Central Park of New York
New York Central Park is one of America's most famous attractions on Manhattan Island. The size of the park is simply huge - it is almost 3.5 km long and 800 meters wide2. Over 25 million tourists visit him annually. Sometimes he is called "the lungs of Manhattan".
The architects Calvert Vox and Frederick Olmsted took up the development of the park's project. The entire topography of the area has been completely redesigned, artificial lakes, forest glades, alleys, playgrounds, ice skating rinks, a small zoo have been created and everything looks so harmonious, as if always in this place they were. Birds fly into Central Park in New York during migration, which attracts many lovers of watching them. For outdoor enthusiasts, they laid a treadmill almost 10 km long.
The first question about the place of rest of the townspeople was raised by the owner of the newspaper William Bryant and landscape designer Andrew Downing back in 1844, initiating an advertising campaign for the park. But the city authorities allocated land only in 1853, laying a huge amount of $ 5 million in the budget at that time.
Later they created the Commission for the Construction of the Central Park of New York, which in 1857 organized a competition in the design of the park. The competition was won by the plan of architects Calvert Vox and Frederick Olmsted. The design park was heavily influenced by European parks, such as Birkenhead Park, which was visited by British architect Calvert Vox. Green motifs of the Green Wood and Mont Obourne cemeteries are also recognized in the landscapes of the Central Park. For the convenience of visitors, separate roads for hiking, horses and motor vehicles were designed. In order not to overshadow the landscapes of nature with roads - an impenetrable shrub was planted on the edges, and the roads were lowered below ground level.
Initially, in the project of the Central Park of New York, architect Vox laid symmetric alleys, 36 bridges, various shapes, sizes, material. But much of this was not destined to come true, because designer Frederick Olmsted, who is also the manager, did not follow the spending of funds well, which was why there were delays during construction. In 1860, he was removed from office by appointing Andrew Green, the new manager of the Education Council in New York. The construction slowed down very much, and some ideas needed to be re-evaluated. Since the local land is not suitable for many trees, then about 14,000 m3 had to be brought from New Jersey. After the completion of construction in 1873, it turned out that over 10 million leagues of construction waste with stone and earth were uprooted by trees.
Soon, Andrew Green left his post office, in 1895 Vox died and stopped monitoring the park. For several decades, the authorities of the year practically did not follow the Central Park of New York, which led to littering of the territory and vandalism. Everything changed only in 1934 after being elected mayor of Fiorello La Gardia, uniting all the departments that were supposed to follow the park into one and appointing Robert Moses as manager. Soon, Moses took control of all the parks of the city. Reconstruction began in Central Park - dead trees were removed, walls were cleaned, bridges were repaired, 19 playgrounds for children, 12 playgrounds for playing basketball and handball were built.
Robert Moses left his post in 1960, and the park gradually became the same as before. After all, festivities were held here during Christmas, concerts, protest marches, as well as other mass events. Only in 1975 did changes for the better appear, leading to the formation of the Committee for the Protection of Nature in 1980. The committee resorted to voluntary labor to reduce costs, in their opinion, would affect the more lean attitude of citizens towards the park. In 1981, the document « Reconstruction of the Central Park for the 80s and subsequent years » appeared. The document planned the reconstruction of bridges, landscape, buildings, grass transplantation, it was necessary to improve the safety of visitors to the park.
For several years, everything was completed. The Central Park of New York is completely under the control of the sixth police station, which is the safest among all parts of the city.
