Eleanor Roosevelt Monument
Riverside Park
Riverside Park, one of only eight officially
designated scenic landmarks in the City of New York, has a long and storied
history. The rugged bluffs and rocky outcroppings created through prehistoric
glacial deposits once descended directly to the Hudson River shore and were
densely wooded during the Native American habitation. In 1846 the Hudson River
Railroad was cut through the forested hillside. Acknowledging the city’s expansion
northward, Central Park Commissioner William R. Martin proposed in 1865 that
a scenic drive and park be built on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The land
between the heights and the railroad was bought by the City over the next
two years. Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903), renowned
co-designer of Central and Prospect Parks, was retained in 1873 and submitted
a plan in 1875 combining park and parkway into a synthesized landscape which
adhered to the general topographical contours of hill and dale. Over the next
twenty-five years park designs developed under a succession of landscape architects,
including Olmsted’s partner Calvert Vaux (1824-1895) and Samuel Parsons (1844-1923).
The result, stretching then from West 72nd to 125th Streets, was a grand tree-lined
boulevard, an English-style rustic park with informally arranged trees and
shrubs, contrasting natural enclosures and open vistas. The development of the park encouraged the
construction of mansions along the drive. At the turn of the century, a movement
dubbed the "City Beautiful" sought to promote a more dignified civic architecture,
and found expression in the formal neo-classical detailing of the park’s extension
from the 125th Street viaduct to 155th Street. Monuments placed along the
Drive during this era included Grant’s Tomb (1897), the Soldiers
and Sailors Memorial (1902), the Firemen’s Memorial (1913), and
Joan of Arc (1915). The increased rail traffic and waterfront
industries founded on landfill extending the shoreline led to an outcry by
wealthy residents for municipal action against these uses as unpleasant to
the park and community. After decades of discussion a massive park expansion
plan, crafted by architect Clinton Lloyd with landscape architect Gilmore
Clarke, was implemented between 1934 and 1937 under Parks Commissioner Robert
Moses. The park was widened westward by 148 acres, and the Henry Hudson Parkway,
ball fields, esplanade, 79th Street marina and rotunda were added to it. The monument, honoring humanitarian and First Lady Anna Eleanor
Roosevelt (1884-1962), was dedicated at 72nd Street on October 5, 1996 in
the presence of Hillary Rodham Clinton, First Lady of the United States. Penelope
Jencks was the sculptor. A new landscape on the site of a former West Side
Highway access ramp was designed by Bruce Kelly/David Varnell Landscape Architects.
Funding for the $1.3 million Eleanor Roosevelt Monument project, which included
a renovated entranceway, was provided by the City of New York, the State of
New York, and the Eleanor Roosevelt Monument Fund, which has established an
endowment for the ongoing maintenance of the sculpture.
Friday, Oct 10, 1997
