Central Park: Conservatory Garden - New York NY

City:: New York, New York City, NY
Site Type:: Parks and Recreation, Gardens and Nurseries
New Deal Agencies:: Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
Started:: 1934
Completed:: 1937
Quality of Information:: Very Good
Site Survival:: Extant

Description

“The Conservatory Garden is a six-acre formal garden named after a conservatory (i.e. greenhouse) that was built here in 1898. During the Depression, Parks commissioner Robert Moses (1888-1981) decreed the aging structure too expensive to maintain and had it demolished during a major renovation of the park in 1934 that was paid for largely with WPA funds. The garden that replaced the Conservatory was developed by architects Gilmore Clarke (1892-1982) and Betty Sprout (1906-1962) (who later married) and opened officially on September 18, 1937. The garden is divided into three separate sections: the central Italian-style garden, the southern English-style garden and the northern French-style garden.”

(michaelminn.net)