Alliance Honored with Lucy G. Moses Award for Wellhouse
April 22, 2019
The Lucy G. Moses Preservation Awards are given annually by the New York Landmarks Conservancy in recognition of the owners and stewards of historic buildings across the City, who have completed extraordinary restoration and reuse projects. This year, Prospect Park Alliance’s restoration and adaptive reuse of the historic park Wellhouse is a recipient of this top accolade.
Prospect Park Alliance Architect Alden Maddry accepts Lucy G. Moses Award for the Wellhouse, c. The New York Landmarks Conservancy.
The Wellhouse, completed in 1869, is the only building created by the park’s original designers—Olmsted and Vaux—still standing in Prospect Park. It was built in the late 1860s as one key component of Prospect Park’s manmade watercourse system.
After a long period of disuse, this structure was restored by Prospect Park Alliance and has found a new purpose–a comfort station, home to the first composting toilets in an NYC park! Composting toilets only use 3 to 6 ounces of water per flush—97% less water than a conventional toilet. In addition, the project features a grey water garden, which uses water collected from hand sinks, janitor sinks and floor drains to irrigate the nearby landscape of native grasses and plants.
Prospect Park Alliance, having recognized the historic significance of this project, made every effort to preserve and accurately recreate the Wellhouse, while adding the eco-friendly amenities. Prospect Park’s Wellhouse reconstruction demonstrates that a beautiful historical building can be faithfully restored while being repurposed as a groundbreaking environmental facility open to the public.
The Prospect Park Alliance Design and Construction team at the 2019 Lucy G. Moses Awards, c. The New York Landmarks Conservancy.
c. Jordan Rathkopf
2019 Earth Day Preview
Join Prospect Park Alliance and community partners for our annual Earth Day Celebration at the Prospect Park Audubon Center! This environmental extravaganza, which focuses this year on protecting Prospect Park’s beloved animal species, takes place from 1–4 pm on Sunday, April 28.
Among the free activities at this afternoon of environmental fun:
Catch-and-Release Fishing: Did you know that Prospect Park’s waterways are filled with many species of fish including largemouth bass? Learn all there is to know about fishing in the city, and try your hand at the sport, catch-and-release style with the DEC Bureau of Fisheries. This event is geared towards all ages and participants can borrow equipment on site.
Insect Discovery Hike: Discover Prospect Park’s not-so-creepy crawlies on an Insect Discovery Hike with the Urban Park Rangers. Don’t be afraid of getting your hands dirty as we search high and low for amazing insects to discover their connection to us, and the importance of parks to provide habitats for them.
Bird Encounter + Spring Migration Bird Walk: Prospect Park has been designated one of New York’s Important Bird Areas (IBA), which are critical for bird conservation. During spring migration season, hundreds of species of birds visit Prospect Park to rest, recuperate from their long journey and fill their bellies. At the Audubon Center, Wildlife In Need Of Rescue and Rehabilitation will have a special exhibition of live raptors rescued from all around NYC and Long Island. Then head out for a bird walk to learn the importance of city parks to their wellbeing, the issues birds face and how you can help.
Lakeside Clean-Up: Prospect Park is home to Brooklyn’s only lake, a vital resource for the fish, amphibians and waterfowl that make up this precious ecosystem. Lend you hand by helping to clean-up Brooklyn’s only lake, led by the Brooklyn Fishing Club!
Prospect Park Alliance’s Lakeside gardeners made the most of the mild winter this year. While they waited for the busy warmer season, they built a new destination, much to the delight of park visitors. The new rustic pergola, built by LJ Philp, Lakeside Lead Gardener; Allison Loux, Lakeside Assistant Gardener; and Melissa Finley, Lakeside Assistant Gardener, is located off the Park Drive, just north of the LeFrak Center at Lakeside.
“A common problem in the park is desire lines,” says Philp, referring to the improvised and unintended paths made by park visitors. “We had a very noticeable one at Lakeside, so we decided instead of putting up another fence to keep people from walking through the planting, why not create an inviting destination for people to walk through and sit under.”
Much of the unmilled, untreated wood sourced for the pergola came from downed park trees. In the coming months, additional decoration will come in the form of native plantings, including American wisteria that will grow over the structure. “I’m proud of our work and very happy to have had the opportunity to expand my carpentry skills,” says Finley, “the pergola is an aesthetically pleasing and useful addition to the Lakeside landscape, which is as naturalistic as possible.”
This new pergola carries on a tradition of rustic landscape features that date back to 18th century. Rustic work, which features unmilled wood, had been very popular in the grand English estates of the time period. Park designer Calvert Vaux’s early mentor and business partner, Andrew Jackson Downing, was one of America’s foremost landscape designers in the mid-1800s, and had popularized this style of building with his American clientele.
Calvert Vaux adopted this style to great acclaim, and when Prospect Park opened in 1867, the public was delighted by his rustic-style thatched shelters, romantic arbors and scenic overlooks nestled throughout the park. They became beloved destinations, and can be seen in many early photographs and postcards of the park.
Rustic viewing platform in Prospect Park ravine, circa 1890. Prospect Park Archives/Herbert Mitchell Collection
None of these original structures have survived into modern times, but the rustic style can be seen throughout the park, notably at the Summerhouse on the lake shore near the Parkside and Ocean Avenue entrance; Binnen Bridge near the Boathouse; and the railings through the woodlands created and maintained by the Alliance’s Natural Resources Crew and the Woodland Youth Crew.
And as for the reception of the park’s new pergola? “It seems like park users love it,” says Loux. “It feels great when someone walks by and says thank you, or that it’s beautiful, or asks how we made it.”
Everyone’s favorite outdoor food market is back in Prospect Park! Kicking off the season on April 7, Smorgasburg Prospect Park, presented by Brooklyn Flea in partnership with Prospect Park Alliance, is back every Sunday through October on Breeze Hill.
This beloved market features over 80 food vendors and crowds of hungry customers, ready to sample flavors from across the globe. While many of last year’s favorite foods purveyors are returning, this year’s crop of new vendors is not only the market’s largest yet, it’s also the most diverse. New additions include:
NFL player Derrell Smith brings Amazeballs meatballs and special sauces inspired by his Nana.
The Blue Chicken joins Smorgasburg with a perfect sous vide chicken sandwich.
Borrachito serves up thick handmade tortillas, made with organic, local corn as the base for these delicious tacos.
Crack’d’s mouth watering four different egg sandwiches are all based on Japanese tamagoyaki.
Try Fluffies’ thick soufflé pancakes inspired by the fluffy versions of Japan and Asia.
Gourmet by Nuno features Portuguese sandwiches, slow cooked to perfection.
Cantonese dim sum from Jing Fong, established 40 years ago on Elizabeth Street in Chinatown is the original cart palace.
Kochin’s dazzling dazzling dessert concoctions combine reunited Vietnamese friends’ east and west flavors.
La Tropikitchen’s Colombian snacks and homemade sauces including tamales are delicious on the tongue plus easy on the eyes.
As 2018’s “Rookie of the Year” Vendy winner, Nansense’s Afghan comfort food joins the Smorgasburg outdoor lineup.
Petisco Brazuca serves Brazilian snack foods based on the ubiquitous Rio de Janeiro street food known as coxinha.
You’ll think you’re relaxing on the beach with Sons of Thunder’s Hawaiian and California inspired cuisine focusing on poke.
Focused on Japanese Miyazaki black wagyu, Tojo’s Kitchen uses the world’s best beef to make wagyu “sushi”.
The brand new East Village shop, Smør, specializes in smørrebrød, the open faced Nordic staple sandwich.
Yumpling creates a “hot chicken” version of the giant Taiwanese chicken steak, and yum it is!
Plus, on Sunday, June 16, Smorgasburg is partnering with CaribBEING and Prospect Park Alliance to celebrate Caribbean Heritage month with special pop-up food and culture vendors (including Peppa’s of Crown Heights) serving jerk and other island specials, plus DJs throughout the afternoon.
This open call for feedback on the proposals by artists Firelei Báez, La Vaughn Belle, Tanda Francis, Mickalene Thomas and the team of Amanda Williams and Olalekan Jeyifous will continue through Sunday, March 31.
She Built NYC kicked off in June 2018 with an invitation for public nominations, and Shirley Chisholm was selected in November in recognition of her role as a political trailblazer who was both the first black Congresswoman and the first woman to seek the Democratic presidential nomination. The monument is anticipated to be completed by the end of 2020 and will be installed at the Parkside entrance to Prospect Park in Brooklyn.
This monument will be the centerpiece of Prospect Park Alliance’s restoration of the Parkside and Ocean Avenue perimeters and entrance to the park,made possible through funding by Mayor de Blasio, Borough President Eric L. Adams and Council Member Dr. Mathieu Eugene. The Alliance will improve the sidewalks and paving, add new historic lighting, street furniture, trees and plantings. There will also be a new protected bike lane. This project is expected to be completed by Fall 2021.
Spring is here, and Prospect Park Alliance and Turnstile Tours have an exciting schedule of new tours in the park! Discover hidden treasures, natural wonders and little-known tales on these interactive guided tours of Prospect Park in the heart of Brooklyn. Private group tours are available seven days a week, and public tours are offered every Sunday from April 28 through November 24. Prospect Park Alliance member enjoy 25% off park walking tours, learn more at prospectpark.org/join.
Our tour season will kick off April 28 with these new themed excursions:
Hidden Treasures of Prospect Park: Explore some of the little-known corners of Prospect Park in this tour that uncovers some of the park’s hidden treasures. Once prime attractions, these areas are currently the focus of Prospect Park Alliance restoration efforts to revitalize the Park. The tour includes the Rose Garden and Vale of Cashmere in the park’s northeast corner, and well as a guided walk through Brooklyn’s last remaining forest, the 150-acre Ravine. This tour takes place on the first Sunday of each month.
Waterways and the Wellhouse: Prospect Park is an engineering marvel, designed around an ingenious drainage system and a chain of manmade streams and ponds that terminate in Brooklyn’s largest lake. This tour will follow the park’s scenic watercourse and delve into how Prospect Park Alliance maintains and supports this complex system. The tour will end with a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most unique features of the park: the 1869 Wellhouse, the park’s last remaining building by park designer Calvert Vaux, which once housed the machinery that fueled the watercourse and was recently restored by the Alliance and converted into the first composting restrooms in a NYC park. This tour takes place on the second Sunday of each month.
Park Art and Architecture: For over 150 years, Prospect Park has been a showcase for beautiful public buildings and artwork, with representations from eras including Beaux-Arts, City Beautiful, the New Deal Modernism and contemporary LEED-certified projects. This tour will examine some of the fine architectural details and ongoing restoration work, from the era of Vaux and Olmsted to the present day. This tour takes place on the third Sunday of each month.
Family Fun in Brooklyn’s Backyard (includes Zoo and Carousel admission): Prospect Park is an oasis for people – and animals! Park lovers of all ages can discover the native habitats and inhabitants of the park, and explore the past and present of recreation, animals and ongoing conservation efforts of Prospect Park Alliance. This tour includes an interactive scavenger for children and adults, and ends at the park’s Children’s Corner, with a special visit to Prospect Park Zoo and tickets to ride the historic Carousel. This tour takes place on the fourth Sunday of each month.
We hope you rested up during the quiet winter season, because spring is here and the migratory birds are on their way to Prospect Park! With over 150 migratory species set to make an appearance in Brooklyn’s Backyard, Prospect Park Alliance has pulled together a spring migration checklist to help you make the most of this spectacular season.
Prospect Park lies on one of the great flight paths of the natural world, the Atlantic Flyway. In fall, many species migrate south along the Atlantic coast to reach wintering grounds with abundant food. In spring, they head north to return to their breeding territories. During these months, birds of all kinds stop briefly in the park, and for some species, the park is their destination.
Spring Migration Checklist:
Early Migrants: Starting as early as February or March, early-migrating species of birds are making their way through Prospect Park. These species include the easily identified Red-winged Blackbird, as well as the Common Grackle, Eastern Phoebe and the well-camouflaged American Woodcock.
Red-winged Blackbird, c. Steve Nanz
Birds of Prey: Many raptors begin their trip north early in the season. In addition to our year-round Red-tailed Hawk residents, look for Merlins, Cooper’s Hawks, Sharp-shinned Hawks and more soaring above the park, perched on high vantage-points and snacking on small mammals.
Warblers: The rock stars of spring migration, 36 species of warblers can be spotted over the course of spring migration in Prospect Park. Known for their bright colors in spring, warblers are a group of energetic songbirds that migrate at night and rest and re-fuel by day. When warblers journey over Brooklyn, they are likely to stop in Prospect Park, where they feed on insects and berries. Rested and refueled, they continue on their way after a day or two. Keep an eye out for vibrant yellows of the Common Yellowthroat and Palm Warbler, blue on the Black-throated Blue Warbler and Cerulean Warbler, and fiery orange on the handsome Blackburnian Warbler.
Blackburnian Warbler, c. Steve Nanz
Brightly-colored Migrants: When peering through foliage, some of the easiest birds to spot are the brightly-colored species. Bright red might mean a Scarlet Tanager, vibrant orange could be a Baltimore Oriole, blues show up on Eastern Bluebirds and Indigo Buntings, and even our year-round American Goldfinches wear their brightest spring yellow.
Ready to grab a pair of binoculars and get out into the park? Check out our birdwatching page, with birding tips, locations and upcoming bird walks in Prospect Park. And, download the Prospect Park App to see how many birds you can spot in our Backyard Birds Challenge!
Prospect Park Archives
The Prospect Park Dairy’s Throwback Menu
Today, Prospect Park visitors can enjoy a range of tasty bites around the park, from King David Tacos to the Bluestone Cafe, but when the park first opened in the 1800s, the Dairy was the place to eat.
In the late 1800s, before pasteurization, fresh milk was a near-delicacy for Brooklyn residents, accustomed to a gray, watery variety of milk produced by most city cows. When the Dairy opened in Prospect Park, a herd of cows grazed in the park and provided “wholesome milk, cold or warm” to grateful park picnickers, according to the Brooklyn Park Commissioners.
In the summer of 1871, it was reported in the Annual Report of the Brooklyn Park Commissioners that “11,000 quarts of milk were disposed of by the glass, or in larger quantities to pic-nic parties (sic), or family gatherings, for which purpose the grounds in this vicinity of the dairy cottage were a favorite resort during the summer.”
Dairy customers could purchase a variety of snacks for their picnic, some of which may seem odd by today’s standards:
In addition to the custard cups, sardines and pickled oysters, denizens could order cold beef, ham, tongue and sandwiches in advance, and “biscuits, crackers, cracknells, maccaroons (sic), ladies’ fingers, almonds raisins, figs, prunes, etc.” were available “at usual grocers’ and confectioners’ charges.” Tables and seats were provided at the Dairy without charge, and croquet equipment, hoops and various table dressings could be rented on site.
About the Dairy, Prospect Park creator Frederick Law Olmsted wrote, “A man from any class shall say to his wife… ‘My dear, when the children come home from school, put some bread and butter and a salad in a basket and go to the chestnut tree…We will walk to the dairy-man’s cottage and get some tea and fresh milk for the children and take our supper by the brook-side.’”
The Dairy was a hugely popular Prospect Park attraction during this time, not least because picnicking was prohibited in Central Park. Though the Dairy was razed in 1935 by then Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, picnicking became synonymous with Brooklyn’s Backyard, and continues to be a preferred pastime of Prospect Park visitors.
Planning your picnic in Prospect Park? Check out the park’s current food offerings, which include the Bluestone Cafe at the LeFrak Center at Lakeside, King David Tacos and more.
The Dairy’s menu was located by our friends a Turnstile Tours! Prospect Park Alliance and Turnstile Tours host a series of walking tours that examine the many layers of natural and human history to be found in Brooklyn’s Backyard. Learn more and get tickets for a park tour today.
Prospect Park’s Scandalous First Wedding
February 20, 2019
It probably wouldn’t surprise you to know that Prospect Park is a popular destination for weddings.Couples who love the park and want a slice of nature in their Brooklyn nuptials choose the Prospect Park Picnic House and Boathouse as the place to tie the knot every year. But this was not always the case. The first Prospect Park wedding, which took place in the park’s former Rose Garden in 1923, caused quite a stir.
Let’s go back to the 1870s, the early days of Prospect Park when famed designers Olmsted and Vaux were first plotting out the features of the park. The area, known now as the Rose Garden, was first conceived as a children’s playground, with a carousel powered by a real horse, seesaws and swings. Despite the attractions, the playground was not a popular destination. The area’s geographic features made it too hot and exposed to be a playground. It was, however, an excellent climate for growing roses. And so the park’s Rose Garden came to be.
In the 1890s, the landscape was transformed into a botanical destination. Three water basins—reconstructions of which are still visible at the site—filled with aquatic plants and fish were installed by the design firm of McKim, Mead and White. The landscape was planted with an assortment of exotic flowers and roses, and in 1901, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle exclaimed, “some of the roses are larger than teacups,” adding, “there can be no finer sight in the domain of floriculture in the United States.”
In 1923, local residents Elizabeth Hoyt Senarens and Owen Morton Gunderson applied for a permit to be married in Prospect Park. The Park Commissioner issued the first permit of its kind for a wedding to be held at 7:45 am, “so that there might be no interruption from a crowd of romping children or unsympathetic grownups.” The wedding was considered a novelty and a scandal, and was widely covered in the press by publications such as Brooklyn Life, Brooklyn Standard Union, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and even The New York Times.
The bride, Elizabeth Senarens, explained to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle that, “she had always yearned for roses and even as a little girl had thought the Prospect Park rose gardens the most romantic place for a wedding in the world.” But the media attention surrounding the nuptials took its toll when the couple’s pastor decided at the last minute that he would not officiate the wedding. In an interview with the Times, the reverend was quoted saying, “I never did consent to perform the ceremony in the park,” and that when he learned the details he, “refused at once.”
The Rose Garden in a vintage postcard, c. Prospect Park Archives/Bob Levine Collection
The couple had difficulty finding another pastor to perform their ceremony, until finally Rev. Ernest J. Marvin of the Fenimore Street M.E. Church agreed on the condition of anonymity. The press did not honor this request, publishing his name as the minister who presided over this historic first wedding in Prospect Park.
The morning of the wedding came, according to the Standard Union, “blowing a chilly breeze… not at all conducive to romance.” Police were on hand to contain the throngs of curious onlookers, and the wedding proceeded, attended by the family and friends of the wedding party, newspaper reporters and photographers, and a “few stragglers on their way to work,” as per a report from the Times.
Today, the former Rose Garden is entering a new phase, as Prospect Park Alliance begins plans to reimagine this northeastern area of the park that has seen little use in past decades. In recent years, the Alliance has invited the community to help shape the future of this area through community visioning and feedback surveys. Thanks to the input of the local community, Alliance architects are now in the process of designing a space that will serve the entire community, and encourage many more memorable occasions for years to come.
You may recognize from past Throwback Thursdays that many of Prospect Park Alliance’s archival materials come from one person: Bob Levine. His collection spans more than a century of Brooklyn’s Backyard and includes thousands of archived postcards, photographs, maps and drawings of the park. But who is this collector extraordinaire?
A Brooklyn native and Prospect Park enthusiast, Levine has, in his own words “circled Prospect Park.” He grew up on Ocean Parkway, lived as a young man along Ocean Avenue and is now settled in Park Slope. “I always loved nature,” says Levine of his connection to the park, “it just felt like a natural draw.” As a child in the 1960s, he played little league at the Parade Ground and explored the park’s vast nature trails. When, in his teens, he developed an affinity for collecting remnants of the past, it was only natural that Prospect Park was a subject he gravitated towards.
Levine initially made a connection with Prospect Park Alliance in the 1990s. At the time, he ran a program that helped autistic members of community find work. The Alliance had a call out for volunteers, and Levine and his group helped clean the Lake. Levine then made a connection with Alliance archivist Amy Peck to share his bounty of archival findings.
Today, Levine is still actively adding to his collection of Prospect Park historic materials, and much to the delight of Prospect Park Alliance and the park community, still contributing to the Prospect Park Archives.
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