Landscape Information
Named for George Washington, this rectangular, 9.75-acre park is located in the heart of Greenwich Village at the southern terminus axis of Fifth Avenue. Its northern entrance, oriented on axis with the avenue, is marked by the iconic marble arch by McKim, Mead and White dedicated in 1895.
Prior to this monumental Beaux Arts embellishment, in 1797, the landscape served as a burial ground for unknown and indigent people that was replaced by parade ground in 1826. Dedicated for public use, the parcel was graded in 1828, and laid out with symmetrical, axial paths that met at the park’s center. In 1832 New York University acquired property immediately east and in 1852 a fountain was established at the park’s center, oriented off-axis with Fifth Avenue.
In 1870 landscape gardener Ignatz Pilat and engineer Montgomery Kellogg transformed the park, designing curvilinear paths, lawns lined with shade trees, and a carriage drive that led from Fifth Avenue to the park’s center. Concurrently, the central fountain was replaced with a larger basin, attributed to architect Jacob Wrey Mould. The distinctive arch, designed by architect Stanford White, was coordinated with Calvert Vaux and Samuel Parsons who at the time served with the city’s Department of Public Parks.
In the early twentieth century the park attracted a thriving bohemian community, becoming a haven for artists, writers, and a venue for public protests such as the labor union march that followed the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911. Between 1935 and 1952 Parks Commissioner, Robert Moses, working with Clarke & Rapuano, proposed three separate roadway plans that each threatened the park with significant alterations. Residents, including Jane Jacobs, Eleanor Roosevelt, Shirley Hayes, and Edith Lyons, advocated against the proposals, securing its protection in 1958.
In 1970 the park was rehabilitated by landscape architect Robert Nichols and nine architects, featuring a redesigned sunken fountain edged by a plaza planted with shade trees. In 2014 NYC Parks and Recreation landscape architect George Vellonakis redesigned the park relocating the fountain approximately twenty feet east, on axis with the arch.
The park sits within the Greenwich Village Historic District, listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
