Central Park’s crafted landscape in Manhattan

Central Park is a vast designed landscape in Manhattan, laid out in the nineteenth century between Fifth Avenue and Central Park West as a public park for New York City. Its 843 acres of lawns, woodlands and water bodies form a continuous band of greenery between the Upper East Side and Upper West Side, creating a deliberate contrast with the surrounding street grid and towers.stretches from 59th Street to 110th Street

A nineteenth-century park shaped by the Greensward Plan

The land for Central Park was set aside in 1853, when the New York State Legislature approved the establishment of a large urban park on Manhattan Island.about 843 acres of it, removed from the built-up areas of New York In 1857 a commission was created to oversee the project and a competition was launched to find a design suitable for the scale of the site and the ambitions of the city.

Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux submitted a proposal known as the Greensward Plan in 1858 and won against more than thirty competing schemes.Together, Olmsted and Vaux created the Greensward Plan and beat 32 competitors Construction followed through the 1860s, and Central Park was largely completed by 1873, giving New York City what is widely described as a landmark work of landscape architecture.Central Park was completed in 1873

Lawns, lakes and woodland within the Manhattan grid

Central Park is organised into distinct landscape types that visitors can recognise on a single walk, ranging from broad open meadows to enclosed tree-covered areas and engineered water bodies.Its 843 acres included sweeping lawns, picturesque woodlands, meandering streams and broad lakes The Lake occupies a sizable area in the park’s midsection, formed by enlarging a natural creek, while other named features include the Ramble’s dense planting and the long promenade of the Mall leading towards Bethesda Terrace.Olmsted and Vaux enlarged a natural creek to fill 22 acres of what has ever since been called the Lake

Under the Greensward Plan, circulation through Central Park was carefully laid out, with separate paths for pedestrians, carriage drives and a bridle path for horses.three different categories of pathways—pedestrian walkways, carriage drives, and a bridle path A notable feature of the design is the set of transverse roads that cross the park at several points: these vehicle routes were placed below the main landscape level, leaving wide sweeps of planting and rock outcrops uninterrupted at eye level.sunken transverse roads, a required element of the design competition, which Olmsted and Vaux hid below the landscapes

Central Park’s crafted architecture and enduring role

Alongside its planted landscapes, Central Park incorporates built structures that have become recognisable features of the park. Bethesda Terrace, described in historical accounts as a central gathering point and “the heart of the park”, frames views towards the Lake and connects to the Mall’s formal avenue of trees.The Bethesda Terrace … was one of the very first structures to have been built in Central Park Bridges, arches and masonry walls punctuate the circulation routes, giving structure to the shifts between open and enclosed areas.

Central Park was conceived as a public space for New Yorkers and has remained a park used by residents and visitors for walking, informal recreation and organised activities. Its scale and variety, together with its location between major Manhattan avenues, have influenced the development of other urban parks in the United States and elsewhere, and it continues to serve as a large green landscape within one of the world’s densely built city centres.Central Park influenced the development of urban parks nationwide and is widely regarded as a masterpiece of landscape architecture

Visiting Central Park: what travellers from Western Europe should know

• Central Park lies in Manhattan in New York City, extending north from 59th Street and bounded lengthwise by Fifth Avenue and Central Park West. It is reached by New York City’s subway and bus network, with multiple stations and stops along its edges.
• The park’s terrain combines level lawns with sloping ground, rock outcrops and stairs within structures such as terraces and bridges, so some routes involve climbing steps or walking on uneven surfaces.
• Central Park is surrounded by dense city streets and avenues; within the park, wayfinding is aided by named features such as Bethesda Terrace, the Mall and the Reservoir, which are signposted on site maps.
• The official language is English and the currency is the United States dollar.
• Entry requirements depend on your nationality; UK travellers can check the FCDO travel advice at gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice, Irish travellers the Department of Foreign Affairs at ireland.ie.

Searching for Central Park on social platforms

These links open searches for Central Park on each platform.

Frequently asked questions about Central Park

Where is Central Park in New York City?

Central Park is in Manhattan, between the Upper East Side and Upper West Side, running from 59th Street to 110th Street and bordered by major avenues.

What can visitors expect when they walk through Central Park?

A visit to Central Park takes in open lawns, lakes, woodland, rock outcrops and built features such as bridges and Bethesda Terrace, all connected by a network of paths and drives.

What makes Central Park distinctive among urban parks?

Central Park is distinctive for its nineteenth-century Greensward Plan, which combines large-scale naturalistic landscapes with sunken transverse roads and crafted architecture within a dense city.