It seems that there is no nook, where you can be alone with your thoughts and communicate with nature, in the big city of New York with its multi-million population. However, this is not quite true. The city residents know a lot of calm and cozy places to have a walk on a warm day. The New York garden on Elizabeth Street in Little Italy is famous for its coziness and beauty. It was built by a gallerist Allan Revier in 1991 on what was previously an abandoned lot. A lot of time has passed since then, but this garden remains one of the most attractive places for New Yorkers. It fascinates with the beauty and secrets it keeps in its history. Learn more at new-york.name.
The prehistory and foundation of the park
In 1822, when the Free School Union opened Public School #5 on Mott Street, the garden was part of the school’s playground. It was an unusual school, as there were evening classes for African Americans. Also, adults and children often came there to listen to public educational lectures.
At the beginning of the 20th century, that school was demolished and a larger building was built in its place, which then served as School #21 premises. In the 1970s, it repeated the fate of its predecessor because the building of affordable housing was planned in its southern part. However, that project never materialized and 20,000 square feet of the former school territory remained abandoned for several years.
Allan Revier leased a site forgotten by the city authorities in 1991 and turned it into a beautiful and blooming garden with sculptures, which holds a special place in the hearts of New Yorkers. At first, Revier did almost all the work by himself, he cleaned the area, planted trees and flowers, laid the foundation of the garden and brought various sculptures from his own collection. For some time, Allan’s garden was not public, only visitors of the gallery, which he owned since 2005, could visit it. The garden on Elizabeth Street became a favorite destination for New Yorkers and tourists in 2013. Thus, neighbors and local businesses united to improve the space and make it accessible to everyone. The non-profit Elizabeth Street Garden organization officially took over the garden in 2017.
The unique garden on Elizabeth Street
Every detail in the picturesque New York garden by Allan Revier is important and unique. Famous artists from all over the world want to leave their imprint in such a popular place. So, they create various art objects to decorate it. For example, the popular street artist JR, who is known for enlarging images to a huge size and pasting them on buildings, created an important installation in the garden in 2018. Then the local authorities planned to start building on the street section, where the garden was located. So, concerned New Yorkers began to protest against such a decision. The artist placed an enlarged photo of a young volunteer holding a tree firmly on one of the garden’s walls to support Elizabeth Street Garden.
Many people come to the garden to see the famous Boy with a Thorn sculpture. It is one of many garden artworks and an exact replica of a marble sculpture, which is exhibited in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. The original sculpture dates back to the 1st century BC.
There are many fruit trees in the garden because they were the first ones that Allan Revier planted. You can see two Bradford pears on the main lawn, which do not bear fruit but bloom beautifully with white flowers in spring. Also, visitors to the garden can taste figs here because the fig tree bears so many fruits that they simply weigh down the branches.