Content deleted Content added
added space in caption of image between its and angel Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit |
Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.9.5) (Whoop whoop pull up - 19138 |
||
| (3 intermediate revisions by 3 users not shown) | |||
Line 25:
In [[Calvert Vaux]] and [[Frederick Law Olmsted]]'s 1858 [[Central Park#Greensward Plan|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 [[Central Park Casino|Casino]] restaurant, both demolished.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Heckscher |first=Morrison H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dx_GNFFLSXsC&pg=PA17 |title=Creating Central Park |date=2008 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=978-0-30013-669-2|pages=58–59}}</ref> By the end of 1861, work on Bethesda Terrace was well underway.<ref name="NYC Parks Annual Report 1861">{{Cite web |title=
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.<ref name="NYC Parks Annual Report 1864">{{Cite web |title=1864 Central Park Commissioners Annual Report |date=1864 |publisher=New York City Department of Parks and Recreation |url=http://home2.nyc.gov/html/records/pdf/govpub/4060annual_report_manhattan_central_park_1864.pdf |access-date=January 13, 2017 |pages=6–8 (PDF pp. 7–10)}}</ref> The upper level of the Terrace was mostly built by 1867, by which time the Fountain's figures were being cast in bronze.<ref name="NYC Parks Annual Report 1867">{{Cite web |title=1867 Central Park Commissioners Annual Report |date=1867 |publisher=New York City Department of Parks and Recreation |url=http://home2.nyc.gov/html/records/pdf/govpub/4087annual_report_manhattan_central_park_1867.pdf |access-date=January 13, 2017 |page=8 (PDF p. 9)}}</ref> The original plans had called for marble and bronze figures to be installed on the upper level, but those were not executed.{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=324}}{{sfn|Kinkead|1990|p=267}} The Bethesda Fountain was officially completed in 1873.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1873/06/01/archives/the-bethesda-fountain-inauguration-at-the-terrace-central-park-the.html|title=The Bethesda Fountain; Inauguration at the Terrace, Central Park The Multitudes of Visitors. Stealing Jewelry Arrest of the Thief. Brooklyn Sanitary Precautions.|date=June 1, 1873|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 12, 2019 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
Line 36:
The [[Mintons]] [[encaustic tile]]s of the arcade ceiling<ref>Clarence C. Cook, ''A Description of the New York Central Park'', 1869, quoted in {{harvnb|Murphy|Ottavino|1986|p=35}}.</ref> were removed in the 1980s renovation because the [[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] deemed the tiles too costly to restore. Instead, the Commission approved the commission of a ceiling mural in its place.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Neuffer |first=Elizabeth |date=June 7, 1987 |title=Terrace in Central Park Lacks Its Ornate Ceiling |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/07/nyregion/terrace-in-central-park-lacks-its-ornate-ceiling.html |access-date=April 18, 2019 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Mayor [[Ed Koch]] declared in June 1987 that the tiles would be restored.<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 14, 1987 |title=THE REGION; What's Up in the Park? Ceiling Tiles! |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/14/weekinreview/the-region-what-s-up-in-the-park-ceiling-tiles.html |access-date=April 18, 2019 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The tiles sat in storage for more than 20 years until the Conservancy received a private donation for their restoration. The Conservancy began restoring the tiles for $7 million in 2004, and the tiles were reinstalled in 2007.<ref name="Murphy and Ottavino" /><ref name=Champe>{{cite journal |last1=Champe |first1=Peter |last2=Rabinowitz |first2=Mark |date=1999 |title=Restoring the Minton Tile Ceiling, Bethesda Terrace Arcade, Central Park, New York City |volume=30 |issue=2–3 |pages=11–16 |doi=10.2307/1504635 |jstor=1504635 |journal=[[APT Bulletin]]}} Described some of the difficulties surmounted in carrying out this project.</ref>
==
[[File:Bethesda Fountain, Central Park, New York, USA-1Aug2010.jpg|thumb|The Terrace]]
Line 46:
North of the street, a pair of stairs descends two flights to the lower plaza. The stairs contain stone balustrades with carvings of birds and plants.{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=322}}{{sfn|Kinkead|1990|p=37}} [[Jacob Wrey Mould]] designed the balustrades' sculptural details.{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=323}}{{sfn|Kinkead|1990|p=52}} The decorations largely contain motifs representing the seasons, similar to illustrations in classical [[illuminated manuscript]]s. These include lambs' heads representing spring; butterflies and berries for summer; holly leaves, pine boughs, pine cones, and birds for fall; and firewood for winter.{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=322}} Other motifs were also used in the balustrades, including ice skates, signifying winter; a rooster, signifying longer days in the spring and summer; and a witch on a broomstick, signifying Halloween. At the tops of the stairs, the balustrade on 72nd Street contains a scroll motif with birds and flowering plants.{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=324}}
==
[[File:Bethesda Fountain in 2007.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|Bethesda Fountain with restored plants]]
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.<ref name="ginko">{{Cite news |title=Ask Professor Ginkgo: The Fountains of New York |url=http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_newsroom/daily_plants/daily_plant_main.php?id=15031 |date=September 10, 2002 |volume=XVII |issue=3695 |work=The Daily Plant |access-date=January 3, 2015 |publisher=[[New York City Department of Parks and Recreation]] }}</ref> Also called the ''Angel of the Waters'', the statue refers to the [[Healing the paralytic at Bethesda|biblical healing of a disabled man at Bethesda]], a story from the [[Gospel of John]] about an angel blessing the [[Pool of Bethesda]], giving it healing powers.{{sfn|Kinkead|1990|p=37}}<ref name=ginko /> It was the only statue funded by the city in the original design for the park.{{sfn|Kinkead|1990|p=89}}<ref name=ginko /> Stebbins was the first woman to receive a public commission for a major work of art in New York City.<ref name=ginko />
The {{convert|8|ft|m|adj=on}} 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 [[cherub]]s representing [[Temperance (virtue)|temperance]], [[Virtue|purity]], [[health]], and [[peace]].{{sfn|Kinkead|1990|p=37}}{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=322}}<ref name=ginko /> 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.<ref name=ginko /> The lower basin has [[Nymphaeaceae|water lilies]], [[Lotus (plant)|lotus]], and [[Cyperus_papyrus|papyrus]], inspired by an illustration in an 1891 book by Vaux's assistant and partner [[Samuel Parsons]], the Superintendent of Planting in Central Park,<ref>Parsons, ''Landscape Gardening: Notes and Suggestions on Lawns and Lawn Planting...''(1891), lithograph after a watercolor, page 253</ref>
| |||