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CENTRAL PARK FACTS

In 1857

the city of New York organized a competition for the design of this new park, which had to rival with the great parks in London and
Paris. A design by Frederic Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux's design, named 'the Greensward Plan' was chosen.

Location

Central Park is situated in Manhattan between 59th and 110th street and between Fifth and Eight Ave.


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Nature

Central Park is a large public, urban park in New York City, with about twenty-five million visitors annually. Most of the areas immediately adjacent to the park are known for impressive buildings and valuable real estate. Central Park has been a National Historic Landmark since 1963.

The park is maintained by the Central Park Conservancy and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. The park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and architect Calvert Vaux. While much of the park looks natural, it is in fact almost entirely landscaped. It contains several natural-looking lakes and ponds, extensive walking tracks, two ice-skating rinks, the Central Park Zoo, the Central Park Conservatory Garden, a wildlife sanctuary, a large area of natural woods, a reservoir with an encircling running track, and the outdoor Delacorte Theater which hosts the "Shakespeare in the Park" summer festivals.

FUN FACT:
The park also serves as an oasis for migrating birds.

 

Central Park Today

Central Park is a large public, urban park (843 acres, 3,4 km², 1.32 sq mi; a rectangle 2.6 statute miles by 0.5 statute mile, or 4.1 km × 830 m) in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, almost 4/5 of the size of Vancouver's Stanley Park and just over 1/3 of the size of London's Richmond Park, but just 1/5 of Los Angeles's Griffith Park. With about twenty-five million visitors annually, Central Park is the most visited city park in the United States, and its appearance in many movies and television shows has made it famous.

The park is maintained by the Central Park Conservancy, a private, not-for-profit organization that manages the park under a contract with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation,[3] in which the president of the Conservancy is ex officio Administrator of Central Park.

Central Park is bordered on the north by West 110th Street, on the south by West 59th Street, on the west by Eighth Avenue. Along the park's borders however, these are known as Central Park North, Central Park South, and Central Park West respectively. Fifth Avenue retains its name along the eastern border of the park. Most of the areas immediately adjacent to the park are known for impressive buildings and valuable real estate.

The park was designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and architect Calvert Vaux, who went on to collaborate on Brooklyn's Prospect Park. Central Park has been a National Historic Landmark since 1963.

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