NOTE: What makes an effective tribute? What makes a memorable memorial? This is the second in a series of posts in which I point out the lessons we can learn…
Introduction I find Reflecting Absence, the memorial on the site of the World Trade Center, profoundly unsatisfying. If you do, too, this essay will help you understand why landscape architecture…
The Manhattan Bridge, connecting Canal Street in Manhattan with Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, opened for business on the last day of 1909. Its 6,855-foot length carries four lanes of traffic…
Imagine no John Lennon ... I don’t know if we can. But if you need reminders of how influential he was, in music and in the world at large, then…
Who most influenced the shape of Central Park in its early years? There was Egbert Ludovicus Viele, whose detailed topographical study of the site helped make the park’s design a…
This essay is adapted from Chapter 20 of Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan: A Historical Guide. I’ve kept cross-references to other chapters in the book, all of which will eventually be updated and…
Robert Burns Dedicated 1880 Sculptor: Sir John Steell Medium & size: Bronze, over lifesize. Location: Central Park, on the Mall. If the city's street grid continued in the Park, it…
Did you know that in Union Square, the words of the Declaration of Independence are inscribed on a ten-foot-high bronze tablet? The Independence Flagpole in Union Square commemorates the 150th…
This essay is adapted from Chapter 20 of Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan: A Historical Guide. I’ve kept cross-references to other chapters in the book, all of which will eventually be updated and…
This essay is adapted from Chapter 26 of Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan: A Historical Guide. I’ve kept cross-references to other chapters in the book, all of which will eventually be updated and…