Just Off Fifth: The Untermyer Fountain
A cast of German artist Walter Schott’s “Three Dancing Maidens,” the Untermyer Fountain is named after Samuel Untermeyer, a prominent lawyer and civic leader. Donated to Central Park in 1947 by Untermyer’s heirs, the work is typical of the Art Nouveau period in continental Europe. The fountain once stood in a 48-acre formal garden that… Continue reading
Conservatory Gardens, Central Park
The only formal gardens in Central Park, the Conservatory Gardens were created in 1934-1937 after the park’s former greenhouse was removed. Covering some six acres, the garden was designed by Gilmore D. Clarke, landscape architect to Robert Moses, then Parks Commissioner. Plantings were laid out to plans by M. Betty White and the construction of… Continue reading
The Vanderbilt Gate, Conservatory Gardens
Central Park’s only formal gardens are reached through the spectacular wrought iron Vanderbilt Gate, which was originally located many blocks south near Fifth Avenue and West 58th Street, where it served as the entrance gates to the colossal Cornelius Vanderbilt Mansion. The gates, like the mansion, were designed by George B. Post in a dramatic… Continue reading
1230 Fifth Avenue, El Museo del Barrio
Housed in a neo-classical building that shares space with offices and a school, El Museo del Barrio (“The Museum of the Neighborhood”, often shortened to “El Museo”) was founded in 1969 and moved to its current location at 1230 Fifth Avenue in 1977. A significant collection of pre-Columbian and traditional Native and Latin American art… Continue reading
1220-1227 Fifth Avenue, the Museum of the City of New York
A graceful Georgian Revival design by Joseph H. Freedlander, the Museum of the City of New York was founded in 1923 by the Scottish-born American historian Henry Collins Brown to preserve the city’s (even then) fast-disappearing history. Along with The New-York Historical Society, located on Central Park West and founded in 1799, the Museum of… Continue reading