Central Park
Preserved
Address
Between West 59th Street and West 110th Street
GPS
40.773843574915, -73.971580781561
BOOK
“Where are we going?” she cried.
“How about the movies?”
“It’s so hot,” she complained. “You go. We’ll ride around and meet you after.”
With an effort her wit rose faintly.
“We’ll meet you on some corner. I’ll be the man smoking two cigarettes.”
“We can’t argue about it here,” Tom said impatiently, as a truck gave out a cursing whistle behind us. “You follow me to the south side of Central Park, in front of the Plaza.”
The Great Gatsby
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Approved in 1853 and designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, who won the 1858 competition with the so-called Greensward Plan. Construction began in 1857; the first areas opened to the public at the end of 1858, and the park was considered complete in 1876. With about 843 acres (approx. 3.41 km²), it was conceived as a great natural landscape within the urban grid, with paths, meadows, and bodies of water designed for strolling and leisure. In the 1920s it was already Manhattan’s great public “lung” and an everyday setting for walking, outdoor social life, and recreational activities.
