Living Landmarks Exhibition to Celebrate NYC Parks in Honor of 50th Anniversary of Landmarks Law

NYC Parks presents Living Landmarks, a new exhibit at the Arsenal Gallery in Central Park. The exhibit will be on view weekdays from June 25 through August 28. Organized by NYC Parks Director of Art and Antiquities Jonathan Kuhn and Public Art Coordinator Jennifer Lantzas, the show is mounted on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the NYC Landmarks Law, enacted by Mayor Robert F. Wagner in 1965 with the intention of safeguarding those buildings and places that best represent New York City's cultural, social, economic, political, and architectural history. The law was spurred by the loss of several edifices of great significance, notably Penn Station in 1963, galvanizing the growing preservation movement.

Good-government and park advocates later formed a "Green Ribbon Panel" and "Citizens for a Sensible Landmarks Law," persuading the City to amend the law in 1973 to include scenic landmarks and building interiors. Today there are more than 33,000 landmarked properties, most falling within 114 historic districts. Of the nearly 1,400 individual landmarks, 117 interiors are designated, and - though there are many parks in New York of great distinction, beauty and historical value - a mere nine scenic landmarked parks and one tree.

"NYC Parks has a rich and storied history, and thanks to our dedicated Art and Antiquities team, we can share it with New Yorkers through the wonderful exhibit Living Landmarks," said NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver. "Over the next few months, the Arsenal gallery will serve as a fascinating blast from the past and offer an inside look at some of Parks' most notable landmarks and how they have evolved through the years."

The Living Landmarks display exhibits more than 60 never before exhibited vintage images from the NYC Parks Photo Archive, contemporary photos, historic renderings, maps and plans, vintage postcards, artifacts and memorabilia from private and public collections, which illustrate the birth and evolution of the City's nine scenic landmarks: Bryant, Central Fort Tryon, Morningside, Prospect, and Riverside Parks, Eastern and Ocean Parkways, and Verdi Square. A bronze model for a never realized Riverside Park playground by Isamu Noguchi and Louis Kahn, Olmsted and Vaux's 1887 Plan for Morningside Park, and Egbert Viele's 1856 Plan for Central Park are among the unique and fascinating items on loan from the Noguchi Museum, the NYC Municipal Archives, and NYC Parks Map File and others.

This exhibition is an introduction to these parks - Bryant, Central, Fort Tryon, Morningside, Prospect, Riverside, Eastern and Ocean Parkways, and Verdi Square (the odd man out) - living entities defined by (artfully manipulated) geology and vegetation and the people who use them rather than by bricks and mortar. Representing the highest standards of consciously designed landscape architecture, they retain their essential distinguishing contours, but have adapted to changing times and social dynamics.

What do these parks have in common? The famed landscape architecture duo, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, had a hand in six of them, and a seventh was designed by the firm of Olmsted Sons. All but one represent innovative and influential designs, with Central and Prospect Parks considered works of art of the highest order. Eight were designated landmarks between 1974 and 1983, and only one more recently - Morningside in 2008. They all have a dedicated neighborhood constituency, but serve a broader, regional purpose.

The parks take optimal advantage of their topography and location, ensuring a rich and varied visitor experience of expansive views and contemplative enclaves, and creating outlets for more active recreation. Bryant Park, once virtually abandoned now serves as a bustling town square. Eastern and Ocean Parkways helped pioneer the melding of transportation with landscape, while Fort Tryon makes the most of its remarkable position with protected vistas of the countryside beyond the city.

All are thriving after bottoming out in the 1970s from abuse, diminished park budgets and a lack of care. Long and fruitful revivals began in the 1980s as the City and concerned citizens sought more effective forms of park management. At Bryant Park a management corporation beefed up security, improved access, and created intensive programming. Morningside Park has benefitted from a more grassroots effort coupled with City investment. The city sanctioned conservancies to provide dedicated attention and encourage philanthropy. Pilot projects such as sodding Central Park's Sheep Meadow, replanting Fort Tryon's Heather Garden, and restoring Prospect Park's Carousel helped reverse decades of neglect, and renewed the social compact between government and the people it serves.

These parks have demonstrated time and again the foresight of their design, carefully conceived, yet malleable and responsive to changing times (Wi-Fi anyone?). They have absorbed modifications and adapted while retaining their original aesthetic and purpose. They serve the broadest possible public in the most densely populated city in the nation, and for this we cherish our living landmarks.

The show explores what makes these parks so special, and while they were awarded rare landmark status. Virtually all underwent a historical arc of decline, but often thanks to philanthropic support, renewal was possible. The exhibit demonstrates how their designs, while preserving their original aesthetic and purpose, have adapted to changing times and contemporary users, and how they enrich the life of the city.