The decision to create a new public park on the block bounded by First and Second avenues and 35th and 36th streets came from a recommendation made by the Small Parks Commission, an advisory committee appointed by New York City Mayor William Lafayette Strong in 1897 with the purpose of creating additional small parks and playgrounds. The new park, which was originally 2.95 acres (1.19 ha) in size, displaced an entire city block previously occupied by tenements.[3][4][5][6] A resolution authorizing a park on this site was adopted by the New York City Board of Public Improvements in June 1901.[7] In October 1901, Mayor Van Wyck approved an ordinance passed by the New York City Municipal Assembly to lay out a public park on the block and authorized the commencement of condemnation proceedings for property acquisition.[2] The land for the park was obtained by the city in 1903, and a total amount of $1,028,000 was awarded to property owners as compensation for the taking of their land.[6][8]
The park was constructed from 1904 to 1905 and was originally named St. Gabriel's Park after the former St. Gabriel Church located at 310 East 37th Street,[6][9] however, before the park was completed there were debates over its naming. Some of the local residents—including members of the St. Gabriel Church—felt that the park should instead be named "Civic Park" in recognition of the nearby Civic Club and the efforts of Captain F. Norton Goddard to locate the new park in the district.[10][11] Although the name of the park had been designated as "Civic Park" by the Department of Parks Board of Commissioners in December 1903, a resolution to change the name to "St. Gabriel's Park" was passed by the New York City Board of Aldermen in March 1904 and ended the debate regarding the name.[12][13][14]
Opening and early years
Basketball courts on the west side of park with St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral in the background
The park was originally laid out with a playground near its west end, a gymnasium containing a running track in the middle of the block, and a comfort station near the east end; landscaping bordered the park's perimeter. The grounds were equipped with playground fixtures and gymnasium apparatus in 1906 and the playground opened to the public on October 4, 1906. The girls' playground included the first playground slide installed by the New York Park Department.[9][15][16][17]
Renovations to the park were made in the mid-1930s, which included the addition of basketball, handball and shuffleboard courts, a roller skating track, and a softball diamond. Reconstruction of the western half of the park was completed in August 1936 and the remainder of the park reopened in February 1937.[6][18][19]
A war memorial for the soldiers from Murray Hill who died in World War I was unveiled in October 1936. This memorial originally consisted of a flagpole, bronze plaques and a grove of trees; the tablets have since been relocated from the base of the flagpole to the field house on the east side of the park.[20][21][22]
Land reclamation
In 1938, a portion of the park was removed to make way for an approach roadway leading to the Queens–Midtown Tunnel, which was completed in 1940.[6] Construction of the Manhattan portal of the tunnel also resulted in the elimination of St. Gabriel Church, the original namesake for the park.[23]
During early planning stages, the location of the tunnel's entrance/exit plaza had been proposed between 36th and 38th streets from First to Second avenues, which was opposed by both the First Avenue Association and Manhattan Parks Commissioner Walter R. Herrick given its proximity to St. Gabriel's Park. The First Avenue Association recommended moving the plaza one block to the north to avoid the park, but acknowledged that this would increase the cost of condemning buildings, including the Eleto Company warehouse on East 38th Street.[24][25][26] The tunnel's entrance/exit plaza was subsequently relocated to run from 36th to 37th streets between First and Third avenues and was designed to minimize acquisition costs and impacts to existing buildings while also providing accommodations to connect to a proposed crosstown vehicular tunnel to the Lincoln Tunnel.[27]
A portion of the park was removed in 1938 to create Tunnel Approach Street
When New York City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses learned of the Queens Midtown Tunnel Authority's plan to use part of St. Gabriel's Park for an approach to the tunnel, he criticized the authority for not informing him about the plan and also assuming they could obtain park land. Moses planned to fight the proposal to use the park, as the law only allowed the city to transfer property to the tunnel authority that "is not devoted to any other public use." The New York State Legislature soon passed a new bill that abolished the Queens Midtown Tunnel Authority and created the New York City Tunnel Authority in its place, eliminating the language that Moses felt protected the transfer of park land in the process.[28][29]
The First Avenue Association called upon the tunnel authority to purchase new land for park purposes provided that any existing park space was used in building the tunnel.[30] New parkland was later added in the vicinity of 42nd Street to offset the land taking in St. Gabriel's Park, which resulted in the creation of Robert Moses Playground adjacent to the tunnel's ventilation building.[31] The western portion of St. Gabriel's Park was subsequently reconstructed to account for tunnel approach roadway with relocations of trees, benches, playground areas and utilities as well as the addition of new fencing and landscaping.[6][32]
Late 20th century to present
In 1978, St. Gabriel's Park was renamed St. Vartan Park after the St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral that had opened across the street from the park in 1968. A motion to rename the park was unanimously approved by the New York City Council in April 1978 and was signed into law by Mayor Ed Koch the following month.[6][33][34][35] A dedication ceremony to mark the renaming of the park was held on April 23, 1978.[33][36]
The playground on the east side of the park underwent renovations in 1984 and 2002
In 1982, as part of the development of the Manhattan Place apartment building on the east side of First Avenue between 36th and 37th streets, The Glick Organization agreed to renovate St. Vartan Park and contributed $900,000 in private funds to rehabilitate the playground and field house on the east side of the park. This renovation was completed in 1984 and also included the planting of new trees and over 9,200 shrubs.[6][37][38] From 2001–2002, the playground underwent another reconstruction using a total of $582,000 of public funds contributed by Andrew S. Eristoff and Eva Moskowitz, the council members for the 4th district of the New York City Council.[6][39][40]
The park's asphalt playground was replaced by a synthetic turf field in 2021 to improve existing parks due to the temporary loss of park space during construction of the city's East Side Coastal Resiliency project.[41]
In April 2022, the St. Vartan Park Conservancy was formed as a not-for-profit organization.[42] A public event to welcome the conservancy and to celebrate the opening of the St. Vartan Park garden to the general public after years of closure was held in the garden on May 9, 2022. Remarks were delivered at the event by elected officials, St. Vartan Park Conservancy officers and others including from the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation and a local public elementary school.[43]
References
^ ab"St. Vartan Park". New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Archived from the original on August 25, 2022. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
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