With the return of warm weather, it is time to get outside and enjoy the City’s beautiful parks. This week, For the Record visits Manhattan’s Central Park for a tour around the Lake—19th Century style!
Detail of plan of the Central Park Lake and surrounding areas. (dpr_d_1723 - Pictorial plan of Central Park showing natural and man-made features, ca. 1890)
Located between 70th and 76th Streets, the 20-acre Central Park Lake connects the varied landscapes of the southern end of the park to the more pastoral vistas in the north. Park designers Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted envisioned the Lake as a way to provide an escape from urban life by creating an oasis within the city.
In winter 1858, the Lake became the first area in Central Park to be opened to the public. Called the “Skating Pond” on Vaux and Olmsted’s Greensward plan (their winning-design for the park competition), the Lake shows how the designers developed natural-looking waters throughout the park landscape.
A Feat of Engineering
Plan of dam and waste weir outlet for the Skating Pond, 1860.
The first stop on the Lake tour begins at the shoreline on the north side of Bethesda Terrace. In a significant engineering feat, Olmsted and Vaux devised an elaborate system of pipes, hydrants, and dams to divert water from the Croton Aqueduct to fill the 20-acre lake.
The perimeter of the Lake is edged by a two-and-a-half-foot quarry-stone wall and the structure is equipped with waste weirs (to lower water levels) and sluice gates (to raise water levels) that could be opened and closed to adjust the water levels as needed. Kept at seven feet deep in the summer to accommodate boaters and three feet lower in the winter as a safety measure for ice skaters, these mechanisms were carefully hidden below ground.
Summer and winter water levels of the Lake in Central Park, c. 1860. The water levels of the Lake could be adjusted seasonally for boating and skating.
Another unique feature of the Lake is a series of eighteen hydrants, or valves used to create a fresh sheet of ice each night during the skating season. In summer, the valves are completely submerged, but when the water was lowered to its winter depth, the valves were exposed and available to flood the ice at night creating a fresh surface for skaters the next day.
The Boathouse
Boat House on the Central Park Lake, c. 1875. Courtesy Library of Congress.
The Boathouse is the next stop on the tour. Boating on the Lake during the summer months quickly grew in popularity. By 1870, boat rentals reached more than 125,000 annually and led to the need for a facility to dock the vessels. Calvert Vaux designed the Boathouse as frame building with decorative details throughout. Completed in 1875, Vaux wrote that he “arranged this design, with the roof in the form of a terrace, with two flights of steps to it so that the ordinary visitor, on arriving at this structure, instead of being shut out from a close view of the Lake, is provided with an elevated promenade, from which a view of the water can be obtained, with a special charm of its own.”
After more than 70 years of continuous use, the building, in disrepair, was demolished. The current boathouse is in a similar location to the first and was constructed during Robert Moses’ overhaul of the park in the 1950s.
Design of Boat House, landing, and shed, 1873. Assistant architect Julius Munckwitz prepared this detailed drawing of the Boat House, with a “CP” banner flying above the second-story covered pavilion.
Boat House, carpenter’s details of capitals of posts for the landing and shed, c. 1873.
Boat Landing near Eighth Avenue, c. 1860. This Victorian design was prepared for one of the six original landings located around the Lake.
Boat Landings
The Bethesda Terrace shoreline was the primary pickup location for passenger ferry boats that circled the Lake. The boat rides were ten cents per person, not an insignificant amount in the 1870s.
Continuing around the Lake, there are six small, black walnut boat landings constructed in a rustic style. As with most of the architectural elements added to the park, each landing is unique and designed to be unobtrusive. The wooden landings were often repaired and rebuilt during the 19th and 20th centuries, but by 1970, none of the structures remained. With the help of the Municipal Archives collection of original parks drawings, teams from the Parks Department and later the Central Park Conservancy were able to recreate the landings.
Boaters arriving at a landing on the western shore of the Lake, c. 1870. Courtesy New York Public Library.
Skating
During the 19th century skating was immensely popular. It was one of the few socially acceptable activities that could be enjoyed in the mixed company of men and women. It was estimated that some thirty thousand people entered the park daily just to skate.
Design for a Skate House, 1884. To replace the original “skating tent,” actually a wooden structure, after it had fallen into disrepair, architect Julius Munckwitz prepared this drawing for a new Skate House, which provided a detailed elevation view and a floor plan with restaurants for men and women as well as a parlor and smoking room.
Original skating tent, c. 1868. The structure could be reinstalled along the Lake during the skating season each year.
Skaters on the Lake, 1861. The Lake drew large crowds of ice skaters throughout the winter months. Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York, NYC Municipal Library.
Founders contract for a drinking fountain for horses located at Cherry Hill, 1871.
With the large crowds, it became clear that the park needed amenities. Built in chalet style, a three-story “skate tent,” as it was called, was put up and taken down at the south end of the lake each year during the winter season. It had concessions as well as changing areas and a place to warm up on cold winter nights, with a refreshment stand, cloak room, and skate room on the first floor. The second story provided windows for spectators to view the skating while enjoying a beverage, and finally the third level was reserved for a “ladies look-out exclusively.”
Drinking Fountain for Horses
Moving away from the skating area, there is a peaceful area known as Cherry Hill, named for its spring-blooming cherry trees. The paved concourse on the crest of the hill was originally intended as a scenic turnaround for horse-drawn carriages. In the center, there is a stunning fountain. Designed for watering horses by architect Jacob Wrey Mould in 1867, it was constructed of polished granite, wrought iron and bronze, and decorative Minton tiles, with eight colorful saucers for birds to drink from.
Detail of the bird bath included on the Cherry Hill horse fountain, 1871.
Swan’s Nests
One of the most unusual additions to the Lake were a gift of twelve swans from the city of Hamburg, Germany, in the spring of 1860. Long famous for its swan population, the city even sent a handler to help domesticate the animals. In May, the Board of Commissioners received a letter from George Kunhardt of the Hamburg Consulate with advice on the care of the new park residents, for example when to clip their wings and how to winter them over. The letter included a drawing for the construction of two types of floating nests for the comfort of the birds. One was specifically for use in quiet water while the other was suitable for nests that were exposed to the “action of waves.” The letter went on to say that their design, “may of course be varied ad libitum.” Sadly, within the first few weeks of their arrival nine of the swans died. Upon receiving the news of the birds’ demise, Hamburg replaced them with ten more, which was followed up by two dozen more sent by the city of London.
Swan’s Nests, designs with variants for rough and calm water, c. 1860. The cities of Hamburg gifted the park pairs of swans and included detailed instructions on how to build nests for them.
Gondolas
Gondolas in Central Park, ca. 1875. Courtesy Library of Congress.
From the earliest days of the park, visitors in leisure boats enjoyed floating on the Lake. With awnings to provide shade on sunny days, the larger passenger boats carried up to twelve people. Other vessels for hire included rowboats and pleasure boats that featured large carved white swans.
Gondolas were another option for enjoying an excursion on the Lake. Former Park Commissioner John A.C. Gray donated the first gondola in 1862, sent directly from Venice. Without trained gondoliers, the gift sat unused for months until 1864. Despite some challenges in adding to the fleet, by 1870 several gondolas were afloat on the Lake with gondoliers decked out in sweaters with the word Venetzia emblazoned across their chests.
A gondola for the Lake, c. 1864. The designer of the gondola had a sample to work from, but noted on the drawing that, “The Gondola from which these drawings were made was very imperfect.” Hence, the dimensions in the plan had to be extrapolated.
Bow Bridge
Bow Bridge, 1868. Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York, NYC Municipal Library.
The final stop on the tour is the sweeping Bow Bridge, the longest and most famous of architect Calvert Vaux’s bridges. Named for its graceful arch reminiscent of an archer’s bow, Bow Bridge was the first of the seven cast-iron bridges in the park, and is the only one to span a body of water.
The low-slung construction connects Cherry Hill and the Terrace on the south shore of the Lake to the Ramble on the north shore. The bridge features a 140-foot ornamental iron balustrade pierced with Gothic cinquefoils and a floral motif on the spandrels which continues in the shallow niches set into the pillars. The design includes large cast-iron urns to hold flowering plants and vines throughout the summer.
Stereograph of the Bow Bridge, n.d. Courtesy New York Public Library.
Cynthia Brenwall is the author of The Central Park: Original Designs for New York’s Greatest Treasure, Abrams Books, 2019.
