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Jackie Robinson Slated for Landmark Designation

With interest piqued in the 145th Street/Bradhurst area, it comes as no surprise that Jackie Robinson Park has been recommended for landmark status. One of the top selling points for developments like The Langston, The Hamilton and Bradhurst Court is the sweeping views of Jackie Robinson Park. In the advertisement for a new mixed income development, Ellington on the Park, it states that “many units will overlook or have views of Jackie Robinson Park.” [MAP]

If you live in the area, you may have noticed that the park is currently under renovation. The bandshell, which used to be an eyesore, is roped off for construction after years of neglect.

JACKIE ROBINSON (COLONIAL PARK) PLAY CENTER & INTERIOR SLATED FOR LANDMARK DESIGNATION

The New York City Landmarks Commission is considering the designation of Jackie Robinson Play Center and interior for landmark designation. The park is located in Sugar Hill, Hamilton Heights and borders Edgecombe Avenue.

Proposed areas of designation are:
Jackie Robinson (Colonial Park) Play Center (including the bath house, swimming pool, diving pool, bandshell, dance floor terrace, and extension between West 148th Street and West 150th Street, retaining walls, fencing, stairways, linking pathways, playground wading pool and comfort station, Bradhurst Avenue between West 145th Street and West 153rd Street.

 

Jackie Robinson (Colonial Park) Play Center Bath House Interior (first floor interior consisting of the vaulted entry foyer and the two staircases leading to the second floor locker rooms, and the fixtures and interior components of these spaces, including but not limited to, wall surfaces, floor surfaces, ceiling surfaces, doors, railings, ticket booth, bas-reliefs, signage and metal grilles, Bradhurst Avenue between West 146th Street and West 147th Street.

 

The Jackie Robinson (Colonial Park) Play Center is one of a group of eleven immense outdoor swimming pools opened in the summer of 1936 in a series of grand ceremonies presided over by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and Park Commissioner Robert Moses. All of the pools were constructed largely with funding provided by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), one of many New Deal agencies created in the 1930s to address the Great Depression. Designed to accommodate a total of 49,000 users simultaneously at locations scattered throughout New York City’s five boroughs, the new pool complexes quickly gained recognition as being among the most remarkable public facilities constructed in the country. The pools were completed just two and a half years after the LaGuardia administration took office, and all but one survives relatively intact today (Excerpt, LPC designation report) [Source: West Harlem CPO]

Photo credit: Colonial Park(1939) – Museum of the City of New York (WPA)