Central Park

The Daily Plant : Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Parks and Central Park Conservancy Cut the Ribbon on Restored Ancient Playground

Photo by Malcolm Pinckney

On September 14, Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe joined Central Park Conservancy President Doug Blonsky, City Council Member Daniel Garodnick, former City Council Member Eva Moskowitz, and Central Park Conservancy donors to cut the ribbon on improvements to Ancient Playground and the reinstallation of the William Church Osborn Memorial Gates, sculpted by Paul Manship.

“Built on the site of one Central Park’s original playgrounds, the renovated Ancient Playground is now better than ever, thanks to the efforts of the Central Park Conservancy,” said Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe. “The restoration of the playground and the reinstallation of Paul Manship’s William Church Osborn Memorial Gates, back in public view after two generations, is thanks to generous support from Conservancy donors as well as an allocation of City capital funds from former City Council Member Eva Moskowitz. With new ADA accessible play features and a public restroom, this historic playground is now ready to support a new generation of park users.”

“The Central Park Conservancy was able to modernize Ancient Playground while keeping the spirit of the original design,” said Douglas Blonsky, President of the Central Park Conservancy and Central Park Administrator. “The Conservancy maintains all 21 of the Park's playgrounds, but we couldn't do it without generous support from private donors and the City of New York.”

The renovation was made possible by generous support from Central Park Conservancy donors as well as a $1 million allocation from former Council Member Moskowitz. The playground features new adventure-style play structures, including a climbing pyramid, water features and a toddler sandbox; new wood composite play equipment including climbers, ramps and slides; swings for a range of age groups; new safety surfaces; a comfort station that is wheelchair-accessible featuring separate restrooms for playground users and the general public. The renovation also features the re-installation of the famed Osborn Gates after 35 years in storage.

Named in honor of William Church Osborn, philanthropist and former president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the gates originally stood at the entrance of a playground on what is now the museum’s Sackler Wing. Designed by renowned sculptor Paul Manship in the Art Deco style, they depict five elaborate scenes from Aesop’s Fables. Manship’s other works in Central Park include the bronze statue, Group of Bears, and the Lehman Gates at the Tisch Children’s Zoo.

The first playground in this location was constructed south of the existing comfort station in 1936. One of nineteen playgrounds built in the marginal landscapes near the Park perimeter during the first two years of Robert Moses’s tenure as Parks Commissioner, it was expanded in 1945 to fill the triangular site created by the addition of the one-way transverse road at 84th Street.

In 1953, a second playground was added just across that road, on the north side of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and was named in honor of philanthropist William Church Osborn, President of the Museum and of the Children’s Aid Society. In 1972 the “Ancient Playground” was constructed within the fence lines of the original playground. It was built to compensate the displacement of the Osborn Playground by the new Egyptian wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Designed by the architect Richard Dattner, it replaced the existing traditional playground with an adventure-style playground in an architectural theme (inspired by the proximity to the Met’s Egyptian collection, specifically the Temple of Dendur) that evoked the character of an ancient city.

QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

“Think wrongly, if you please, but in all cases think for yourself.”

Doris Lessing
(1919 - )