,
who was the first woman to receive a commission
for a major public work in New York City.
The statue commemorates the completion
of the Croton Aqueduct in 1842, which brought fresh water
to New York City, which was actually a really big deal,
because before that, cholera,
and yellow fever were a big issue because of unclean water.
And in fact, Bethesda Terrace takes its name
from the Gospel of St. John,
which refers to the healing waters
of Bethesda in Jerusalem.
Although now it is filled
with sculptures depicting historical figures
such as William Shakespeare,
Robert Burns, and Sir Walter Scott,
"Angel of the Waters"
was the only sculpture that was created
as part of the original design of the park.
And even though this statue was created by a woman,
all of the statues depicting real people
in the park were only
of men, until the statue of Sojourner Truth,
Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
was created in 2020.
These later statues line possibly
the most recognizable part of the park,
known as The Mall, which has been featured
in countless films and TV shows.
This is one of the most formal design elements of the park,
a grand promenade that leads directly to Bethesda Terrace,
which the designers called the heart of the park.
The city was reluctant to build the terrace at first due
to costs, but Vaux convinced them by saying nature first,
second, and third, architecture after a while.
And basically what that means is nature has been
the priority, but at some point we need some architecture,
and this became the place for it.
The design of the arcade is like the name of a church,
but submerged.
It has this incredible ceiling
with over 15,000 tiles made in England
by the Minton tile company who famously made tiles
for many cathedral floors in Europe.
This arcade is actually the only place in the world
where these tiles are used for ceiling.
Although it is highly ornate
and ingeniously designed, it also remains true
to the naturalistic vision of the park's overall design,
with carvings depicting natural scenes,
as well as symbols of the four seasons.
The act of walking down these steps, through the arcade,
and out to the terrace,
is one of the great architectural experiences
in New York City.
You walk down the Stately Mall,
step down into this dimly-lit underground space.
Basically, you're just walking under a roadway,
and suddenly you're in this church-like,
almost sacred space.
The rows of stone arches, the imported English tile ceiling,
the intricate trompe l'oeil panels,
it all creates an atmosphere of reverence.
And then when you emerge, it opens onto this grand terrace,
with a statue of an angel set against the backdrop
of the lake and the forest in the distance.
[uplifting music]
Over my shoulder is what's known simply as The Lake.
It's actually only four feet deep, but it covers 22 acres.
So in addition to The Lake, there's six other manmade bodies
of water in the park, including the Harlem Meer,
The Locke, The Reservoir, The Pond, and others.
And they were all intended
to have a calming effect, echoing the serenity
of natural bodies of water in the natural landscape.
But of course, none of this is naturally-occurring.
It was all designed and constructed.
Even the beautiful waterfalls
that you see in Central Park are fed by tap water.
You can actually drink them.
The idea to create naturalistic vistas throughout the park
was partly inspired
by the paintings of the Hudson River School.
These paintings were enormous in scale
and depicted awe-inspiring natural scenes.
Some of them are hanging in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
which of course is situated inside the park.
In fact, the original Met Building was designed
by Calvert Vaux, along with Jacob Wrey Mould.
The other notable feature about this lake is the bridge
that crosses it, the bow bridge.
It was originally designed
as a suspension bridge like the Brooklyn Bridge,
but they decided to go with an arched bridge
because they were concerned
that the towers would distract
from the naturalistic setting.
The whole bridge is cast iron with a span of 87 feet.
It's actually the second oldest
cast iron bridge in the United States.
There's over 36 bridges in the park.
Known as arches, most of them are both bridges
and tunnels, which is a very New York thing.
Each one is unique and ornate,
and has its own personality and character.
But even more importantly,
they're also very clearly visible examples
of the way the park is organized
for visitors to navigate it.
There's actually four vertical layers to the park,
the transverse roads, which are submerged below grade,
and three other circulation paths.
The drives, which were intended for horses
and carriages, the bridal paths for horseback riding,
and the footpaths for pedestrian traffic.
These arches, these bridges
and tunnels intertwine vertically
so that these different circulation paths
can cross each other
without creating traffic at the intersections.
The drives paths over the bridal
and footpaths allowing uninterrupted use
of each different circulation path.
It's also a really clever way
to separate these different types
of transit while maintaining a seemingly pastoral landscape.
And so it actually accommodates a lot
of traffic without it feeling like there's a lot of traffic.
Vaux and Olmsted intended the park to be enjoyed
by all the people of the city, working class and wealthy.
But at the time, an unfortunate byproduct
of these vertically layered circulation paths
was that they also separated the classes from one another,
because people of lesser means couldn't afford horses,
let alone carriages.
Thankfully, that is no longer the case,
and the paths are used interchangeably
by everybody from all walks of life.
[uplifting music]
So behind me, you can see Belvedere Castle.
Belvedere basically just means, "Beautiful view,"
in Italian.
It's built on Vista Rock,
one of the highest points in Central Park.
It was intended as a place to get broad sweeping views
of the park and the surrounding cityscape.
There are many places in the park where you can lose sight
of the buildings that surround you
and feel removed from the city.
But climbing the Tower of Belvedere Castle
brings modern Manhattan back into view
and reminds you that this natural landscape sits
within a great metropolitan city.
The other function of this high vantage point
is that Belvedere Castle serves as a weather station.
So every time you hear, you know the amount of rainfall
or snowfall in Central Park, they are referring
to that spot right behind me.
The castle is made outta Manhattan Schist,
which is the same stone found throughout the park
like the boulder that the survey bolt is driven into,
and it appears to actually grow out
of that rock and become a building.
Which really interesting about this building
is that it's built a three quarter scale,
which makes it appear further away than it actually is,
and gives it this sort of magical fairytale quality.
Originally, it was designed to be two castles,
but the budget was cut,
and Jacob Wrey Mould designed
that wooden pavilion in lieu of the second castle.
Some of the other things you can see from the castle
is The Great Lawn, the Delacorte Theater,
where they performed "Shakespeare in the Park,"
and Turtle Pond, which actually is home to turtles.
The Great Lawn was actually a reservoir when the park
was first built.
But in 1931, they filled it in
with rubble from the excavation for the foundations
of Rockefeller Center and the 8th Avenue subway.
And now this beautiful green expanse is the site
of many famous concerts
and home to a number of sports fields
and other community activities.
You can also see the ramble
from the Tower of Belvedere castle.
The Ramble is one of the parts of the park
that feels the most like it's always been here,
like it's completely natural and not manmade,
and that you could get lost on a walk in the woods.
And it's the perfect manifestation of the idea
that a soothing walk in nature could happen right
in the middle of New York City.
There's so many amazing things in Central Park
that we just didn't have time to cover.
If you'd like to see a part two on Central Park,
let us know in the comments below.