Morningside Park A Scenic Landmark?
From amNewYork
Community seeks bump in status for Morningside Park
By Vera Haller
amNewYork Editor
April 9, 2007
Rugged in both topography and reputation, Morningside Park in upper Manhattan is poised to get the respect its supporters say it has long deserved.
Tuesday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission will hold a hearing on the city Parks Department’s request to give landmark status to the narrow park built on a rocky bluff of Morningside Heights.
Perhaps not known to many New Yorkers, Morningside Park was designed by the 19th-century landscape architectural team of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, whose better-known creations included Central Park and Brooklyn’s Prospect Park.
Its location on a cliff overlooking Harlem is dramatic — as are the jutting rock formations, the steep staircases and the views from the upper promenade. The park has a waterfall, several statues (including a whimsical “Bear and Faun” fountain), ball fields, basketball courts and a dog run.
It was the subject of intense controversy in 1968 when plans by Columbia University to build a gymnasium in the park sparked violent student protests that ultimately led to construction being halted.
If granted landmark status, any changes to the park would have to be reviewed and approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
The park was long plagued by drug activity and a reputation for being unsafe, but residents say they have noticed improvements in recent years. “The park is a reflection of the area changing,” said Aloma Moore, 65, who noted the new housing and buildings under renovation around the park’s perimeter.
Commuters now cut through the park to get to the subway stop at Cathedral Parkway and Central Park West, something they did not do in years past, said Brad Taylor, president of Friends of Morningside Park, a community group that funds and carries out improvements to the park.
Taylor said the neighborhood, including Community Board 9, has embraced the city’s request for landmark status. “Everyone just realizes this is long overdue,” he said.
After Tuesday’s hearing, the commission will vote on the landmark request on a date not yet set.
It has been nearly a quarter of a century since a city park was granted landmark status — Fort Tryon Park in 1983. Other creations by Olmsted and Vaux have held landmark protection for even longer. Central Park was granted it in 1974; Prospect Park a year later.
Assemblyman Dan O’Donnell, D-Manhattan, whose district includes Morningside Park, was not reading too much into the timing of the landmark initiative.
About a year ago, O’Donnell said he approached the city Parks Department about it and the administration got behind the idea and “did the right thing” by proposing landmark status.
He acknowledged that increased interest in the neighborhood’s real estate market might have moved the matter along. “Harlem is hot,” O’Donnell said. “As more people want to live uptown, these architectural gems are beginning to get the attention they deserve.”
(with Kate Pastor)
Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.