By Carol Tannenhauser
The paving stones, bricks, fences, and benches are new, as are the plantings on the sides of the path leading through the northwest section of Theodore Roosevelt Park to the Nobel Monument. But everything has been so carefully matched and placed you wouldn’t know it.
This section of the park, closed since September 2021, because of the construction of the Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation, reopened Monday morning with a coffee-and-donut reception for the neighborhood. In fact, if you hurry, you can still snag a donut, as the celebration will continue until 11 am. The entrance is at 81st Street and Columbus or Central Park West.
“We are so happy to be able to return the north part of the park to the neighborhood,” said Dan Slippen, vice president of government & corporate relations for the museum. “Come by and take a look and have a donut!”
The pride that all the staff members from the museum who attended feel about the project is palpable. Behind the donuts, the Gilder Center peeked through.
Here are some other views of the area, but we highly recommend you come and take a look for yourself.
The Gilder Center is scheduled to open on February 17, 2023.
Too bad it wasn’t open sooner when it was warmer weather. Anyway, happy to reclaim it.
Wait, wait — you mean the world did *not* end because of this project?? Who knew?!
Consider yourself saved from the inevitable donut heartburn! Now if they were giving away napoleons or cheesecake, maybe the heartburn would be worth it!
But for sure, the reopened park area and forthcoming science center is exciting.
For the first time ever, the WSR failed me – I got this mail at 11:01 – so no donuts for me.
Sorry!
I was waling there on Saturday – pleasantly surprised to see its resurrection. But am too late today to savor the donuts. The plantings etc. look great.
I’ve been peering through the fencing every time I pass, and my impression has been that they have not only restored this section of the park but improved it. Your pictures bear this out. It looks great!
It would be nice to know where the park is!
You can enter at W. 81st Street on either Central Park West or Columbus.
I love this park and miss it dearly since moving. The double rail fences are a nice replacement visually for the former post-and-chicken-wire setup. But I fear they make it even more convenient for selfish dog owners to destroy these areas by trespass. The small island with the cherry tree and lawn just inside the northwest entrance was a mud pit by the end of the pandemic thanks to them.
I already saw a dog owner actually let her dog pee on the new plantings. The low fence will allow dogs to go under or hop over. I don’t know how this fencing was approved after knowing that some people cut the higher fencing nightly to let their dogs in.
Complete waste of time and money – I can’t see a difference, only that I couldn’t use the space for the past 1.5-2 years. And some of the perfectly fine trees and shrubs that had been there were replaced.
Phew! What a relief since my earlier comment! I guess the world *did* come to an end because of the Museum’s improvements!
🙂
There are still a lot of fencing up.