Brooklyn Lawmakers applauded Mayor Bill de Blasio’s last week for his announcement to invest nearly $9 million in funding for the restoration of Grand Army Plaza.
The announcement came as part of the mayor’s week long visit in the borough last week, known as City Hall In Your Borough.
The Prospect Park Alliance, the non-profit that operates the park in partnership with the city, will undertake the project, which builds on their work over 30 years to restore Prospect Park, in particular the northeast corner of the park.
“It’s been a great week in Brooklyn talking with residents and listening to their concerns, and there’s no better way to cap off this week than to invest in the borough’s public spaces. Grand Army Plaza welcomes us o Brooklyn’s most beloved park, and with this funding, we can fully realize the beauty of this monument honoring those who have served,” said de Blasio.
The $8.9 million capital project will enable the Alliance to restore the historic Soldier and Sailors Memorial Arch. The project will replace the arch’s roof, clean and repoint the brick and stone structure, repair the interior iron staircases that lead to the roof, and replace the interior and exterior lighting.
The project will also include replanting the landscaped berms that frame the Plaza on its east and west sides, which are sustained by the Alliance’s horticultural crews and volunteers. This includes adding new trees and replacing the existing chain link fence with a low steel panel fence. Additionally, the Alliance will remove the broken bluestone pavement that surrounds the plaza’s John F. Kennedy Memorial and the Bailey Fountain with granite pavement.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams lauded the Mayor’s investment to the iconic park for it’s aim to improving the park for all the borough’s residents.
“Grand Army Plaza should live up to the grandeur of its rich history, as a signature destination to millions of people from Brooklyn and beyond. This project complements the work my administration has undertaken to advance access and equity to every side of Prospect Park, our crown jewel in the County of Kings,” said Adams.
In addition to the restoration of Grand Army Plaza, Prospect Park Alliance also received $1 million in funding from the Brooklyn delegation of the city council for infrastructure improvements to the park’s former Rose Garden in the northeast corner of the Park. This corner of the park has been a current focus of the non-profit group who will also look to restore the Flatbush Avenue perimeter of the park.
The Alliance is expected to head the construction of two new entrances to the park on Flatbush Avenue–the first new entrances to the park since the 1940s–through funding from NYC Parks through its Parks without Borders program, which includes restoring pathways, benches and lighting in the northeast corner of the park through funding from the mayor.
“Grand Army Plaza is the front door of Prospect Park, a welcoming gathering spot for communities on both the east and west sides of the park. The Alliance is incredibly excited to be able to restore this public treasure to its original grandeur. Our award-winning team of architects and landscape architects has undertaken the restoration of many important Park destinations, from the Carousel to the LeFrak Center at Lakeside, and this work is central to our mission in the park,” said said Sue Donoghue, President, Prospect Park Alliance.
Grand Army Plaza was designed by park creators Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux as the grand formal entrance of Prospect Park at the time of its construction in 1867. In 1889, the Plaza became the site of the Soldiers and Sailors Arch, which was dedicated in 1892 to commemorate those who fought with the Union troops during the Civil War. The arch was designed by John H. Duncan with sculptures by Frederick MacMonnies. The Arch was landmarked in 1975.
