The High Line

Last year my nephew Donovan, a student studying landscape architecture at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, told me of his experience at the High Line. A university that emphasizes a “Learn by Doing” educational experience, my nephew’s description of the High Line was insightful and clearly passionate melded with academic integrity. He suggested that I adopt his schools motto and join him on a summer day trip. Together, with my wife and daughter, the four of us visited this horticultural wonder in lower Manhattan.

The High Line is located on Manhattan’s West Side and runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to 34^th Street between 10^th and 11^th Avenues. Section 1 of the High Line, which opened to the public on June 9^th, 2009, runs from Gansevoort Street to 20^th Street. The High Line was originally constructed as part of the West Side Improvement project, in the 1930’s, to remove heavy freight trains from the streets of Manhattan and move this dangerous traffic to an elevated position, some 30 feet in the air. Today’s green project, using the same space, upon completion, will run a mile-and-a-half long through the West Side neighborhoods of the Meatpacking District, West Chelsea and Clinton/Hell’s Kitchen. Interesting to me is the Meatpacking District. Much of the 1^st section of the High Line is located here and around 1900 this district was home to more than 250 slaughterhouses and meatpacking plants. Prior to the High Lines development, trains, barges and ships brought goods directly to this district for processing from the Hudson River. After the High Line’s development, freight trains full of meat and other provisions were able to carry such goods directly to the upper floors of these buildings.

April 2006 marked the groundbreaking of the High Line. James Corner Field Operations, a landscape architecture and urban design firm, Diller Scofidio & Renfro, an architecture firm, along with the consultation of planting designer Piet Oudolf, designed this monumental landscape. The plantings of the High Line are inspired by the self-seeded landscape that grew on the out-of-use elevated rail tracks during the 25 years after the trains stopped running. Incidentally, the last train to run on the High line was in 1980. Some 210 species of perennials, grasses, trees and shrubs were chosen for section 1 because of their unique textures, colors and “hardiness.” Cognizant of bloom times in the plant selections, you can be sure to see something in bloom almost any day of the year. Native plants are at the forefront of the design and many of the plants chosen originally grew on the High Line’s rail bed.

Growing within the meandering, concrete pathways is, by far, my favorite plant selection of the project. Huge waves of Mexican feather grass (Nassella tenuissima) were in their glory, the day of our visit. A graceful and delicate, very fine textured ornamental grass which grows in a dense fountain-like clump complete with wiry culms made the biggest impact for me. Notable trees include white fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus), smokebush (Cotinus coggygria ‘Grace’) and sassafras (Sassafras albidum), a nostalgic favorite as I had these in my backyard growing up as a child. Perennials that I enjoyed were goatsbeard (Aruncus ‘Horatio’), coneflower (Echinacea purpurea ‘Vintage Wine’), sneezeweed (Helenium x ‘Rubinzwerg’) and catmint (Nepeta sibirica) to name a few. The use of plant material along with fixed and movable seating helps contribute to the overall experience. Lounge chairs that slide back and forth on rails and a special vantage point complete with ascending seating and a glass wall felt like a mini amphitheatre. Peering down the avenue, holding our serene experiences inside the glass wall, away from the outer concrete jungle, is a quantum design component.

Plants are not the only reason for visiting the High Line. There is free Fitness and Movement Classes, Pilates Fusion Classes and Stargazing with the Amateur Astronomers Association weekly. Membership to the High Line also has its privileges. As a supporter or friend to the High Line you can shop along the historic cobblestone streets of the meatpacking district, enjoying restaurants, design and photography studios and fashion boutiques and be guaranteed a 10% discount to most.

The High Line is open from 7:00AM to 10:00PM daily with its last entrance to the park is 9:45PM. There are several access points, however, if you decide to visit and are carrying a stroller, like we did, consider 14^th Street and 16^th Street as these have elevator access. I can’t wait for section 2 (20^th Street to 30^th Street) to open, projected for sometime in 2011.

“The Father of American Landscape Architecture”

Picking up where I left off last month… Frederick Law Olmsted. Touted as “the father of American landscape architecture”, Mr. Olmsted has left behind an impressive list of work. Born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1822, Olmsted had an auspicious career in journalism before his heightened success as a landscape architect. Aside from his most notable commissioned work, the Biltmore Estate in Ashville, North Carolina, Frederick Olmsted’s work is so long, that just listing them would surpass the word count requirement of this article. Highlights include the academic campuses of Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, Stanford University, Cornell University and Yale University to name a few. Other notable commissioned works include the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, Massachusetts, Branch Brook Park in Newark, New Jersey and the Niagara Reservation, now the Niagara Falls State Park. The point being that Olmsted was sought after everywhere and worked everywhere. His genius is undisputed and his contributions are numerous. However, with all that he had accomplished, New York’s Central Park, another of his creative works, is located virtually in our own backyard.

Embarrassed to admit this, growing up in New Jersey my parents routinely took my brother and me into New York City for various cultural events. Continuing those experiences as a young adult, it was not until my wife and I decided to take our daughter to the Central Park Zoo that I actually spent time in Central Park. Not dismissing the efforts of Frederick Law Olmsted, how could you, many give him sole credit for the park’s design. In fact, the English-born architect Calvert Vaux shares credit for the design. Olmsted and Vaux entered the design contest together and were pitted against Egbert Ludovicus Viele, a civil engineer and United States Representative. “The design of Central Park embodies Olmsted’s social consciousness and commitment to egalitarian ideals.” Olmsted believed that the common green space of Central Park should be equally accessible to all citizens. And what about that green space…where did it come from? The Greensward project, which was the plan that Olmsted and Vaux submitted for the now Central Park, was a parcel of land that was seen as undesirable. More than 700 acres, the land between Fifth and Eighth avenues and 59^th and 106^th streets, was acquired by the power of eminent domain. The project had irregular terrain and swamps and displaced some 1600 residents who lived in shanties.

While there were many besides Olmsted and Vaux who helped shape, design and maintain America’s first landscaped public park in the United States, Central Park had another person’s strong influence. Ignaz Pilat was an Austrian-born gardener who migrated to the United States and worked on design and planting of Central Park. Accomplishments include studying botany at the University of Vienna and obtaining a position at the Imperial Botanical Gardens of the Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna. It was here where Pilat acquired many of his skills. Ignaz Pilat has been credited for many of the plant choices seen throughout the park. A list so diverse it’s worth the Google search…trees of Central Park.

My family’s outing in Central Park was full of excitement! Standing inside the Central Park Zoo watching the Snow Monkeys through our daughter’s eyes was worth the price of admission. For me, standing behind that attraction with a sweep of Crape Myrtle in bloom gazing up at the rigid architecture of the city through a large mass of American Elm was awe inspiring. What a great place to have so close to home. Walking under the George Delacorte Music Clock on our way to the Tisch Children’s Zoo was another highlight. The park is filled with too many attractions to list here, but I will say this, when you build up an appetite walking through all its grandeur, don’t miss the Central Park Boathouse for lunch. The scenery and culinary treats will hold your attention.

Olmsted’s ideal to preserve areas of natural beauty for future public enjoyment is heard through his own words. “What artist so noble…as he who, with far-reaching conception of beauty, in designing power, sketches the outlines, writes the colors, and directs the shadows of a picture so great that Nature shall be employed upon it for generations, before the work he arranged for her shall realize his intentions.” Olmsted’s attempt to improve society is echoed in his work. His open spaces are seen as “places of harmony” where we can, even today, escape from the grind of our everyday lives to a more perfect place.