The Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is set to review plans for the reconstruction of the West 85th Street Playground, located within Central Park on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Led by the Central Park Conservancy, the project aims to modernize the play area formerly known as the Spector Playground, while making it more accessible and inclusive for various mobility needs.
Improvements include replacing the current sand play area, bucket swings, spray bollard, bridges, and play structures with rustic climber play structures, tire and strap swings, a stone seat wall, and a large water feature. The renovations will reduce the playground’s footprint by nearly 1,000 square feet, but will add an adjacent 6,400-square-foot picnic area.
In addition, the restoration aims to enhance the natural features of the surrounding area known as Seneca Village and create an accessible route from Central Park West and from the nearby Toll Playground to the south at West 84th Street.
The LPC is scheduled to review the plans on January 9.
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We used to go to this playground a lot in the early 2000’s with my older son. At that point it had several wooden structures to climb on and had a rope to swing on, in addition to the sand, swings and water feature. For some reason, over the years they removed pretty much everything, which is why it now needs to be redone.
This is a nationwide trend. Much of the “dangerous” stuff I played on as a kid has been removed. My old grade schools used to have a log fort style playground with metal slides, monkey bars and all kinds of ways to wonderfully injure yourself. Now it’s a bunch of plastic with no swings or long slides, basically nothing that would allow a kid to get a boo-boo. The other grade school I attended removed the playground equipment and didnt replace it with anything.
It’s worth reviewing to the plan would probably have better results, if it were to be done: Thanks.