Conservatory Water

Conservatory Water is a pond located in a natural hollow within Central Park in Manhattan, New York City. It is located west of Fifth Avenue, centered opposite East 74th Street. The pond is surrounded by several landscaped hills, resulting in a somewhat manicured park landscape, planned in deferential reference to the estate plantings of the owners of the mansions that once lined this stretch of Fifth Avenue.

Conservatory Water, facing south

Conservatory Water is named for a glass-house for tropical plants and was intended to be entered from Fifth Avenue by a grand stair. The shore of Conservatory Water contains the Kerbs Memorial Boathouse, where patrons can rent and navigate radio-controlled model boats.

The water was supplied from the Ramble and Lake, the site of the historic Sawkill stream, which once flowed through here on its way to the East River. When Central Park was built in the mid-19th century, hardy water lilies were naturalized in the bottom mud and tender ones were wintered over in the park's conservatory. Later the naturalistic water lily pond was reshaped as a model boat pond.

History

Conservatory Water is named for another estate-garden feature, a glass-house for tropical plants, to be entered from Fifth Avenue by a grand stair.[1] The garden had been proposed in the Greensward Plan of 1857, during a design competition for Central Park where the Greensward Plan ultimately won out. Several other proposals submitted during the competition did not include a formal garden. The two principal designers of the Greensward Plan, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, instead suggested building a conservatory on the site of the proposed formal garden, with a "hard-edged" reflecting pool in the middle. Only the reflecting pool was constructed, though.[2]:146

A naturalistic pond displaying water lilies was excavated. The steep bank towards Fifth Avenue was densely planted with shrubs and trees, including birch—for quick cover—and copper beech. Samuel Parsons, Calvert Vaux's assistant and partner, who was named Superintendent of Plantings, described the effect in his Landscape Gardening (1891):

The general shape of this pond was oval, with winding, irregular shores, bounded by a high bank on the east side and a great willow drooping over the north end. Rocks were disposed in the immediate banks, so as to suggest a natural formation, rather than an artificial pond. The bottom, scarcely three feet deep, was cemented tight as a cup, and the water flowed gently in at one end, and out at the other, and so through a basin and into the sewer. Eighteen inches of soil was made rich with manure and deposited over the bottom.[3]

The water was supplied from the Ramble and Lake, the site of the historic Sawkill stream, which once flowed through here on its way to the East River.[4] Hardy water lilies, both European and American, were naturalized in the bottom mud and tender ones, planted in boxes, were wintered over in the park's conservatory, now the site of Conservatory Garden.

Conservatory Water during a winter sunset, facing east

Since the 1860s, children had sailed their model yachts at the pond.[5] Later, the naturalistic water lily pond was reshaped as a model boat pond loosely based on that of one in the Jardin du Luxembourg, in Paris.[6][7]

The formally shaped shallow basin set in a molded curb of "Atlantic Blue" granite (replacing a concrete curb in 2000)[8][9] is home water to a flotilla of model sailboats.[2]:146[5] They were made familiar in the pages of E.B. White's children's realistic fantasy novel Stuart Little (1945) about a mouse-like human boy who sailed his ship on Conservatory Water, and recreated in the popular family animated/live-action comedy 1999 film of the same name.[2]:146[5]

Boathouse
The Kerbs Memorial Boathouse

The eastern shore of Conservatory Water contains the Kerbs Memorial Boathouse, designed by architect Aymar Embury II, where patrons can rent and navigate radio-controlled and wind-powered model boats.[10]ref name="auto"/>[11][12] The 1954 boathouse, in picnic Georgian taste with red brick and a green copper hip roof and steeple, outside of which is a flagstone patio,[13][14] houses resident model sailboats as well as the radio-controlled model yachts of the Central Park Model Yacht Club.

Surroundings

The waters of Conservatory Water shelter a seasonal population of unusual minute freshwater jellyfish, Craspedacusta sowerbyi. In the sculptured Beaux-Arts pediment of an upper-floor window of 927 Fifth Avenue, overlooking Conservatory Water, the red-tailed hawk named "Pale Male" set up a nest, under the binocular watch of the Park's numerous bird-watchers.

Bronze sculptural groups set in small terraces fronting the Water commemorate Alice in Wonderland (11 feet (3.4 m) tall at a tea party held by the Mad Hatter; by sculptor José de Creeft patterned on illustrations drawn by John Tenniel, 1959, commissioned by philanthropist George Delacorte) and Hans Christian Andersen (by Georg John Lober, 1955).[15][16][17][18] These were built by NYC Parks commissioner Robert Moses in the 1950s as part of the park's "Children's District". Another statue, that of the fictional Mary Poppins, was not constructed.[2]:146

Pug Hill

Pug Hill is located to the northwest of the Alice and Wonderland statue and was a popular place for the city's pug owners to socialize in the late 1990s through the mid-2000s.[19] At times, there were so many pugs present that they were described as a fawn and black whirlpool moving through the grass.[20] However, Pug Hill gatherings were ended due to heavy NYC Parks enforcement.[21] In 2006, Pug Hill was the inspiration for an eponymous book.[22]

Pilgrim Hill
Flowering Yoshino cherry trees on Pilgrim Hill

Pilgrim Hill lies to the southwest of Conservatory Water, just inside the park entrance at 5th Avenue and on the north side of 72nd Street.[23][24][25][26] Its slopes are popular among locals for sledding in the winter when Central Park receives 6 inches of snow, for groves of pale flowering Yoshino cherry trees as they burst into bloom in the spring, and for picnics and lounging in warmer months.[24][25] The slopes are dotted by Prunus serrulata and other specimen trees, notably a globose European Hornbeam and nine species of oak, all set in rolling lawn.

They are surveyed by artist John Quincy Adams Ward's bronze statue of The Pilgrim, a 9 feet (2.7 m) tall stylized representation of one of the Pilgrims, British immigrants to the New World led by William Bradford who left from Plymouth, England, in the cargo ship Mayflower in September 1620.[26][27] The statue faces westward on the crest of a little knoll at the top of the hill, on a rusticated Quincy granite pedestal that was created by architect Richard Morris Hunt and contains four bas-reliefs (depicting the ship the Mayflower, Bible and Sword, Cross-Bow and Arrows, and Commerce), overlooking the East Drive at East 72nd Street.[27][24][25][28] The statue was donated to New York City in 1885 by the New England Society of New York.[24][25][26][5]

Waldo Hutchins bench

Discreetly sited overlooking Conservatory Water is a curved white granite exedra outdoor bench commemorating Waldo Hutchins (1822–1891), a member of the original Board of Commissioners for Central Park.[29][30] It is almost 4 feet (1.2 m) tall by 27 feet (8.2 m) long. [29] Its architect was Eric Gugler, and it was executed by the Piccirilli Brothers studio in 1932, the firm responsible for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. [29] It has a small sundial at the back of the bench designed by sculptor Albert Stewart, featuring a small bronze gnomon sculpture at its center by sculptor Paul Manship.[31][29][30] Incised in the bench and paving three semicircular arced lines match the bench’s shadow lines at 10:00 a.m., noon, and 2:00 p.m. at the vernal and autumnal equinoxes.[29] There are two Latin inscriptions etched into the back of the bench: vivas oportet si vis tibi vivere ("One must live for another, if he wishes to live for himself"; a quotation of the Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger); and the sundial reads ne diruatur fuga temporum ("Let it not be destroyed by the passage of time").[32][30] On the backside, Pilgrim Hill overlooks the bench and Conservatory Water.[24]

References
  1. Rogers, Elizabeth (1987). Rebuilding Central Park: a management and restoration plan. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-262-18127-3. OCLC 14586688.
  2. Miller, Sara (2003). Central Park : an American masterpiece. New York: Harry N. Abrams Publishers in association with the Central Park Conservancy. ISBN 978-0-8109-3946-2. OCLC 50773395.
  3. Parsons, Samuel (2017) [1891]. Landscape Gardening: Notes and Suggestions on Lawns and Lawn Planting--laying Out and Arrangement of Country Places, Large and Small Parks, Cemetery Plots, and Railway-station Lawns--deciduous and Evergreen Trees and Shrubs--the Hardy Border-bedding. Hansebooks. p. 251. ISBN 978-3-337-22434-9. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  4. G. E. Hill and G. E. Waring Jr, "Old wells and watercourses on the isle of Manhattan, part I" in M. W. Goodwin et al., eds., 1897. Historic New York: Being the First Series of the Half Moon Papers, quoted in Sanderson, Eric (2013). Mannahatta: a natural history of New York City. New York London: Abrams. p. 254. ISBN 978-1-61312-573-1. OCLC 897840866.
  5. Miller, Sara Cedar (April 7, 2020). Seeing Central Park: The Official Guide Updated and Expanded. Abrams. ISBN 978-1-68335-879-4.
  6. Sergey Kadinsky (2016). Hidden Waters of New York City: A History and Guide to 101 Forgotten Lakes, Ponds, Creeks, and Streams in the Five Boroughs
  7. Dorling Kindersley (2012). Eyewitness Travel Family Guide New York City
  8. "CENTRAL PARK: 150 YEARS OF PARK HISTORY". www.tlc-mag.com.
  9. "CPC History: 1998-2002". centralparknyc.org. October 11, 2006. Archived from the original on October 11, 2006. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  10. Stern, Robert A.M. (1995). New York 1960: Architecture and Urbanism Between the Second World War and the Bicentennial. New York. Monacelli Press. ISBN 978-1-885254-02-3. OCLC 32159240.
  11. "Conservatory Water". The Official Website of Central Park NYC. Central Park Conservancy. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
  12. "Jeanne E. Kerbs: NYC Parks". Central Park Monuments. June 26, 1939. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
  13. "Kerbs Boathouse". Central Park Conservancy. November 5, 2018.
  14. Berenson, Richard L. (1999). Barnes & Noble Complete Illustrated Map and Guidebook to Central Park. Produced for Silver Lining Books by Berenson Design & Books. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-7607-1660-1. OCLC 54885164.
  15. "Alice in Wonderland - Central Park Conservancy & Gardens".
  16. "Alice in Wonderland". www.centralpark.com. April 12, 2019.
  17. "Alice in Wonderland". Central Park Conservancy. January 28, 2019.
  18. New York. Blue guide. E. Benn. 1983. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  19. Yazigi, Monique P. (June 1, 1997). "While the Pugs Eat the Caviar, Owners Bond". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  20. Ethan Brown (May 29, 2000). "Pets: Every Dog Has Its Day". New York Magazine. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  21. Smerd, Jeremy (May 7, 2006). "When the Smoking Gun Looks a Lot Like a Leash". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  22. Pace, Alison (2006). pug hill. New York, NY: Penguin. ISBN 0425209717.
  23. General Society of Mayflower Descendants (2005). The Mayflower Quarterly. The Mayflower Quarterly. General Society of Mayflower Descendants. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  24. "Pilgrim Hill". www.centralpark.com. April 3, 2019. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  25. "Pilgrim Hill". Central Park Conservancy. July 28, 2020. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  26. Walsh, Kevin (January 8, 2020). "PILGRIM HILL, Central Park". Forgotten New York. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  27. "Pilgrim: NYC Parks". Central Park Monuments. June 26, 1939. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  28. Carroll, R.; Berenson, R.J. (2008). The Complete Illustrated Map and Guidebook to Central Park. Sterling Publishing Company, Incorporated. p. 57. ISBN 978-1-4027-5833-1. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  29. "Central Park Monuments - Waldo Hutchins : NYC Parks". www.nycgovparks.org.
  30. "Waldo Hutchins Bench". Central Park Conservancy. February 1, 2019.
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