Greenacre Park is a privately owned, publicly accessible vest-pocket park located on East 51st Street between Second and Third Avenues in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of

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 most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, designed by

Hideo Sasaki Hideo Sasaki (25 November 1919 – 30 August 2000) was a Japanese American landscape architect. Biography Hideo Sasaki was born in Reedley, California, on 25 November 1919. He grew up working on his family's California truck farm, and harvesti ...

, former chairman of Harvard’s Dept. of Landscape Arch., in consultation with architect Harmon Goldstone. The park, which is owned by Greenacre Foundation, was a 1971 gift from

Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Abigail Aldrich Rockefeller (November 9, 1903 – May 27, 1976) was an American philanthropist and the daughter of American financier John D. Rockefeller Jr. and a granddaughter of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. Family backgroun ...

, the philanthropist, the daughter of

John D. Rockefeller Jr. John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (January 29, 1874 – May 11, 1960) was an American financier and philanthropist, and the only son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. He was involved in the development of the vast office complex in M ...

and the granddaughter of

John D Rockefeller John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He has been widely considered List of richest Americans in history, the wealthiest American of all time and the List of wealthi ...

. The park was assembled from three lots, which had previously been occupied by a store, a garage, and part of a synagogue. It features a waterfall, a trellis with heat lamps for chilly days, chairs and tables, as well as honey locust trees, azaleas, and pansies, which together attract an average of 700 visitors a day. In 1980, when a planned building would have blocked the park's sunlight, a campaign was launched to block the construction of the building. Then, in May 2017, a city rezoning plan, which would allow the building of taller buildings nearby the park, caused a controversy when the Greenacre Foundation claimed that the taller buildings would put the park in shadow a great deal of time. A city shadow study indicated that the park would not be adversely affected by the rezoning, but a study commissioned by the Foundation claimed that buildings on six particular sites could put the park completely in the dark; because of this the Foundation called for height limitations on those sites. , their "Fight for Light" campaign is supported by the

Municipal Art Society The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS) is a non-profit membership organization for preservation in New York City, which aims to encourage thoughtful planning and urban design and inclusive neighborhoods across the city. The organization was ...

, Manhattan Borough President

Gale Brewer Gale Arnot Brewer (born September 6, 1951) is an American Democratic politician from the state of New York who has represented the 6th New York City Council District since January 2022, a position she previously held from 2002 to 2013. From Janu ...

, New Yorkers for Parks, and Daniel R. Garodnick, the city councilman in whose district the park is located.Hu, Winnie (May 22, 2017
"A Tiny Park Fights for Sunlight Among New York City Skyscrapers"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' In 2018, it was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

References

External links

* * {{National Register of Historic Places in New York Parks in Manhattan Turtle Bay, Manhattan Parks on the National Register of Historic Places in New York City National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan Institutions founded by the Rockefeller family Privately owned public spaces 1971 establishments in New York City

See also

References

External links