Central Park of New York
New York's Central Park is one of America's most famous landmarks, located on Manhattan Island. The size of the park is simply huge - it is 4 km long and 800 meters wide and covers almost 3.5 km2. It is visited by over 25 million tourists annually. It is sometimes referred to as the "lungs of Manhattan."
Architects Calvert Vox and Frederick Olmsted took over the design of the park. The entire terrain has been completely redesigned, artificial lakes, forest clearings, alleys, playgrounds, ice skating rinks, a small zoo have been created, and everything looks as harmonious as if it had always been in this place. Birds fly into Central Park in New York during migration, which attracts many bird watchers here. A treadmill with a length of almost 10 km has been built for outdoor enthusiasts.
The first question about the recreation area of the townspeople was raised by newspaper owner William Bryant and landscape designer Andrew Downing back in 1844, initiating an advertising campaign for the park. But the city authorities allocated the land only in 1853, having budgeted a huge sum of $ 5 million at that time.
Later, they created the commission for the construction of New York's Central Park, which in 1857 organized a competition for the design of the park. The competition was won by architects Calvert Vokes and Frederick Olmsted. The design of the park was strongly influenced by European parks, such as Birkenhead Park, which was visited by British architect Calvert Vox. The green motifs of Green Wood and Mont Auburn cemeteries are also recognizable in the landscapes of Central Park. Separate roads for hiking, horses, and motor vehicles have been constructed for the convenience of visitors. In order not to overshadow the landscapes of nature with roads, impenetrable shrubs were planted along the edges, and the roads were lowered below ground level.
Initially, in the design of New York's Central Park, architect Vox laid out symmetrical alleys, 36 bridges, of various shapes, sizes, and materials. But much of this was not to be, because designer Frederick Olmsted, who is also the manager, did not keep track of the spending of funds, which caused delays during construction. In 1860, he was removed from office, appointing Andrew Green, who had previously led the New York City Board of Education, as the new superintendent. Construction slowed down a lot, and some ideas needed to be reassessed. Since the local land was not suitable for many trees, about 14,000 m3 had to be imported from New Jersey. After the construction was completed in 1873, it turned out that over 10 million carts of construction debris with stone, earth, and uprooted trees had been removed.
Andrew Green soon retired from his post office, Vox died in 1895, and the park was no longer monitored. For several decades, the authorities practically did not monitor New York's Central Park, which led to littering of the territory and vandalism. Everything changed only in 1934 after the election of mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, who united all the departments that were supposed to monitor the park into one and appointed Robert Moses as the manager. Soon, Moses took control of all the parks in the city. Reconstruction has begun in the Central Park - dead trees have been removed, walls have been cleaned, bridges have been repaired, 19 playgrounds for children, 12 playgrounds for basketball and handball have been built.
Robert Moses left his post in 1960, and the park gradually became the same as before him. After all, there were celebrations during Christmas, concerts, protest marches, as well as other mass events. It was only in 1975 that changes appeared for the better, which led to the formation of the Committee for Nature Conservation in 1980. The committee resorted to volunteer labor to reduce costs, which, in their opinion, would have influenced a more frugal attitude of the townspeople towards the park. In 1981, the document "Reconstruction of the Central Park in the 80s and subsequent years" appeared. The document planned the reconstruction of bridges, landscape, buildings, and grass transplanting, and it was necessary to improve the safety of park visitors.
Within a few years, everything was completed. New York's Central Park is fully under the control of the sixth police station, which is the safest among all the city's police stations.
