American Sanctuary: Understanding Sacred Spaces

3. God in Gotham

3 God in Gotham The Design of Sacred Space in New York’s Central Park Paula A. Mohr Following a visit made to Central Park at the end of the nineteenth century, author Annie Nathan Meyer wrote of the rich sensory experience offered by the Mall—one of the most frequently visited spaces in the park (Fig. 3.1). She declared, “It is here that I worship. My cathedral sweeps majestically before me.” The Mall takes its form from an allée of trees arranged in parallel rows 1,200 feet in length outlining the nave and side aisles of Meyer’s “cathedral .” Meyer recorded that she paused on a bench positioned under the “high, vaulted roof . . . of soft, waving green of myriad shades.”1 Like most nineteenthcentury visitors, Meyer probably strolled in a northerly direction, perhaps drawn by the sounds of music emanating from the colorful and exotic Music Pavilion designed in a Moorish-Gothic style. Along the way, Meyer might stop to drink at the gothicized water fountain, which, in keeping with her cathedral analogy, resembled a baptismal font. Just beyond was Bethesda Terrace—the symbolic apse to Meyer’s cathedral and a mandatory destination for most visitors to the park.2 At the perimeter of Bethesda Terrace, massive piers carved with historiated ornamentation and articulated with a muscularity associated with medieval architecture signaled to our visitor that she was transitioning from a sylvan cathedral to a sacred space articulated in stone (Fig. 3.2). As Meyer continued through the park, she would encounter the multilevel Terrace with its upper viewing platform, grand staircases, and underground arcade—all a Nelson_AmerSanctuary 11/30/05 2:32 PM Page 37 prelude to Bethesda Fountain, located on the lower level. This fountain, inspired by the biblical story of the angel Bethesda, as well as the smaller figures symbolizing Temperance, Purity, Health, and Peace, imparted to Meyer the story of physical and spiritual regeneration.3 Looking around her, our nineteenth -century visitor would note the elaborate flagpoles from which hung bright red gonfalons like those used in medieval ecclesiastical processions. Finally , across the lake and in the distance, Meyer’s attention would be drawn to the picturesque Belvedere, with its rusticated stone walls and turret looming on top of Vista Rock like a medieval fortress. This tour through a portion of Central Park highlights the religious and medieval foundations of both landscape and architectural elements throughout the entire park. By commingling references, Central Park’s designers created a place understood by Victorian 38 Inscription Figure 3.1. Bethesda Terrace and the Mall. Board of Commissioners of the Central Park, Third Annual Report of the Board of Commissioners of the Central Park. January, 1860 (New York: William C. Bryant & Co., 1860), facing p. 38. Courtesy of The Winterthur Library: Printed Book and Periodical Collection. Nelson_AmerSanctuary 11/30/05 2:32 PM Page 38 God in Gotham 39 Figure 3.2. Pier at Bethesda Terrace. Photograph by the author. Nelson_AmerSanctuary 11/30/05 2:32 PM Page 39 Americans to be spatially, temporally, and spiritually distinct from the commercial and industrial city growing up around it. While much has been written on the history of Central Park, interpretations of this landmark of the American park movement have typically emphasized the prescience and altruism of the park’s founders in establishing a natural refuge in the heart of New York City. Other historians have focused on the genius of the park’s designers in shaping a man-made “natural” landscape. This essay instead focuses on the park’s architectural elements—both real and abstracted— and excavates how these elements underscored the sacred qualities of Central Park for visitors in the nineteenth century. Frederick Law Olmsted, one the park’s designers, would later characterize architecture in a park as the “knives and forks” of the “feast.”4 As Olmsted’s analogy suggests, buildings were the platforms from which the visitor enjoyed the park’s scenery: their apertures directed the visitor’s gaze, and sometimes a building itself was a focal point within the landscape. However, to see these structures simply as utilitarian tools overlooks their important aesthetic contributions to the park. These structures were the subject of intense debate and ultimately were the result of conscious choices made in their placement, the materials used in their execution, and their overall design. Indeed, the commissioners of Central Park, who directed the development of the park and...