BY LINCOLN ANDERSON | On Monday, without fanfare, the construction fences around the lawn and play area in Washington Square Park’s southwestern quadrant came down, finally reopening this part of the park to the public.
According to the Parks Department, the new park building is also nearly complete and will be opened “very soon,” which will wrap up phase three of the park’s multi-year renovation project. A date for a dedication ceremony to mark the work’s completion has not been set yet.
“The mounds,” three small, rubber-coated climbing hills, used to be a toddlers’ play feature in this area of the park, but they fell into disrepair. They have now been replaced with a small sunken valley, covered in springy artificial plastic grass that blends seamlessly into the lawn. Suspended above this depression is a new cable-rope play structure for older children.
The new park building incorporates several previous structures into one.
“The building recalls the history of earlier pavilions within the park,” a Parks spokesperson said. “Its subtle curvature and natural-material composition help minimize its intrusiveness in the park. The new pavilion in time will have vine plantings embracing the stone columns and draping along the reclaimed redwood trellis to soften this new structure within the historic park landscape.”
The comfort station and park house will be certified Silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and will provide ADA-accessible public restrooms, headquarters for Parks Department District 2 staff, office space, storage and mechanical spaces and pumps that operate the fountain. Whether the police will also have a small space in the new building is “still in discussion,” according to the spokesperson.
To create the new .87-acre lawn, the large dog run was relocated to the east along the park’s southern edge.
On Monday, the Markels, from Santa Cruz, California, were having a ball on the new rope-play structure. The two girls were on spring break from school.
“It’s really cool!” said Anneke, 12, lying on her back on a rope-ladder bridge.
“At first we thought it was a piece of art,” said her sister Olivia, 14. “We were afraid we’d get arrested.”
She said the lawn’s chain-and-post fencing made them think the climbing structure was off limits.
Their dad, Clayton, a firefighter, noted he felt some static electricity while on the ropes when he touched one of its metal support poles — but it didn’t seem to be dampening the fun.
A separate project will see work begin this winter on rebuilding the park’s perimeter sidewalks.
