Another Side of Olmsted

This walk in Morningside Heights visits two parks designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux: Riverside Park and, a few blocks crosstown, Morningside Park.

Participants will discuss similarities and differences with the designers’ better-known Central Park and the ways that Olmsted adapted his picturesque principles to slender sites with challenging topography. We’ll talk about the impact of Riverside’s 1930s expansion, Columbia’s attempt to construct a gymnasium in Morningside, and community-based efforts to rescue each park from years of neglect.

Along the way we’ll see a vintage Croton Water manhole cover, Mrs. Maisel’s apartment building, Bartholdi’s Washington & Lafayette, and nesting spots of falcons and hawks. Participants will walk about one mile and descend some long staircases in Morningside Park.