The Concert Grove is a section of Prospect Park,

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York City, that historically functioned as an outdoor music venue. It still serves as a sculpture garden lined with busts of musical figures, largely put up by German American

Sängerfest Sängerfest, also Sängerbund-Fest, Sängerfeste, or Saengerfest, meaning singer festival, is a competition of Sängerbunds, or singer groups, with prizes for the best group or groups. Such public events are also known as a Liederfest, or song f ...

participants and other cultural groups. The Concert Grove also includes the Concert Grove Pavilion, formerly known as the Oriental Pavilion, and adjoins a Lincoln sculpture facing the lake.

History and design

The Concert Grove is located on the northeast edge of the Prospect Park Lake, featuring a

terrace garden In gardening, a terrace is an element where a raised flat paved or gravelled section overlooks a prospect. A raised terrace keeps a house dry and provides a transition between the hardscape and the softscape. History ;Persia Since a level si ...

above an

esplanade An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cle ...

. Originally completed in 1874 in a design by

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co- ...

and

Calvert Vaux Calvert Vaux (; December 20, 1824 – November 19, 1895) was an English-American architect and landscape designer, best known as the co-designer, along with his protégé and junior partner Frederick Law Olmsted, of what would become New York Ci ...

, with the assistance of

Jacob Wrey Mould Jacob Wrey Mould (7 August 1825 – 14 June 1886) was a British architect, illustrator, linguist and musician, noted for his contributions to the design and construction of New York City's Central Park. He was "instrumental" in bringing the Brit ...

and Thomas Wisedell, it was laid out so park patrons could hear music being played from a

bandstand A bandstand (sometimes music kiosk) is a circular, semicircular or polygonal structure set in a park, garden, pier, or indoor space, designed to accommodate musical bands performing concerts. A simple construction, it both creates an orname ...

on the later-demolished Music Island. The audience was expected to enjoy the outdoor setting and walk around during intermissions, in the style of a

promenade concert Promenade concerts were musical performances in the 18th and 19th century pleasure gardens of London, where the audience would stroll about while listening to the music. The term derives from the French ''se promener'', "to walk". Today, the te ...

. The Concert Grove served as the "artistic center" for Prospect Park, and in the 19th century, hosted German choral groups. However, as the area was considered to have had bad

acoustics Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician ...

, concerts were moved to the nearby Music Pagoda in the Nethermead section of Prospect Park when that structure opened in 1887. After this, the Concert Grove became known for a period as the Flower Garden. The southern part of the Concert Grove was later modified to make way for an

ice skating Ice skating is the self-propulsion and gliding of a person across an ice surface, using metal-bladed ice skates. People skate for various reasons, including recreation (fun), exercise, competitive sports, and commuting. Ice skating may be per ...

rink called

Wollman Rink Wollman Rink is a public ice rink in the southern part of Central Park, Manhattan, New York City. It is named after the Wollman family who donated the funds for its original construction. The rink is open for ice skating from late October t ...

, which was approved in 1960 and opened the following year on the site of the Music Island. The grove was renovated in the 2010s, which also saw the opening of the Shelby White and Leon Levy Esplanade and the island restored as Chaim Baier Music Island, with the demolition of the rink and the construction of the LeFrak Center, a year-round sports facility. The grove's style complements that of the Central Park Mall; however, unlike the elongated, rectangular Mall, the Concert Grove was laid out radially, in order to blend more smoothly with the landscape. The design can also be compared to aspects of

Bethesda Terrace Bethesda Terrace and Fountain are two architectural features overlooking the southern shore of The Ramble and Lake, the Lake in New York City's Central Park. The fountain, with its ''Angel of the Waters'' statue, is located in the center of the ...

, another Vaux and Mould collaboration. It consists of two pathways fanning outward, away from the lake, as well as a pedestrian walkway running through the middle of the grove. Two curved terraces, paralleling the shoreline and running perpendicularly to the spokes of the "fan", divide the grove into plateaus. A path runs southward from the Concert Grove to the LeFrak Center.

Structures

Pavilion

The Concert Grove Pavilion, also known as the Oriental Pavilion, is located in the middle of the Concert Grove, measuring with a roof and columns in a Middle Eastern or Indian style. The pavilion is supported by eight columns made of

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

. The orientalist style could be considered a kind of

Indo-Gothic Indo-Saracenic architecture (also known as Indo-Gothic, Mughal-Gothic, Neo-Mughal, or Hindoo style) was a revivalist architectural style mostly used by British architects in India in the later 19th century, especially in public and government ...

, and may have been influenced by then-current British ideas of Vaux's early apprenticeship under

Lewis Nockalls Cottingham Lewis Nockalls Cottingham (1787 – 13 October 1847) was a British architect who pioneered the study of Medieval Gothic architecture. He was a restorer and conservator of existing buildings. He set up a Museum of Medieval Art in Waterloo Road, Lon ...

or by his collaborator

. Formerly a table service restaurant, it was converted to a snack bar in the 1950s after the closure of the Concert Grove House. The pavilion was largely destroyed in a 1974 fire, only the pillars surviving, and was reconstructed in 1987, though restoration work was temporarily halted after a contractor died on site. Everything was based on historic photographs and analysis of the destroyed structure, as original plans were lost. It proved difficult to identify the original colors from the old black-and-white images, and the palette was inspired by Vaux's

Samuel J. Tilden House The Samuel J. Tilden House is a historic townhouse pair at 14-15 Gramercy Park South in Manhattan, New York City. Built in 1845, it was the home of Samuel J. Tilden (1814–1886), former governor of New York, a fierce opponent of the Tweed R ...

. The pavilion deteriorated after that, though plans to restore the pavilion were revealed in 2015. It has been very occasionally used for events in recent years, such as Shakespeare performances, as well as for weddings. It was again restored in 2021, and a design flaw from 1987 that led to water damage was corrected.

Statues

The first of six busts of creative figures in this park section was erected before the completion of the site, and just outside it. The bust of American writer

Washington Irving Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and " The Legen ...

(1871) across East Drive from the Concert Grove, was donated by Demas Barnes. The first inside the grove itself was the bust of Irish poet and lyricist

Thomas Moore Thomas Moore (28 May 1779 – 25 February 1852) was an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist celebrated for his ''Irish Melodies''. Their setting of English-language verse to old Irish tunes marked the transition in popular Irish culture from Irish ...

(1879), donated by the St. Patrick Society of Brooklyn. Moore's bust helped establish a definite musical theme to the

sculpture garden A sculpture garden or sculpture park is an outdoor garden or park which includes the presentation of sculpture, usually several permanently sited works in durable materials in landscaped surroundings. A sculpture garden may be private, owned by a ...

, and later busts are of classical composers, sponsored by other European American cultural groups. The later busts include three donated by the United German Singers of Brooklyn representing their wins in national

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

(1894, one of a series by Bearer),

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

(1897), and

Carl Maria von Weber Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (18 or 19 November 17865 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and critic who was one of the first significant composers of the Romantic era. Best known for his opera ...

(1909). And the last one to be added was donated by the Norwegian Societies of Brooklyn,

Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the foremost Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of ...

(1914). A statue of

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

, the first Lincoln monument in the United States, is also located at the Concert Grove. Sculpted by

Henry Kirke Brown Henry Kirke Brown (February 24, 1814 in Leyden, Massachusetts – July 10, 1886 in Newburgh, New York) was an American sculptor. Life He began to paint portraits while still a boy, studied painting in Boston under Chester Harding, learned a lit ...

in 1869, it was initially located at

Grand Army Plaza Grand Army Plaza, originally known as Prospect Park Plaza, is a public plaza that comprises the northern corner and the main entrance of Prospect Park (Brooklyn), Prospect Park in the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. ...

. The Lincoln statue was relocated to the Concert Grove in 1896, and restored in the late 1980s. Another restoration of the Lincoln statue took place in 1998. From 1959 until the early 2010s the statue faced the rear fence of the Kate Wollman Skating Rink. Following the Concert Grove restoration and closure of the rink it now faces the edge of the Prospect Park Lake. It was proposed to move the statue back to its original position as part of the restoration, replacing the bust of Alexander Skene at Grand Army Plaza, but , it was still located in the Concert Grove.

Wall

A long low wall of Mary's Point Red sandstone partially surrounds the Concert Grove, with ornate sculptural decoration by

. A part of the original construction in 1874, it was intended to mark a place for the hitching of carriages. It later become prominent in the local running community as a starting line for circuits around the park, and a 1995 restoration named it "Harry's Wall" after a founder of the Prospect Park Track Club, funded by the Prospect Park Alliance,

New York Road Runners New York Road Runners (NYRR) is a non-profit running organization based in New York City whose mission is to help and inspire people through running. It was founded in 1958 by Ted Corbitt with 47 members and has since grown to a membership of more ...

, and friends of Harry Murphy.

Former structures

A frame

chalet A chalet (pronounced in British English; in American English usually ), also called Swiss chalet, is a type of building or house, typical of the Alpine region in Europe. It is made of wood, with a heavy, gently sloping roof and wide, well-suppo ...

called the Concert Grove House was located north of the grove. It was completed in 1873 and contained a similar design to

The Dairy The Dairy is a small building in Central Park in Manhattan, New York City, designed by the architect Calvert Vaux. The building was completed in 1871 as a restaurant but is now one of the park's five visitor centers managed by the Central Park ...

, a now-demolished stone cottage, though the Concert Grove House was a frame building. The Concert Grove House served as a restaurant before being demolished in 1949. Restrooms were also provided within the building.

References

{{coord, 40.6592, -73.9643, format=dms, type:landmark_region:US-NY, display=title Prospect Park (Brooklyn) Sculpture gardens, trails and parks in New York (state) Monuments to composers Former music venues in New York City Pavilions in the United States Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture Buildings and structures completed in 1847