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The Central Park Casino, originally the Ladies' Refreshment Salon, was a restaurant in
Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...
, near East 72nd Street in
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
,
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. The name of the building came from the Italian for "little house"; the Casino itself was not a gambling business.


Operation

The building was originally designed by
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 ...
in 1862 as part of the
Greensward Plan Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated 42 ...
for Central Park. Initial plans called for a
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 ...
-styled wooden structure with a low, broad
hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus ...
. Before construction began, however, Vaux decided that a more permanent building was needed. The following year, with the assistance of Edward C. Miller and
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 ...
, the Casino was redesigned as a Gothic Revival stone structure. The building opened in early 1864 as a restaurant intended for unaccompanied female visitors to Central Park, and was one of Central Park's three original restaurants. Soon, it was patronized by both men and women. While the building that housed the Casino belonged to the City of New York, the City often leased the Casino to independent operators. By the early 1920s, the Casino was rundown, and so it was renovated during the winter of 1921–1922.
Jimmy Walker James John Walker (June 19, 1881November 18, 1946), known colloquially as Beau James, was mayor of New York City from 1926 to 1932. A flamboyant politician, he was a liberal Democrat and part of the powerful Tammany Hall machine. He was forced t ...
, mayor of New York City during the late 1920s, frequented the Casino and reportedly spent more time there than in
New York City Hall New York City Hall is the seat of New York City government, located at the center of City Hall Park in the Civic Center area of Lower Manhattan, between Broadway, Park Row, and Chambers Street. Constructed from 1803 to 1812, the building i ...
. Besides entertaining elite guests in the restaurant, Walker had an office in the Casino and conducted city administration there while meeting with political cronies. In 1929 Walker terminated the lease of C.F. Zittel and allowed a friend, Sidney Solomon, to transform the Casino into one of New York's most expensive nightclubs. Plans for the renovated Casino were released in February 1929. Solomon renovated the interior of the Casino using a design from Viennese designer
Joseph Urban Joseph Urban (May 26, 1872 – July 10, 1933) was an Austrian-American architect, illustrator, and scenic designer. Life and career Joseph Urban was born on May 26, 1872, in Vienna. He received his first architectural commission at age 19 wh ...
, though he kept the exterior mostly the same. The renovated Casino reopened on June 4, 1929.


Demolition

When the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
hit four months after the Casino reopened, the nightclub faced increasing criticism for operating on city land while maintaining prices only the wealthiest New York residents could afford. In 1930, as part of an enforcement of
Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholi ...
, the United States government raided the Casino and seized alcoholic beverages. Walker's successor
Fiorello H. La Guardia Fiorello Henry LaGuardia (; born Fiorello Enrico LaGuardia, ; December 11, 1882September 20, 1947) was an American attorney and politician who represented New York in the House of Representatives and served as the 99th Mayor of New York City fr ...
and his parks commissioner
Robert Moses Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid 20th century. Despite never being elected to any office, Moses is regarded ...
, who held a vendetta against Walker, wanted to tear down the Casino with the intention of building a playground on the site. In 1934, Moses served an eviction order to the Casino's management. When the Parks Association of New York City objected to the proposed playground because it would take away from the park's rural character, Moses dismissed the opposition as "preposterous". The Casino was ultimately demolished in 1936. Only the stained-glass windows of the Casino were preserved. They were installed in, and later removed from, the police station at the 86th Street transverse. The remaining fixtures were auctioned off for pennies on the dollar. The
Rumsey Playfield The Central Park Mall is a pedestrian esplanade in Central Park, in Manhattan, New York City. The mall, leading to Bethesda Fountain, provides the only purely formal feature in the naturalistic original plan of Frederick Law Olmsted and Cal ...
was built on the site of the former restaurant,. During the summer months, it is occupied by a temporary stage and bleachers for the annual
SummerStage The City Parks Foundation is the only independent, nonprofit organization to offer programs in parks throughout the five boroughs of New York City. The organization works in over 750 parks citywide, presenting a broad range of free arts, sport ...
, and then returned to its playfield status each fall. SummerStage was canceled in 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
.


References


Citations


Sources

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External links


"Central Park Casino," Central Park: The Heart of the Island at the Center of the World
{{coord, 40, 46, 22, N, 73, 58, 11, W, display=title Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan Commercial buildings completed in 1864 1864 establishments in New York (state) Buildings and structures demolished in 1936 Central Park Defunct drinking establishments in Manhattan