Saturday, May 10, 2014

5th Avenue Side of Central Park


I know that I left you half way up Central Park, now I'm going to bring you down, walking south on the 5th Avenue side. Above photo is on 5th Avenue, and by now I was getting pretty tired, but when I've got an agenda and things to see I do not give up.


The often filmed little boat lake.


Some welcome seating, and in the far distance a person with their dogs, a common sight in the park.




The entrance to Central Park Zoo

The Lehman Gates

Designed by Paul Manship, the renowned sculptor of Prometheus at Rockefeller Center's skating rink, the Group of Bears at the Pat Hoffman Freedman Playground, and the Osborn Gates at the Ancient Playground.

It depicts animals, birds, and boys playing panpipes in a fanciful art Deco scrolling lintel. The whole composition is a lovely commentary on the interaction between children and animals, fitting for the zoo entrance. The Lehman Gates were donated by Governor and Mrs. Herbert H. Lehman in honor of their 50th wedding anniversary upon the opening of the Children's Zoo in 1961.

They were restored by the Conservancy in the 1980s.





Almost at the south end of the park.


The sculpture of General William Tecumseh Sherman is one of the finest sculptures by the talented American sculptor and New York City resident Augustus St.Gaudens. In 1892 St. Gaudens modeled a bust of the general who lived in New York after the Civil War. He then created the equestrian sculpture in Paris, France, completing it in 1903. After much discussion, the sculpture was placed at the main entrance to the Park, befitting such an important historical figure and monumental work of art. When the Pulitzer Fountain was designed in 1913 for the southern half of Grand Army Plaza, the Sherman Monument and surrounding landscape were moved so that the two halves of the plaza could be symmetrical. Sherman was restored and regilded in 2013 by the Central Park Conservancy, who will also restore Grand Army Plaza.


This is the Ritz Carlton Hotel (see where the 1% of the 1% stay) on 5th Avenue at the south end of Central Park.

Christy

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for sharing the rest of your walk. I do like the zoo gates. There seems to be a lot of interesting things in the park.

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