Juan Pablo Duarte Square, usually shortened to Duarte Square, is a triangular park in

Hudson Square Hudson Square is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded approximately by Clarkson Street to the north, Canal Street to the south, Varick Street to the east, and the Hudson River to the west. To the north of the neig ...

, in Lower Manhattan,

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 ...

. The park, operated by the

New York City Department of Parks and Recreation The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecolog ...

(NYC Parks), is bound by

Sullivan Street Sullivan Street is a street in Lower Manhattan, which previously ran north from Duarte Square at Canal Street, but since around 2012 begins at Broome Street, to Washington Square South, through the neighborhoods of Hudson Square, SoHo, the So ...

and the

LentSpace LentSpace is a temporary outdoor art space and sculpture garden located in Hudson Square, Lower Manhattan, New York City. The space, which opened in September 2009, is bounded by Varick Street to the west, Canal Street and Albert Capsouto Pa ...

plot to the west, Grand Street to the north, Sixth Avenue to the east, and Canal Street and Albert Capsouto Park to the south.

History

In the late 17th century, the plot was a farm owned by Trinity Church. The square in its current form was officially dedicated in 1945 in concert with the renaming of Sixth Avenue to the Avenue of the Americas "in celebration of Pan-American unity". In 1975 benches, trees and sidewalks were added to the square. On May 26, 1977, control of the square was transferred from the New York State Department of Transportation to NYC Parks. In 1978, the Consulate of the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

dedicated a statue of

Juan Pablo Duarte Juan Pablo Duarte y Díez (January 26, 1813 – July 15, 1876) was a Dominican military leader, writer, activist, and nationalist politician who was the foremost of the founding fathers of the Dominican Republic and bears the title of Father of ...

in the square. The dedication took place on the 165th birthday of Duarte, who was one of the founding fathers of the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

Nicola Arrighini designed the thirteen-foot bronze figure, which today rests atop an eight-foot granite base. This statue is one of a group of six other monuments to

Latin American Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-eth ...

leaders throughout the Avenue of the Americas.

LentSpace

To the immediate west of NYC Parks' portion of Duarte Square, across a one-block stretch of Sullivan Street that is now closed to traffic, is a plot owned primarily by Trinity Wall Street (a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of New York) and also known as "Duarte Square". It is fenced off and leased for a non-profit arts program known as

. This plot was targeted by the

Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest movement against economic inequality and the influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Wall Street financial district, in September 2011. It gave rise to t ...

organization as a new campsite. On December 17, 2011, after demonstrating in Duarte Park and marching on the streets surrounding the park, occupiers climbed over and under the fence. Police responded by arresting about 50 demonstrators, including at least one Episcopal bishop.

References

External links

New York City Statues
{{coord, 40, 43, 21, N, 74, 00, 20, W, display=title History of the Dominican Republic Squares in Manhattan Outdoor sculptures in Manhattan 1978 sculptures Bronze sculptures in the United States Sixth Avenue