LP-2673
Old Croton Aqueduct Walk Scenic Landmark – 2200 Aqueduct Avenue
ITEM PROPOSED FOR PUBLIC HEARING
The proposed designation of a New York City park located on top of a section of the 1842 Old Croton Aqueduct designed by John B. Jervis. The proposed landmark site includes the following tax lots: Block 3210 Lots 1 and 7; Block 3211 Lot 1 in part; Block 3212 Lots 1, 67, 71; Block 3213 Lots 27, 48, 49, 70; Block 3214 Lot 33; Block 3215 Lot 31.
As the citywide advocate for New York’s architectural, historical and cultural neighborhoods, HDC enthusiastically supports the designation of the Old Croton Aqueduct Walk as a Scenic Landmark.
This designation would be the first Scenic Landmark in the Bronx, and it is quite an auspicious beginning. The Croton Aqueduct was more than an engineering marvel: it transformed the life and health of the city by delivering clean water to hundreds of thousands of people. The aqueduct was also part of a number of mid-19th century reforms and municipal initiatives that strove to turn New York City into a modern global metropolis.
This beautiful landscape is not only worthy of designation because of its loveliness, but also because it offers a tangible reminder of what is possible when the city acts with vision to support and uplift the lives of its citizens, and thereby commits to necessary, large-scale public works.
We need such vision today. We hope that this designation will help inspire visionary leadership, and we call on the LPC to take a leading role in protecting and uplifting our city’s most cherished public spaces.