BETHESDA FOUNTAIN, THE ANGEL OF THE WATERS IN NYC

Yesterday, The Grandma visited one of her favourite places of New York City, the Bethesda Fountain in Central Park.

Bethesda Terrace and Fountain are two architectural features overlooking the southern shore of the Lake in New York City's Central Park.

 

The fountain, with its Angel of the Waters statue, is located in the center of the terrace.

Bethesda Terrace's two levels are united by two grand staircases and a lesser one that passes under Terrace Drive. They provide passage southward to the Central Park Mall and Naumburg Bandshell at the center of the park. The upper terrace flanks the 72nd Street Cross Drive and the lower terrace provides a podium for viewing the Lake. The mustard-olive colored carved stone is New Brunswick sandstone, with a harder stone for cappings, with granite steps and landings, and herringbone pattern paving of Roman brick laid on edge.

In Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted's 1858 Greensward Plan, the terrace at the end of the Mall overlooking the naturalistic landscape of the Lake was simply called The Water Terrace, but after the unveiling of the angel, its name was changed to Bethesda Terrace.

Construction of the terrace and fountain occurred during the American Civil War. Only two major structures besides the Bethesda Terrace were completed during the Civil War: the Music Stand and the Casino restaurant, both demolished.

By the end of 1861, work on Bethesda Terrace was well underway. The stonework to be installed in the terrace arrived in 1862, and the masonry of the fountain was installed by 1863.

In 1864, the stonework of Bethesda Terrace was completed except for minor details, and the Central Park commission hired a sculptor to design the figures for the Fountain. The upper level of the Terrace was mostly built by 1867, by which time the Fountain's figures were being cast in bronze.

More information: Central Park Conservancy

The original plans had called for marble and bronze figures to be installed on the upper level, but those were not executed. The Bethesda Fountain was officially completed in 1873.

Bethesda Fountain is the central feature on the lower level of the terrace. The pool is centered by a fountain sculpture designed by Emma Stebbins in 1868 and unveiled in 1873. Also called the Angel of the Waters, the statue refers to Healing the paralytic at Bethesda, a story from the Gospel of John about an angel blessing the Pool of Bethesda, giving it healing powers. It was the only statue funded by the city in the original design for the park. Stebbins was the first woman to receive a public commission for a major work of art in New York City.

The 2.4 m bronze statue depicts a female winged angel touching down upon the top of the fountain, where water spouts and cascades into an upper basin and into the surrounding pool.

Beneath her are four four-foot cherubs representing temperance, purity, health, and peace. The statue alludes to the Croton Aqueduct, the first pure-water aqueduct in New York City, which opened in 1842 on the site of Central Park. The angel carries a lily in one hand, representing purity, and with the other hand she blesses the water below.

The lower basin has water lilies, lotus, and papyrus, inspired by an illustration in an 1891 book by Vaux's assistant and partner Samuel Parsons, the Superintendent of Planting in Central Park.

The base of the fountain was designed by Calvert Vaux, with sculptural details by Mould. The panels of carving in the abstracted organic style propounded by Owen Jones, a mentor of the sculptor Jacob Wrey Mould are organized by an iconographical program of themes: the Seasons, the Times of Day, the Ages of Mankind.

More information: Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct

 There's a spot in Central Park, 

the Bethesda Fountain,

where if you sit there long enough,

the entire city walks by.

Alex Whitman

CENTRAL PARK, THE URBAN PARK IN NEW YORK CITY

Today, The Grandma has been enjoying Central Park, the urban park in Manhattan, New York City, that comprises 341 ha between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side.

 

Meanwhile, The Grangers have been preparing their Cambridge Exam.

 

More information: English Revealed

 

Central Park is an urban park in Manhattan, New York City. It comprises 341 ha between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side, roughly bounded by Fifth Avenue on the east, Central Park West (Eighth Avenue) on the west, Central Park South (59th Street) on the south, and Central Park North (110th Street) on the north. Central Park is the most visited urban park in the United States, with 40 million visitors in 2013, and one of the most filmed locations in the world.

 

More information: Central Park Conservancy

 

The park was established in 1857 on 315 ha of land acquired by the city. In 1858, landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and architect/landscape designer Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they titled the Greensward Plan. 

Construction began the same year, and the park's first area was opened to the public in the winter of 1858. Construction north of the park continued during the American Civil War in the 1860s, and the park was expanded to its current size in 1873. 

After a period of decline in the early 20th century, Robert Moses started a program to clean up Central Park. Another decline in the late 20th century spurred the creation of the Central Park Conservancy in 1980, which refurbished many parts of the park during the 1980s and 1990s.

Central Park was designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1962, which in April 2017 placed it on the tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage Sites. 

The park, managed for decades by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, is currently managed by the Central Park Conservancy under contract with the municipal government in a public-private partnership. The Conservancy is a non-profit organization that contributes 75 percent of Central Park's $65 million annual budget and is responsible for all basic care of the 341 ha park.

 

More information: Central Park

 I walk the line of great unknowns
But I never question those
And I go back to where we last met
And tell you so
Tell you so
In New York
In New York

 

The Boxer Rebellion

CENTRAL PARK, THE URBAN PARK IN NEW YORK CITY

Today, The Grandma has been enjoying Central Park, the urban park in Manhattan, New York City. She has visited the Bethesda Fountain, one of the most beautiful sites of this amazing park.

Central Park is an urban park in Manhattan, New York City. It comprises 341 ha between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side, roughly bounded by Fifth Avenue on the east, Central Park West (Eighth Avenue) on the west, Central Park South (59th Street) on the south, and Central Park North (110th Street) on the north. Central Park is the most visited urban park in the United States, with 40 million visitors in 2013, and one of the most filmed locations in the world.

More information: Central Park Conservancy

 

The park was established in 1857 on 315 ha of land acquired by the city. In 1858, landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and architect/landscape designer Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they titled the Greensward Plan. 

Construction began the same year, and the park's first area was opened to the public in the winter of 1858. Construction north of the park continued during the American Civil War in the 1860s, and the park was expanded to its current size in 1873. 

After a period of decline in the early 20th century, Robert Moses started a program to clean up Central Park. Another decline in the late 20th century spurred the creation of the Central Park Conservancy in 1980, which refurbished many parts of the park during the 1980s and 1990s.

Central Park was designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1962, which in April 2017 placed it on the tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage Sites. 

More information: Central Park

The park, managed for decades by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, is currently managed by the Central Park Conservancy under contract with the municipal government in a public-private partnership. The Conservancy is a non-profit organization that contributes 75 percent of Central Park's $65 million annual budget and is responsible for all basic care of the 341 ha park.

New York, lookin' down on Central Park
Where they say you should not wander after dark.

New York, like a scene from all those movies

but you're real enough to me, but there's a heart,

a heart that lives in New York.

Simon & Garfunkel

BETHESDA FOUNTAIN, THE ANGEL OF THE WATERS IN NYC

Today, The Grandma has visited one of her favourite places of New York City, the Bethesda Fountain in Central Park.

Meanwhile, The Newtons have been preparing their Cambridge Exam. 

 

They have studied some vocabulary about Transport and Useful Things.

 

 

More info: Transport & Useful Things

 

Bethesda Terrace and Fountain are two architectural features overlooking the southern shore of the Lake in New York City's Central Park.

 

The fountain, with its Angel of the Waters statue, is located in the center of the terrace.

Bethesda Terrace's two levels are united by two grand staircases and a lesser one that passes under Terrace Drive. They provide passage southward to the Central Park Mall and Naumburg Bandshell at the center of the park. The upper terrace flanks the 72nd Street Cross Drive and the lower terrace provides a podium for viewing the Lake. The mustard-olive colored carved stone is New Brunswick sandstone, with a harder stone for cappings, with granite steps and landings, and herringbone pattern paving of Roman brick laid on edge.

In Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted's 1858 Greensward Plan, the terrace at the end of the Mall overlooking the naturalistic landscape of the Lake was simply called The Water Terrace, but after the unveiling of the angel, its name was changed to Bethesda Terrace.

Construction of the terrace and fountain occurred during the American Civil War. Only two major structures besides the Bethesda Terrace were completed during the Civil War: the Music Stand and the Casino restaurant, both demolished.

By the end of 1861, work on Bethesda Terrace was well underway. The stonework to be installed in the terrace arrived in 1862, and the masonry of the fountain was installed by 1863.

In 1864, the stonework of Bethesda Terrace was completed except for minor details, and the Central Park commission hired a sculptor to design the figures for the Fountain. The upper level of the Terrace was mostly built by 1867, by which time the Fountain's figures were being cast in bronze.

More information: Central Park Conservancy

The original plans had called for marble and bronze figures to be installed on the upper level, but those were not executed. The Bethesda Fountain was officially completed in 1873.

Bethesda Fountain is the central feature on the lower level of the terrace. The pool is centered by a fountain sculpture designed by Emma Stebbins in 1868 and unveiled in 1873. Also called the Angel of the Waters, the statue refers to Healing the paralytic at Bethesda, a story from the Gospel of John about an angel blessing the Pool of Bethesda, giving it healing powers. It was the only statue funded by the city in the original design for the park. Stebbins was the first woman to receive a public commission for a major work of art in New York City.

The 2.4 m bronze statue depicts a female winged angel touching down upon the top of the fountain, where water spouts and cascades into an upper basin and into the surrounding pool.

Beneath her are four four-foot cherubs representing temperance, purity, health, and peace. The statue alludes to the Croton Aqueduct, the first pure-water aqueduct in New York City, which opened in 1842 on the site of Central Park. The angel carries a lily in one hand, representing purity, and with the other hand she blesses the water below.

The lower basin has water lilies, lotus, and papyrus, inspired by an illustration in an 1891 book by Vaux's assistant and partner Samuel Parsons, the Superintendent of Planting in Central Park.

The base of the fountain was designed by Calvert Vaux, with sculptural details by Mould. The panels of carving in the abstracted organic style propounded by Owen Jones, a mentor of the sculptor Jacob Wrey Mould are organized by an iconographical program of themes: the Seasons, the Times of Day, the Ages of Mankind.

More information: Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct

There's a spot in Central Park, the Bethesda Fountain,
where if you sit there long enough, the entire city walks by.

Alex Whitman