Location: 104th Street, mid-Park
Artist/Designer: John V. & M. V. Van Pelt
Materials: Tennessee pink marble
Installation: 1928
Funding: Unknown, possibly the City of New York
The memorial to Andrew Haswell Green (1820-1903) is in an obscure location atop a hill known as Fort Fish in the northern reaches of Central Park—hardly fitting for a man known as the “Father of New York City.” Yet the memorial is a touching way to honor this ambitious man. A bench of Tennessee pink marble is surrounded by five maple trees, representing the five boroughs of New York City.
As New York City’s Treasurer and Controller, Green held sway over the city’s finances. He is credited with saving New York from financial disaster by reducing spending by millions of dollars. Green was the main catalyst behind the consolidation of surrounding suburbs to create the five boroughs of New York City in 1898. A strong supporter of Olmsted and Vaux’s Greensward Plan for the design of Central Park (although he often was at odds with the designers over budgeting), he believed the Park should be “suggestive of peace, restfulness and recreation.”
Andrew Haswell Green Bench
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