Central Park: Original Designs for New York's Greatest Treasure

by Cynthia S. Brenwall, Martin Filler (Foreword by)

Overview

Drawing on the unparalleled collection of original designs for Central Park in the New York City Municipal Archives, Cynthia S. Brenwall tells the story of the creation of New York’s great public park, from its conception to its completion. This treasure trove of material ranges from the original winning competition entry; to meticulously detailed maps; to plans and elevations of buildings, some built, some unbuilt; to elegant designs for all kinds of fixtures needed in a world of gaslight and horses; to intricate engineering drawings of infrastructure elements. Much of it has never been published before. A virtual time machine that takes the reader on a journey through the park as it was originally envisioned, The Central Park is both a magnificent art book and a message from the past about what brilliant urban planning can do for a great city.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419732324
Publisher:	ABRAMS
Publication date:	04/16/2019
Pages:	230
Sales rank:	549,757
Product dimensions:	9.90(w) x 11.80(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Cynthia S. Brenwall is a conservator at the New York City Municipal Archives, which preserves the historical records of the government of New York City. She lives in New York City. Martin Filler is a prominent American architecture critic. He lives in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

2019-10-31
A stunning collection of architectural drawings that detail the original vision of New York City's Central Park and offer a history of its evolution.

Central Park is more than just a "pastoral oasis" amid the din and clamor of urban life; it's also an iconic landmark that's been immortalized in popular literature and film. Debut author Brenwall, an art historian and conservator for the New York City Municipal Archives, expertly highlights the extraordinary cultural significance of the park, which, she writes, was first imagined by two "visionaries": landscape designer Andrew Jackson Downing and poet and newspaper editor William Cullen Bryant, the latter of whom argued in 1844 that the densely populated and commercial city needed an "extensive pleasure ground for shade and recreation." The formal plan for the park—a remarkably innovative design collaboratively created by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux in 1858—called for a bucolic alternative to the "confinement, bustle, and monotonous street-division of the city." The author rigorously conveys how this idea unfolded and changed as it became a politically bedraggled project that remained incomplete well into the 1930s; at one point, it was nearly abandoned for budgetary reasons, as it was considered an "unnecessary extravagance in a time of crisis." Brenwall had access to more than 1,500 archival architectural drawings and plans related to the park, and she beautifully reproduces many here as well as gorgeous black-and-white and color photos. Her thoroughness alone is impressive, as she highlights many design projects, including such famous park features as the Great Lawn and more quotidian ones, like its drainage system. The author relates the park's development as a grand drama, showing how its successful conclusion was hardly foregone and how it required extraordinary creative genius and civic commitment. Also, her book astutely illustrates the park's deeper significance—more than a "sylvan vision," it also represented the democratization of space and stands as our "finest civic architectural tribute to the foundational American principles of equality and opportunity for all," as architecture critic Martin Filler writes in a foreword. In addition, the book makes for a very handsome coffee-table tome.

A thrilling history of one of the world's most famous urban parks.

Kirkus Reviews