When New York City gained ownership of the area now known as Bryant Park, city officials decided to turn the area into a potter’s field. In 1840, the potter’s field was transformed into a reservoir. The Croton Distributing Reservoir consisted of an artificial lake four acres in size and connected to the reservoir in Central Park. The entire aqueduct system transported water from upstate New York down to New York City. In 1846, the city funded the construction of a public park, Reservoir Park, next to the Croton Distributing Reservoir. However, Reservoir Park was demolished in 1900.

The area was renamed from Reservoir Square to Bryant Park in 1884. It was named after the late William Cullen Bryant. Construction on a Beaux-Arts style library situated next to the reservoir, designed by John Merven Carrére and Thomas Hastings, lasted from 1884 until 1911. Today, the library is the New York Public Library.

Bryant Park was not immune to the negative effects of the Great Depression. Because of the poor economic condition of the city, there was little money to support the upkeep of the park. Furthermore, its location “in the shadow of the ‘noisy, clanky, and utterly barbarous’ Sixth Avenue El train…[and] ‘newsstands that look like the shacks of squatters’ (“Bryant Park Blog: 20th Anniversary: Bryant Park in the 1930’s.”). One of the iconic images of Bryant Park during this era is one of New Yorkers lining up through the park, demonstrative of the severity of the poor economic status of New Yorkers during the Depression.

Despite the efforts of nearby private companies to pay for a renovation of the park, the plans failed, including one to host an series of musical performances in the park because “far too few of the city’s residents could afford the 25-cent admission fee” (“Bryant Park Blog: 20th Anniversary: Bryant Park in the 1930’s.”). In 1933, the newly formed Architects’ Emergency Committee held a contest to find the best new design for Bryant Park. 

The design of Bryant Park as we know it today was part of a rehabilitation project spearheaded by Robert Moses, who was the Commissioner of Parks at the time. Before Moses began the rejuvenation, the park was filled with “winding paths, broken up by small clumps of trees, and lined with wood and cast iron benches, common elements in the Victorian Era landscaping” (Kumer 2010). The area was much eerier than it is today, attracting a large crowd of “derelicts, drug dealers and drug users” (Goldberger 1992). 

Moses implemented Lusby Simpson’s design of “a classical scheme of a large central lawn, formal pathways, stone balustrades, allées of London Plane trees, and at the west end, an oval plaza containing the Josephine Shaw Lowell Memorial Fountain” (“Bryant Park is born”). After the renovations were completed in 1934, Moses was praised for “the attractive plan [he] adopted for the rehabilitation of Bryant Park (“Moses is commended on Bryant Park plan”). In the 1930’s, Works Progress Administration employees worked as librarians at the New York Public Library. There, they helped bring books outside for patrons to read on the terrace.

http://blog.bryantpark.org/2012/04/20th-anniversary-bryant-park-in-1930s.html

Simpson’s design, however, made the park very closed off and isolated, unlike the park we know today. Between the time of its opening and the 1980’s, the Bryant Park area drastically declined and became a hub for dangerous activity. In 1982, Bryant Park underwent another renovation to make the space more inviting and business friendly. Many of the changes implemented in that renovation still exist today, such as the unrestricted entrances and refreshment stands (“Bryant Park”). The Bryant Park Restoration Corporation, the local business improvement district, manages the public park.

Although not much has changed in Bryant Park since its most recent renovation, it has certainly changed since it was a reservoir in the 1800’s. Today, Bryant Park is a social hub. It attracts tourists and New York City natives alike with the Citi Pond ice skating rink during the winter to the free music concerts in the summer and a plethora of activities in between. To an extent, the Bryant Park we know and enjoy today grew from the efforts the people of the Great Depression.

Picture taken by Megan Chiu

Bibliography

“Bryant Park – Great Public Spaces | Project for Public Spaces (PPS).” Project for Public Spaces – Placemaking for Communities. http://www.pps.org/great_public_spaces/one?public_place_id=26 (accessed May 14, 2012).

“Bryant Park – History.” New York State Unified Court System. http://www.courts.state.ny.us/reporter/webdocs/Bryant_Park_History.htm (accessed May 12, 2012).

“Bryant Park Blog: 20th Anniversary: Bryant Park in the 1930’s.” Bryant Park Blog. http://blog.bryantpark.org/2012/04/20th-anniversary-bryant-park-in-1930s.html (accessed May 13, 2012)

“Bryant Park Blog: From the Archives: The 1934 Moses Renovation of Bryant Park.” Bryant Park Blog. http://blog.bryantpark.org/2010/11/from-archive-1934-moses-renovation-of.html (accessed May 12, 2012).

“Bryant Park | Bryant Park is born.” Bryant Park. http://www.bryantpark.org/about-us/born.html (accessed May 13, 2012).

Goldberger, Paul. “ARCHITECTURE VIEW; Bryant Park, An Out-of-Town Experience – New York Times.” The New York Times – Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. http://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/03/arts/architecture-view-bryant-park-an-out-of-town-experience.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm (accessed May 14, 2012).