BGuthrie Photos: NY -- NYC -- Bryant Park

BGuthrie Photos: NY -- NYC -- Bryant Park NY -- NYC -- Bryant Park:

Bruce Guthrie Photos Home Page: [Click here] to go to Bruce Guthrie Photos home page.

Recognize anyone? If you recognize specific folks (or other stuff) and I haven't labeled them, please identify them for the world. Click the little pencil icon

underneath the file name (just above the picture). Spammers need not apply.

Slide Show: Want to see the pictures as a slide show? [Click here for Slideshow]

Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

Help? The Medium (Email) links are for screen viewing and emailing. You'll want bigger sizes for printing. [Click here for additional help]

[1]

BRYANT_231220_03.JPG

[2] BRYANT_231220_05.JPG

[3] BRYANT_231220_06.JPG

[4] BRYANT_231220_10.JPG

[5]

BRYANT_231220_11.JPG

[6] BRYANT_231220_12.JPG

[7] BRYANT_231220_16.JPG

[8] BRYANT_231220_17.JPG

[9] BRYANT_231220_19.JPG

[10] BRYANT_231220_22.JPG

[11] BRYANT_231220_26.JPG

[12] BRYANT_231220_30.JPG

[13]

BRYANT_231220_33.JPG

[14]

BRYANT_221007_01.JPG

[15] BRYANT_221007_10.JPG

[16] BRYANT_221007_18.JPG

[17] BRYANT_221007_20.JPG

[18] BRYANT_221007_26.JPG

[19]

BRYANT_221007_28.JPG

[20] BRYANT_191221_07.JPG

[21] BRYANT_191221_14.JPG

[22] BRYANT_191221_18.JPG

[23] BRYANT_191221_28.JPG

[24] BRYANT_191221_29.JPG

[25] BRYANT_191221_33.JPG

[26] BRYANT_191221_35.JPG

[27] BRYANT_191221_40.JPG

[28] BRYANT_191221_46.JPG

[29] BRYANT_191221_53.JPG

[30] BRYANT_191221_63.JPG

[31] BRYANT_191221_71.JPG

[32]

BRYANT_191221_72.JPG

[33] BRYANT_191005_01.JPG

[34]

BRYANT_191005_05.JPG

[35]

BRYANT_191005_10.JPG

[36]

BRYANT_191005_12.JPG

[37]

BRYANT_191005_14.JPG

[38] BRYANT_191005_18.JPG

[39]

BRYANT_191005_20.JPG

[40] BRYANT_191005_23.JPG

[41] BRYANT_191005_28.JPG

[42] BRYANT_191005_31.JPG

[43]

BRYANT_191005_42.JPG

[44] BRYANT_191005_45.JPG

[45]

BRYANT_191005_46.JPG

[46]

BRYANT_191005_49.JPG

[47]

BRYANT_191005_52.JPG

[48] BRYANT_190826_001.JPG

[49]

BRYANT_190826_005.JPG

[50] BRYANT_190826_009.JPG

[51] BRYANT_190826_012.JPG

[52] BRYANT_190826_015.JPG

[53] BRYANT_190826_023.JPG

[54] BRYANT_190826_026.JPG

[55] BRYANT_190826_032.JPG

[56] BRYANT_190826_034.JPG

[57] BRYANT_190826_043.JPG

[58] BRYANT_190826_046.JPG

[59] BRYANT_190826_049.JPG

[60] BRYANT_190826_054.JPG

[61] BRYANT_190826_057.JPG

[62]

BRYANT_190826_059.JPG

[63] BRYANT_190826_062.JPG

[64] BRYANT_190826_066.JPG

[65]

BRYANT_190826_069.JPG

[66] BRYANT_190826_072.JPG

[67]

BRYANT_190826_076.JPG

[68] BRYANT_190826_082.JPG

[69]

BRYANT_190826_085.JPG

[70]

BRYANT_190826_087.JPG

[71]

BRYANT_190826_090.JPG

[72]

BRYANT_190826_093.JPG

[73]

BRYANT_190826_096.JPG

[74] BRYANT_190826_099.JPG

[75] BRYANT_190826_106.JPG

[76] BRYANT_190826_110.JPG

[77] BRYANT_190826_113.JPG

[78] BRYANT_190826_115.JPG

[79] BRYANT_190826_119.JPG

[80]

BRYANT_190826_121.JPG

[81] BRYANT_190826_124.JPG

[82] BRYANT_190826_126.JPG

[83] BRYANT_190826_129.JPG

[84] BRYANT_190826_133.JPG

[85] BRYANT_190826_137.JPG

[86] BRYANT_190826_141.JPG

[87] BRYANT_190826_144.JPG

[88] BRYANT_190826_149.JPG

[89] BRYANT_190826_151.JPG

[90]

BRYANT_190826_154.JPG

[91]

BRYANT_190826_157.JPG

[92] BRYANT_190826_161.JPG

[93] BRYANT_190826_165.JPG

[94]

BRYANT_190826_167.JPG

[95]

BRYANT_190826_170.JPG

[96]

BRYANT_190826_173.JPG

[97]

BRYANT_190601_01.JPG

[98] BRYANT_190601_05.JPG

[99] BRYANT_190601_09.JPG

[100]

BRYANT_190601_12.JPG

[101] BRYANT_190601_15.JPG

[102] BRYANT_190601_18.JPG

[103] BRYANT_190601_20.JPG

[104]

BRYANT_190601_22.JPG

[105] BRYANT_190601_24.JPG

[106] BRYANT_190601_28.JPG

[107]

BRYANT_190601_32.JPG

[108]

BRYANT_190601_36.JPG

[109] BRYANT_190601_42.JPG

[110] BRYANT_190601_43.JPG

[111]

BRYANT_190601_49.JPG

[112] BRYANT_190601_53.JPG

[113] BRYANT_190601_66.JPG

[114] BRYANT_190601_68.JPG

[115] BRYANT_190601_75.JPG

[116]

BRYANT_180815_001.JPG

[117] BRYANT_180815_004.JPG

[118]

BRYANT_180815_007.JPG

[119] BRYANT_180815_011.JPG

[120]

BRYANT_180815_012.JPG

[121]

BRYANT_180815_015.JPG

[122]

BRYANT_180815_019.JPG

[123] BRYANT_180815_022.JPG

[124] BRYANT_180815_025.JPG

[125] BRYANT_180815_030.JPG

[126] BRYANT_180815_033.JPG

[127] BRYANT_180815_036.JPG

[128] BRYANT_180815_039.JPG

[129]

BRYANT_180815_044.JPG

[130] BRYANT_180815_047.JPG

[131]

BRYANT_180815_050.JPG

[132]

BRYANT_180815_053.JPG

[133] BRYANT_180815_055.JPG

[134] BRYANT_180815_059.JPG

[135] BRYANT_180815_062.JPG

[136] BRYANT_180815_066.JPG

[137] BRYANT_180815_068.JPG

[138] BRYANT_180815_071.JPG

[139] BRYANT_180815_080.JPG

[140]

BRYANT_180815_083.JPG

[141] BRYANT_180815_085.JPG

[142] BRYANT_180815_087.JPG

[143] BRYANT_180815_094.JPG

[144]

BRYANT_180815_101.JPG

[145] BRYANT_180815_102.JPG

[146] BRYANT_180815_108.JPG

[147]

BRYANT_180815_109.JPG

[148]

BRYANT_180815_113.JPG

[149] BRYANT_180815_117.JPG

[150] BRYANT_180815_120.JPG

[151]

BRYANT_180815_125.JPG

[152] BRYANT_180815_128.JPG

[153]

BRYANT_160915_001.JPG

[154]

BRYANT_160915_007.JPG

[155]

BRYANT_160915_008.JPG

[156] BRYANT_160915_010.JPG

[157] BRYANT_160915_012.JPG

[158] BRYANT_160915_014.JPG

[159] BRYANT_160915_016.JPG

[160] BRYANT_160915_018.JPG

[161] BRYANT_160915_021.JPG

[162] BRYANT_160915_026.JPG

[163] BRYANT_160915_028.JPG

[164]

BRYANT_160915_034.JPG

[165]

BRYANT_160915_037.JPG

[166] BRYANT_160915_047.JPG

[167] BRYANT_160915_051.JPG

[168]

BRYANT_160915_055.JPG

[169] BRYANT_160915_058.JPG

[170]

BRYANT_160915_062.JPG

[171] BRYANT_160915_067.JPG

[172] BRYANT_160915_069.JPG

[173]

BRYANT_160915_073.JPG

[174] BRYANT_160915_078.JPG

[175] BRYANT_160915_084.JPG

[176] BRYANT_160915_089.JPG

[177] BRYANT_160915_090.JPG

[178]

BRYANT_160915_094.JPG

[179] BRYANT_160915_100.JPG

[180]

BRYANT_160915_104.JPG

[181]

BRYANT_160915_110.JPG

[182]

BRYANT_160915_115.JPG

[183] BRYANT_160915_117.JPG

[184] BRYANT_160915_120.JPG

[185] BRYANT_160915_122.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. BRYANT_231220_03.JPG: The following pictures are from the page 2023_NY_Bryant_Pk NY -- NYC -- Bryant Park (13 photos from 2023)
  Bryant Park West 40th St. Nikola Tesla Corner
2. BRYANT_231220_11.JPG: Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park Welcome to Brrrryant Park
3. BRYANT_231220_33.JPG: William Earle Dodge
4. BRYANT_221007_01.JPG: The following pictures are from the page 2022_NY_Bryant_Pk NY -- NYC -- Bryant Park (6 photos from 2022)
5. BRYANT_221007_28.JPG: Bank of America Winter Village at Bryant Park Coming Soon! Pardon our appearance as we prepare for New York City's only free admission ice skating rink.
6. BRYANT_191221_72.JPG: Santa's Corner Bryant Park
7. BRYANT_191005_05.JPG: The Crystal Palace "... beautiful beyond description" – Mark Twain By the early 1850s New York had grown to sufficient size and prominence that the city decided to host a major exhibition similar to London's Great Exhibition of 1851. The Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations – a world's fair precursor – opened July 14, 1853 in a still sparsely developed part of the city. Fortieth and Forty-second Streets bounded the four-acre site immediately west of the Croton Distributing Reservoir, today's Bryant Park. To house the exhibition, Georg Carstensen, and Charles Gildemeister designed a remarkable iron-and-glass structure, much like an enormous greenhouse. The building was inspired by the one built in London for its exhibition two years earlier, also called the Crystal Palace. The Crystal Palace was one of the largest and most sophisticated designs that had ever been built in America. Octagonal in plan, it was surmounted by a soaring 123-foot-high dome, and inspired American architects and builders with the possibilities of iron construction. The exhibition hall comprised fifteen thousand panels of glass. Four thousand exhibitors filled the hall with the industrial wares, consumer goods, and art works of the nation. Elisha Graves Otis, a young inventor and entrepreneur, staged one of the most dramatic of the exhibits. Otis had been promoting his steam-powered elevators, but what, people wondered, would happen should the cable break? To allay such fears, he invented the automatic safety brake – but he had to demonstrate the invention. Otis erected a high platform connected to one of his elevators. He himself got in the cab, and cut the cable. As the cab fell, his new spring-leaf safety brake was successfully activated. A prominent New York merchant of china and glassware, who may have witnessed Otis's demonstration at the fair, ordered and installed the invention in his new store at Broadway and Broome Street. The safety elevator in the Haughwout Building, completed in 1857 (and still standing), was the first in the world to be installed in a commercial building. The exhibition set off one of the first major tourism booms in New York, and many hotels were built. One visitor was seventeen-year-old Samuel Langhorne Clemens of Hannibal, Missouri. Later, as Mark Twain, he wrote that the Crystal Place was "beautiful beyond description," and marveled that the six thousand daily visitors to the exhibition were double the population of his hometown. Over one million people visited the Crystal Palace Exhibition before it closed on November 1, 1854. Despite its popularity, exhibition sponsors lost $300,000. After the fair, the structure, believed to be fireproof, was leased for a variety of purposes. On October 5, 1858, in a spectacular blaze it burned to the ground. Remarkably, no lives were lost.
8. BRYANT_191005_10.JPG: The Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations opened in 1853
9. BRYANT_191005_12.JPG: The teenager who grew up to be Mark Twain
10. BRYANT_191005_14.JPG: No lives were lost when the Crystal Palace blazed in 1858
11. BRYANT_191005_20.JPG: New York Times Food Festival
12. BRYANT_191005_42.JPG: Early Bryant Park Bryant was a leading light in nineteenth century New York Reservoir Square was renamed Bryant Park in 1884, in honor of New York's leading citizen, William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878). In the late 1800s, three philanthropic institutions joined to form the New York Public Library; the building site chosen was the Croton Reservoir. The Beaux-Arts architecture of the library, designed by John Carrere and Thomas Hastings, extended to the redesign of the eastern part of Bryant Park. Using the same Vermont marble as the library building, Hastings included a back terrace and a memorial to Bryant, sculpted by Herbert Adams. The north and south ends of the terrace are defined by twin square structures, designed as comfort stations. Today, the north structure functions as an elegant restroom. During World War I, Bryant Park was the site of one of the city's largest public gardens. Planted by the National War Garden Commission and War Garden Committee of Manhattan, these victory gardens sought to involve citizens in food production and boost morale. Around the same time, the park was also home to the Eagle Hut, a facility built and operated by the Y.M.C.A. that provided a home away from home to soldiers and military personnel. Construction of the Flushing subway line along West 42nd Street closed the north side of Bryant Park for most of the 1920s, leading to a period of neglect for the small urban park. In 1932, it was chosen as the site for the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth. The Bicentennial committee built a wood and plaster replica of old Federal Hall, the Wall Street building in which Washington took the oath of office as the first U.S. President. A reenactment of that inauguration was staged there on April 30, 1932. Responding to an open completion, Queens, NY architect Lusby Simpson submitted a redesign of Bryant Park featuring a classical scheme of a large central lawn, formal pathways, stone balustrades and borers of London Plane trees, together with an oval plaza at the west end containing the existing Josephine Shaw Lowell Memorial Fountain. New York City's powerful Parks Commissioner, Robert Moses, and his staff, including architect Aymar Embury II and landscape architect Gilmore D. Clarke, oversaw execution of Simpson's plan. The park was completed and opened to the public in September 1934. Shortly after, the New York Public Library established and outdoor reading room on the terrace at the eastern end of the park. In good weather, staffers moved stacks and book carts outside for readers to browse.
13. BRYANT_191005_46.JPG: Poet and editor William Cullen Bryant
14. BRYANT_191005_49.JPG: Bryant Park, late teens or early 1920s
15. BRYANT_191005_52.JPG: Bryant Park, 1937
16. BRYANT_190826_005.JPG: Early Bryant Park Bryant was a leading light in nineteenth century New York Reservoir Square was renamed Bryant Park in 1884, in honor of New York's leading citizen, William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878). In the late 1800s, three philanthropic institutions joined to form the New York Public Library; the building site chosen was the Croton Reservoir. The Beaux-Arts architecture of the library, designed by John Carrere and Thomas Hastings, extended to the redesign of the eastern part of Bryant Park. Using the same Vermont marble as the library building, Hastings included a back terrace and a memorial to Bryant, sculpted by Herbert Adams. The north and south ends of the terrace are defined by twin square structures, designed as comfort stations. Today, the north structure functions as an elegant restroom. During World War I, Bryant Park was the site of one of the city's largest public gardens. Planted by the National War Garden Commission and War Garden Committee of Manhattan, these victory gardens sought to involve citizens in food production and boost morale. Around the same time, the park was also home to the Eagle Hut, a facility built and operated by the Y.M.C.A. that provided a home away from home to soldiers and military personnel. Construction of the Flushing subway line along West 42nd Street closed the north side of Bryant Park for most of the 1920s, leading to a period of neglect for the small urban park. In 1932, it was chosen as the site for the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth. The Bicentennial committee built a wood and plaster replica of old Federal Hall, the Wall Street building in which Washington took the oath of office as the first U.S. President. A reenactment of that inauguration was staged there on April 30, 1932. Responding to an open completion, Queens, NY architect Lusby Simpson submitted a redesign of Bryant Park featuring a classical scheme of a large central lawn, formal pathways, stone balustrades and borers of London Plane trees, together with an oval plaza at the west end containing the existing Josephine Shaw Lowell Memorial Fountain. New York City's powerful Parks Commissioner, Robert Moses, and his staff, including architect Aymar Embury II and landscape architect Gilmore D. Clarke, oversaw execution of Simpson's plan. The park was completed and opened to the public in September 1934. Shortly after, the New York Public Library established and outdoor reading room on the terrace at the eastern end of the park. In good weather, staffers moved stacks and book carts outside for readers to browse.
17. BRYANT_190826_059.JPG: Bryant Park Le Carrousel circa 2002 Fabricon Carousel Co., Inc. Brooklyn, NY
18. BRYANT_190826_069.JPG: Pigeons: * spread disease * destroy flower beds * leave leftovers for rats Please do not feed them.
19. BRYANT_190826_076.JPG: Buildings Overlooking Bryant Park Outstanding New York architecture frames the park Part of Bryant Park's urbane charm is that it is surrounded by prime examples of several periods of New York City architecture. At the northern corner of Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street is 500 Fifth Avenue. Shreve, Lamb & Harmon (architects of the Empire State Building) designed this 60-story Art Deco tower in 1930. York & Sawyer designed the former Salmon Tower at 11 West 42nd Street in 1926-27. The famed Guastavino Company produced the tile vaults of the Salmon lobby, and bas-reliefs representing the months of the year adorn the building's entrance. Warren & Wetmore (architects of Grand Central Terminal) designed the building at 33 West 42nd Street (1912). Until 1926, the third floor housed Aeolian Hall, site of the premiere of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Stern's department store occupied the site to the west from 1913 to 1970. In 1972, George Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed the travertine and glass W.R. Grace Building, with its dramatic sloping form. At the northeast corner of Sixth Avenue and 42nd Street is the Home Box Office Building designed in 1985 by Kohn Pedersen Fox. Its neighbor at the northwest corner, the ecologically friendly Bank of America Tower, was designed by Cook + Fox Architects, and completed in 2009. It was the first skyscraper in the world to receive LEED Platinum certification.The tall, modern building at 1095 Sixth Avenue between 41st and 42nd Streets was designed by Kahn & Jacobs and built in 1974. The distinctive building at the southeast corner of Sixth Avenue and 40th Street is known as the Bryant Park Studio Building. Charles Alonzo Rich designed the Beaux-Arts style building in 1900-01 to house artists' studios, including those of photographer Edward Steichen and the painter Fernand Leger. Continuing east on 40th Street, York & Sawyer designed 54 West 40th Street as the Republican Club. Raymond Hood and J. Andre Fouilhoux designed the block's most prominent edifice, the American Radiator Building, in 1923-24. Now the Bryant Park Hotel, this romantic tower of dark brick is topped with gold, so that when illuminated at night the building resembles a glowing radiator coil. (Hood later directed the team of architects that designed Rockefeller Center.) Andrew Carnegie commissioned the architects Whitfield & King to design 32 W 40th Street as the Engineers' Club in 1906. John Hemenway Duncan (architect of Grant's Tomb) designed the lovely Knox Hat Building at the southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 40th Street. Erected in 1901-02, it housed the head office of one of the country's great men's hat brands. Attia & Perkins in 1981-83 designed the office tower (now home to HSBC) preserving the Knox Hat Building shell. The most recognizable building overlooking the park is the New York Public Library (1898-1911). The design is by Thomas Hastings and John Merven Arrere in collaboration with the first director of the Library, John Shaw Billings. The stone "stripes" on the library's rear facade indicate the original book stacks, and behind the top floor arcade is the Main Reading Room.
20. BRYANT_190826_085.JPG: The Bryant Park Studio Building designed by Charles Alonzo Rich (1900-01).
21. BRYANT_190826_087.JPG: In 1972, George Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed the travertine and glass W.R. Grace Building, with its dramatic sloping form.
22. BRYANT_190826_090.JPG: Georgia O'Keeffe painting of the American Radiator Building (1923-24).
23. BRYANT_190826_093.JPG: The Knox Hat Building designed by John Hemenway Duncan (1901-02).
24. BRYANT_190826_096.JPG: Welcome to Bryant Park Bryant Park Corporation, a private not-for-profit company, was founded in 1980 to renovate, restore, maintain, and operate this urban oasis, designated a Scenic Landmark in 1974 by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission. Designed in the French Classical tradition, Bryant Park's six acres feature 269 trees, including London Plane along the promenades; more than 100 species of woody shrubs, herbaceous perennials, annuals, and 150,000 bulbs; a 1.1-acre lawn; and seven monuments. More than 15,000 people visit Bryant Park on an average spring or summer day.
25. BRYANT_190826_121.JPG: In honor of Major John Purroy Mitchel Died in service 1918
26. BRYANT_190826_154.JPG: To commemorate John Purroy Mitchell Mayor 1913-1917
27. BRYANT_190826_157.JPG: Reservoir Square In 1847, a former potter's field became a public park... As far back as 1686, New York's colonial governor, Thomas Dongan, designed the land that is now Bryant Park as public property. At the start of the Revolutionary War in 1776, after being routed by the British in the Battle of Long Island, George Washington's troops raced across Manhattan, traversing the future site of the park. The city established a potter's field on what is now Bryant Park, in 1823. Many small parks and squares in American cities once served the same function. As the city grew and surrounded the burial grounds, these open spaces were often converted into public parks. The potter's field was decommissioned in 1840 to enable construction of a new reservoir on adjacent land. The Croton Distribution Reservoir was finished in 1841 and opened to the public a year later. An engineering marvel of its time, the reservoir was a man-made lake, four acres in area, surrounded by fifty-foot-high, twenty-five-foot-thick granite walls designed in the Egyptian Revival style. Along the tops of the walls were public promenades, offering breathtaking views. The facility was an integral part of the first supply of fresh water carried by aqueducts into the city from upstate New York. In 1846, the city designated the area to the west of the reservoir (formerly a potter's field) as a public park. Known as Reservoir Square, the land was left largely unattended until funding came through for a full-scale renovation in 1870. The lot was transformed into a Victorian greensward whose allure would grow as the site became increasingly more central to city life. During the Civil War, the Union Army held military drills in Reservoir Square. Shortly after that, in the immediate vicinity of the park, the Civil War draft riots raged, and the "Croton Cottage," a nearby establishment offering billiards, entertainment, and refreshments to visitors of the reservoir promenades, was torched. In 1884, Reservoir Square was renamed Bryant Park, to honor the recently deceased poet and editor, William Cullen Bryant. By the end of the nineteenth century the reservoir was obsolete and slated for demolition. The city selected the site for its new public library. In one of the early proposals for a library on the site (1891), architect Ernest Flagg drew up plans for an enormous, fantastic structure that would have extended from Fifth to Sixth Avenues, with small amounts of parkland left open on the north and south sides. The park would not take on an individual identity until the turn of the century, and construction of the New York Public Library finished in 1911.
28. BRYANT_190826_167.JPG: The water "is full of tadpoles and animalculae," wrote one observer.
29. BRYANT_190826_170.JPG: Croton Engineering Department prepared reservoir plans and designs.
30. BRYANT_190826_173.JPG: Fifth Avenue looking south with a view of the reservoir's pedestrian promenades.
31. BRYANT_190601_01.JPG: The following pictures are from the page 2019_NY_Bryant_Pk NY -- NYC -- Bryant Park (96 photos from 2019)
32. BRYANT_190601_12.JPG: Bryant Park Le Carrousel circa 2002 Fabricon Carousel Co., Inc. Brooklyn, NY
33. BRYANT_190601_22.JPG: Grandpa's Folly
34. BRYANT_190601_32.JPG: Bust of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (New York City) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia An outdoor bronze portrait bust of German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe by sculptor Karl Fischer is installed on the south side of Bryant Park in Manhattan, New York. It is a replica of an iron and copper bust created by Kischer around 1832, the year of Goethe's death. Acquired by the Goethe Society of America in 1987, it was displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art until it was relocated to Bryant Park in 1932. Following its installation there, the iron and copper bust was replaced with a bronze casting and dedicated on February 15, 1932. The sculpture was refurbished in 1992 by the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation. The sculpture sits on a Swedish black granite pedestal.
35. BRYANT_190601_36.JPG: Goethe 1748-1832 Erected 1932 by the Goethe Society of America
36. BRYANT_190601_49.JPG: Bryant Park Grill
37. BRYANT_180815_001.JPG: The following pictures are from the page 2018_NY_Bryant_Pk NY -- NYC -- Bryant Park (37 photos from 2018)
  The Restoration of Bryant Park (1980-1992)
38. BRYANT_180815_007.JPG: The Crystal Palace "... beautiful beyond description" – Mark Twain By the early 1850s New York had grown to sufficient size and prominence that the city decided to host a major exhibition similar to London's Great Exhibition of 1851. The Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations – a world's fair precursor – opened July 14, 1853 in a still sparsely developed part of the city. Fortieth and Forty-second Streets bounded the four-acre site immediately west of the Croton Distributing Reservoir, today's Bryant Park. To house the exhibition, Georg Carstensen, and Charles Gildemeister designed a remarkable iron-and-glass structure, much like an enormous greenhouse. The building was inspired by the one built in London for its exhibition two years earlier, also called the Crystal Palace. The Crystal Palace was one of the largest and most sophisticated designs that had ever been built in America. Octagonal in plan, it was surmounted by a soaring 123-foot-high dome, and inspired American architects and builders with the possibilities of iron construction. The exhibition hall comprised fifteen thousand panels of glass. Four thousand exhibitors filled the hall with the industrial wares, consumer goods, and art works of the nation. Elisha Graves Otis, a young inventor and entrepreneur, staged one of the most dramatic of the exhibits. Otis had been promoting his steam-powered elevators, but what, people wondered, would happen should the cable break? To allay such fears, he invented the automatic safety brake – but he had to demonstrate the invention. Otis erected a high platform connected to one of his elevators. He himself got in the cab, and cut the cable. As the cab fell, his new spring-leaf safety brake was successfully activated. A prominent New York merchant of china and glassware, who may have witnessed Otis's demonstration at the fair, ordered and installed the invention in his new store at Broadway and Broome Street. The safety elevator in the Haughwout Building, completed in 1857 (and still standing), was the first in the world to be installed in a commercial building. The exhibition set off one of the first major tourism booms in New York, and many hotels were built. One visitor was seventeen-year-old Samuel Langhorne Clemens of Hannibal, Missouri. Later, as Mark Twain, he wrote that the Crystal Place was "beautiful beyond description," and marveled that the six thousand daily visitors to the exhibition were double the population of his hometown. Over one million people visited the Crystal Palace Exhibition before it closed on November 1, 1854. Despite its popularity, exhibition sponsors lost $300,000. After the fair, the structure, believed to be fireproof, was leased for a variety of purposes. On October 5, 1858, in a spectacular blaze it burned to the ground. Remarkably, no lives were lost.
39. BRYANT_180815_012.JPG: The Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations opened in 1853
40. BRYANT_180815_015.JPG: The teenager who grew up to be Mark Twain
41. BRYANT_180815_019.JPG: No lives were lost when the Crystal Palace blazed in 1858
42. BRYANT_180815_044.JPG: William Earle Dodge William E. Dodge From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia William Earl Dodge Sr. (September 4, 1805 – February 9, 1883) was a New York businessman, referred to as one of the "Merchant Princes" of Wall Street in the years leading up to the American Civil War. Dodge saw slavery as an evil to be peaceably removed, but not to be interfered with where it existed. He was a Native American rights activist and served as the president of the National Temperance Society from 1865 to 1883. Dodge represented New York's 8th congressional district in the United States Congress for a portion of the 39th United States Congress in 1866-1867 and was a founding member of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA).
43. BRYANT_180815_050.JPG: Bryant Park Bathroom Manhattan, New York The fanciest public restroom in New York City boasts fresh flowers, art, and a classical music soundtrack. Think of public bathrooms, and the mind conjures images of grimy walls, wet floors, and stinky, dirty toilets. But you won’t find any of those features in this Beaux-Arts building, which hides a rare restroom oasis. The building is home to what may be the most luxurious public bathroom in all of New York City. Funded by private donors, these tiny toilets (with only two stalls for men and three for women) offer those with full bladders an unusually pleasant public bathroom experience. Guests are greeted by fresh flowers, paintings of the park made by artists-in-residence, and even bathroom attendants, all set to a background of curated classical music. Large frosted glass windows let light gently spill into the space. The toilets, sinks, and other fixtures are the same luxury brand used at the MoMA. The building, which is a historic landmark, underwent a roughly $300,000 renovation in 2017. It’s clear the donors weren’t flushing funds down the toilet, as pedestrians seem to appreciate the upscale commode. It’s been said that park employees are regularly sent to scout out bathrooms in the Waldorf Astoria, the Plaza, the St. Regis, and other luxury locations to scope out the competition. Anyone with a taste for luxury is free to make use of the toilets, though be forewarned, lines to get in can be pretty long. Know Before You Go Bathroom attendants don't accept tips. The bathroom is wheelchair accessible. The above was from https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bryant-park-bathroom
44. BRYANT_180815_053.JPG: Love our restroom? VOTE! This bathroom is a finalist for the national Cintas America's Best Restroom contest. Visit bryantpark.org/restroom and vote for Bryant Park!
45. BRYANT_180815_083.JPG: William Cullen Bryant 1794-1878 Yet let no empty gust Of passion find an utterance in they lay, A blast that whirls the dust Along the howling street and dies away; But feelings of calm power and mighty sweep, Like currents journeying through the windless deep.
46. BRYANT_180815_101.JPG: Gertrude Stein 1874-1946 by Jo Davidson, 1923 Bronze cast 1991
47. BRYANT_180815_109.JPG: Wendell L. Willkie 1892-1944 "I believe in America because in it we are free -- free to choose our government to speak our minds to observe our different religions." Erected by Freedom House February 18, 1957
48. BRYANT_180815_113.JPG: Paul Fuelde, Sc.
49. BRYANT_180815_125.JPG: Nicola Tesla Corner
50. BRYANT_160915_001.JPG: The following pictures are from the page 2016_NY_Bryant_Pk NY -- NYC -- Bryant Park (33 photos from 2016)
51. BRYANT_160915_007.JPG: This statue is the gift of the United States of Brazil to the United States of America 1953
52. BRYANT_160915_008.JPG: Jose Bonifacio de Andrada e Silva 1763-1838 Patriarch of the independence of Brazil Statesman * Scientist * Author
53. BRYANT_160915_034.JPG: Goethe
54. BRYANT_160915_037.JPG: Goethe 1748-1832 Erected 1932 by the Goethe Society of America
55. BRYANT_160915_055.JPG: William Cullen Bryant 1794-1878 Yet let no empty gust Of passion find an utterance in they lay, A blast that whirls the dust Along the howling street and dies away; But feelings of calm power and mighty sweep, Like currents journeying through the windless deep.
56. BRYANT_160915_062.JPG: Bryant Park Today From A Derelict Park To An Urban Oasis In 1974, the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission designated Bryant Park a Scenic Landmark, call it "...a prime example of a park designed in the French Classical tradition...an urban amenity worthy of our civic pride.: Within five years of this declaration, park attendance decreased and criminal activity increased, with over 150 reported robberies each year. Mounting concern about crime, drug-trading, and vandalism, from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the New York Public Library, New York City officials, and concerned citizens, led to a commissioned report by urbanist William H. "Holly" Whyte. Whyte wrote of Bryant Park: "If you went out and hired the dope dealers, you couldn't get a more villainous crew to show the urgency of the [present Bryant Park] situation." Soon after, on January 1, 1980, the Bryant Park Corporation (BPC) - then called Bryant Park Restoration Corporation - was founded, with the aim to restore, program, and operate the park. The fledgling not-for-profit organization was led by Daniel A. Berderman, a young Harvard Business School graduate, and Andrew Heiskell, the Chairman of Time, Inc. and the New York Public Library. BPC undertook a massive cleaning effort and deployed additional maintenance staff throughout the park. Graffiti was removed, free public events were staged, and in areas formerly occupied by drug-sellers, the Parks Council installed temporary vendor kiosks for books and flowers, and BPC installed a half-price tickets booth. Attracted by these improvements, some park visitors returned, and soon after BPC unveiled a master plan to radically renovate Bryant Park. Drafted in 1980, the plan focused on long-term, funding and management of the park, and also provided for an improved lawn, two full-service restaurants, gravel paths, major capital repairs, improved lighting, and a meticulous restoration of the park's restrooms and monuments. With support from the Mayor's Office and the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, the management and operational duties were transferred over to the BPC, making it the first publicly-owned park in the United States to become fully privately managed. Bierderman, aided first by NYPL Chairman and several major property-owners, created a business improvement district, the Bryant Park Management Corporation, which united the park's abutting property-owners to assure an initial income stream for maintenance, and a source of credit for the development of revenue-producing facilities. On March 1, 1988 BPC assumed day-to-day management of the park, and construction began on a massive renovation. That summer, city agencies approved BPC's landscape plans (drafted by Hanna/Olin Ltd.) to build new entrances for increased visibility from the street, enhance the formal French garden design, and improve and repair paths and lighting. BPC's plan included restoration of the park's monuments, and an elaborate renovation of its long-closed restrooms. The city also approved BPC's designs (by Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates) for two restaurant pavilions and four concession kiosks, which were to generate off-peak activity and add revenue for operations. In all, BPC raised $18 million for the park renovation from private donations, a bank loan, risk capital from park concessionaires, and the city. To provide operating money for the park's private sanitation and security forces, and horticultural maintenance, the company combined several new revenue streams. These included rental fees from commercial events, concession revenues, corporate sponsorships, and BID revenues. Bryant Park reopened in April 1992 to lavish praise from citizens and visitors, the media, and urbanists. As noted in an Urban Land Institute award citation, "the success of the park feeds the success of the neighborhood." Soon the chorus was joined by the business community, whose assessments helped fund the renewal, and who now benefit from much higher property values. The redesign brought not only significant physical changes in the parks design, but free music, dance, and children's programming, classes, and concessions. Year-around amenities added since 1992 including a full-service bar and restaurant (1995), four food kiosks (1992), free wi-fi internet access (2002), a custom-built carousel (2002), and a custom furnished lounge-like deck accented with exotic plants (2009). Seasonal amenities include the Holiday Shops (2002), the Reading Room (2003), a winter ice skating rink (2005), and ping pong (2009). In the spring and summer, BPC offers over 500 free classes including yoga, knitting, and fencing. Other activities include birding tours, petanque and chess tournaments, free concerts, and book talks in the Reading Room. The start of the park's busy summer season is marked by the return of the HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival, a weekly event that draws thousands of visitors to the park to enjoy outdoor screenings of classic films. BPC continues to add new programs, events, and amenities, as well as adjust older favorites to cater to an ever-growing and diverse population. By paying careful attention to detail, service quality, and visitor feedback, BPC has increased its visitor count from almost zero in the late 1970s to six million people per year. Discover even more historical detail about Bryant Park! Go to www.bryantpark.org
57. BRYANT_160915_073.JPG: Monuments in Bryant Park An "outdoor museum" of public art works (18) The William Cullen Bryant Memorial, a tribute, like the name of the park itself, to one of the most important New Yorkers of the nineteenth century, is a bronze by Herbert Adams - one of the best New York sculptors of his period. Thomas Hastings, an architect of the New York Public Library, designed the marble setting. Bryant (1794-1878) was a poet, newspaper owner and editor, and a civic reformer. (17) The bronze of the American writer Gertrude Stein (1874-1946), just to the west of the Bryant Memorial, was created in 1923 by the New York-born sculptor, Jo Davidson. Donated to the park in 1992, the statue is a cast made from the original, which is now in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art. (16) On the south side of the park is a bronze bust of the great German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), by Karl Fischer, who created the bust in the year Goethe died. The Goethe Club of New York purchased it in 1876 and donated it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art - which in turn donated it to Bryant Park in 1932, the centennial of the writer's death. (19) Master sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward's bronze statue of William Earle Dodge (1805-83) on the north side of the park, was one of the first in the city to honor a local citizen. Dodge was a businessman (Phelps, Dodge & Co., Native American rights activist, and philanthropist, who helped found the Y.M.C.A. in America. Originally dedicated in Herald Square on October 22, 1885, the statue was moved here in 1941. (15) Dedicated in 1912, the pink granite Josephine Shaw Lowell Memorial Fountain by Charles Adams Platt, an authority on Italian Renaissance gardens and fountains, was the city's first public memorial to a woman. Social worker Lowell (1843-1905) founded the Charity Organization Society in 1882. (21) Overlooking Avenue of the Americas is a bronze statue of Jose Bonifacio de Andrada e Silva (1763-1838), by Jose Otavio Correia Lima. Dedicated in 1955, the statue was a gift from the people of Brazil when Sixth Avenue was renamed and conceived in the spirit of pan-American cooperation. Andrada, a leader in the Brazilian fight for independence from Portugal, became Brazil's first prime minister. (20) Just to the north of Andrada, also on the Avenue of the Americas, is bronze statue of Benito Juarez (1806-1872), by Moises Cabrera Orozco. Juarez, a beloved Mexican President, is the first Mexican to be commemorated with a city monument. The statue was a gift from the Mexican State of Oaxaca to the City of New York and was dedicated on October 9, 2004.
58. BRYANT_160915_094.JPG: Early Bryant Park Bryant was a leading light in nineteenth century New York Reservoir Square was renamed Bryant Park in 1884, in honor of New York's leading citizen, William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878). In the late 1800s, three philanthropic institutions joined to form the New York Public Library; the building site chosen was the Croton Reservoir. The Beaux-Arts architecture of the library, designed by John Carrere and Thomas Hastings, extended to the redesign of the eastern part of Bryant Park. Using the same Vermont marble as the library building, Hastings included a back terrace and a memorial to Bryant, sculpted by Herbert Adams. The north and south ends of the terrace are defined by twin square structures, designed as comfort stations. Today, the north structure functions as an elegant restroom. During World War I, Bryant Park was the site of one of the city's largest public gardens. Planted by the National War Garden Commission and War Garden Committee of Manhattan, these victory gardens sought to involve citizens in food production and boost morale. Around the same time, the park was also home to the Eagle Hut, a facility built and operated by the Y.M.C.A. that provided a home away from home to soldiers and military personnel. Construction of the Flushing subway line along West 42nd Street closed the north side of Bryant Park for most of the 1920s, leading to a period of neglect for the small urban park. In 1932, it was chosen as the site for the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth. The Bicentennial committee built a wood and plaster replica of old Federal Hall, the Wall Street building in which Washington took the oath of office as the first U.S. President. A reenactment of that inauguration was staged there on April 30, 1932. Responding to an open completion, Queens, NY architect Lusby Simpson submitted a redesign of Bryant Park featuring a classical scheme of a large central lawn, formal pathways, stone balustrades and borers of London Plane trees, together with an oval plaza at the west end containing the existing Josephine Shaw Lowell Memorial Fountain. New York City's powerful Parks Commissioner, Robert Moses, and his staff, including architect Aymar Embury II and landscape architect Gilmore D. Clarke, oversaw execution of Simpson's plan. The park was completed and opened to the public in September 1934. Shortly after, the New York Public Library established and outdoor reading room on the terrace at the eastern end of the park. In good weather, staffers moved stacks and book carts outside for readers to browse.
59. BRYANT_160915_104.JPG: Buildings Overlooking Bryant Park Outstanding New York architecture frames the park Part of Bryant Park's urbane charm is that it is surrounded by prime examples of several periods of New York City architecture. At the northern corner of Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street is 500 Fifth Avenue. Shreve, Lamb & Harmon (architects of the Empire State Building) designed this 60-story Art Deco tower in 1930. York & Sawyer designed the former Salmon Tower at 11 West 42nd Street in 1926-27. The famed Guastavino Company produced the tile vaults of the Salmon lobby, and bas-reliefs representing the months of the year adorn the building's entrance. Warren & Wetmore (architects of Grand Central Terminal) designed the building at 33 West 42nd Street (1912). Until 1926, the third floor housed Aeolian Hall, site of the premiere of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Stern's department store occupied the site to the west from 1913 to 1970. In 1972, George Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed the travertine and glass W.R. Grace Building, with its dramatic sloping form. At the northeast corner of Sixth Avenue and 42nd Street is the Home Box Office Building designed in 1985 by Kohn Pedersen Fox. Its neighbor at the northwest corner, the ecologically friendly Bank of America Tower, was designed by Cook + Fox Architects, and completed in 2009. It was the first skyscraper in the world to receive LEED Platinum certification.The tall, modern building at 1095 Sixth Avenue between 41st and 42nd Streets was designed by Kahn & Jacobs and built in 1974. The distinctive building at the southeast corner of Sixth Avenue and 40th Street is known as the Bryant Park Studio Building. Charles Alonzo Rich designed the Beaux-Arts style building in 1900-01 to house artists' studios, including those of photographer Edward Steichen and the painter Fernand Leger. Continuing east on 40th Street, York & Sawyer designed 54 West 40th Street as the Republican Club. Raymond Hood and J. Andre Fouilhoux designed the block's most prominent edifice, the American Radiator Building, in 1923-24. Now the Bryant Park Hotel, this romantic tower of dark brick is topped with gold, so that when illuminated at night the building resembles a glowing radiator coil. (Hood later directed the team of architects that designed Rockefeller Center.) Andrew Carnegie commissioned the architects Whitfield & King to design 32 W 40th Street as the Engineers' Club in 1906. John Hemenway Duncan (architect of Grant's Tomb) designed the lovely Knox Hat Building at the southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 40th Street. Erected in 1901-02, it housed the head office of one of the country's great men's hat brands. Attia & Perkins in 1981-83 designed the office tower (now home to HSBC) preserving the Knox Hat Building shell. The most recognizable building overlooking the park is the New York Public Library (1898-1911). The design is by Thomas Hastings and John Merven Arrere in collaboration with the first director of the Library, John Shaw Billings. The stone "stripes" on the library's rear facade indicate the original book stacks, and behind the top floor arcade is the Main Reading Room.
60. BRYANT_160915_110.JPG: Gertrude Stein 1874-1946 by Jo Davidson, 1923 Bronze cast 1991
61. BRYANT_160915_115.JPG: The post card in her arm says "Loving people live in a loving world. Hostile people live in a hostile world. Same world." Wayne Dyer
Multi Column: Number of columns of thumbnails to appear per page (normally defaults to 3): [1 col] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Wikipedia Description: Bryant Park
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bryant Park is a 9.603-acre (38,860 m2) privately managed public park located in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located between Fifth and Sixth Avenues and between 40th and 42nd Streets in Midtown Manhattan. Although technically the Main Branch of the New York Public Library is located within the park, effectively it forms the park's functional eastern boundary, making Sixth Avenue the park's primary entrance. Bryant Park is located entirely over an underground structure that houses the library's stacks, which were built in the 1980s when the park was closed to the public and excavated; the new library facilities were built below ground level while the park was restored above it.

Even though it is part of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, Bryant Park is managed by the private not-for-profit corporation Bryant Park Corporation. The park is cited as a model for the success of public-private partnerships.

History

Early history

In 1686, when the area was still a wilderness, New York's colonial governor, Thomas Dongan, designated the area now known as Bryant Park as a public space. George Washington's troops crossed the area while retreating from the Battle of Long Island in 1776. Beginning in 1823, Bryant Park was designated a potter's field (a graveyard for the poor) and remained so until 1840, when thousands of bodies were moved to Wards Island.

The first park at this site opened in 1847 as Reservoir Square. It was named after its neighbor, the Croton Distributing Reservoir. In 1853, the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations with the New York Crystal Palace, featuring thousands of exhibitors, took place in the park. The square was used for military drills during the American Civil War, and was the site of some of the New York City draft riots of July 1863, when the Colored Orphan Asylum at Fifth Avenue and 43rd Street was burned down.

In 1884, Reservoir Squar ...More...
Bigger photos? To save server space, the full-sized versions of these images have either not been loaded to the server or have been removed from the server. (Only some pages are loaded with full-sized images and those usually get removed after three months.) I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
Same Subject: Click on this link to see coverage of items having the same subject: [Park (Local)]
Connection Not Secure messages? Those warnings you get from your browser about this site not having secure connections worry some people. This means this site does not have SSL installed (the link is http:, not https:). That's bad if you're entering credit card numbers, passwords, or other personal information. But this site doesn't collect any personal information so SSL is not necessary. Life's good!
Limiting Text: You can turn off all of this text by clicking this link: [Thumbnails Only]
Photo Contact: [Email Bruce Guthrie].