Playtime in Central Park :: Simple pleasures in the Sheep Meadow

Blogger and Upper West Sider Robin C., for her response to our call for submissions, features one of the Park's most popular destinations for recreation: the Sheep Meadow!  And to think, this used to be a common site!

"These three photos capture the simplicity of fun on a beautiful Easter day afternoon ..."   ~~ Robin C.

And in an act of shameless self-promotion may we add a final note from Robin C.:

"As a new resident of the Upper West Side, I so enjoy following Landmark West!"

Aw, we're blushing ...  Don't forget to check out photos from Rachel H. and Howard S. (not to mention Lila and Isabella!), too.  Then, it's your turn!  Forward your photos to lwlargefiles@gmail.com.  Be sure to include:

• Your name
• Location where the photo was taken
• Year of the photo, if known
• A brief caption of the memory the photo captures

Playtime in Central Park :: Photos submissions begin to arrive!

First there was Rachel H., now Howard S. and his granddaughters are getting in on the Central Park photo fun!

"This is a picture of my then-8-year-old grandchildren, Lila and Isabella, taking a break from rowing, enjoying the small beach tucked away in a corner of Central Park's Lake."
~~ Howard S.

THANK YOU, Lila, Isabella and Howard!  Seeing your photo gives us the urge to drop what we're doing and scurry to the Lake, too!  Building sandcastles on a Thursday afternoon?  Why not?!

What are you waiting for?  Send in your photos for the "Playtime in Central Park" blog series today!  Here's how ...

Call for Submissions :: Share your favorite Central Park playtime photos!

LANDMARK WEST! invites YOU to show us the play spaces in Central Park that you love!  This photo-sharing project was born from the excited responses we received earlier this month to our email guide of the park's many playgrounds.  Not long after, we received a "vintage" photo from native New Yorker/current New Jersey denizen Rachel H., below.

So great!  We loved the idea so much--encouraging our friends and readers to share their photos of playtime in Central Park--that we've invited everyone to follow Rachel's lead, too!  Just forward your photo(s) to lwlargefiles@gmail.com with the following information:

• Your name
• Location where the photo was taken
• Year of the photo, if known
• A brief caption of the memory the photo captures

We can't wait to see YOUR photo!

Ribbon Cutting Celebrates New Media Room at Amsterdam Houses

This past Tuesday morning, LW! President Arlene Simon and summer intern Ingrid joined with our local Council member Gale Brewer, leadership from Older Adults Technology Services (OATS), leaders from the New York City Housing Authority (or NYCHA), the Macquarie Group, and a host of residents and friends to celebrate a new media room at Amsterdam Houses.

Cutting the ribbon to the Amsterdam Houses media room!
For a full listing of those pictured, scroll to bottom of post.

Amsterdam Houses, a New York City Housing Authority (or NYCHA) development and LW! designation "Wish List" item, is a diverse community located between West End and Amsterdam Avenues, between West 61st and 64th Streets. 

Since 2007, Residents Association President  Margarita Curet (a 2011 LW! "Unsung Hero" award winner!), has advocated for the residents of Amsterdam Houses.  On the goal of technology access for her fellow tenants, Margarita's efforts were matched by those of local Council member Gale Brewer.  As former chair of the City Council's Committee on Technology, improved access to technology for constituents of all ages is one of Council member Brewer's core objectives.

Victor Gonzalez (center, standing) speaks to Amsterdam Houses residents eager
to learn about the features of the new media room.

The Amsterdam Houses media room is a wonderful example of public-private partnership: NYCHA donated the building space, outfitted with computers from the Macquarie Group, and OATS will provide instructional classes for residents from throughout the NYCHA developments, with priority for seniors from the local Amsterdam Houses and Amsterdam Addition.

For her third contribution to the blog (here's her second!), LW! intern Ingrid reports back on the wonderful sense of accomplishment and excitement to learn new media skills at the ribbon cutting ceremony:

Everybody at the event was so thrilled. As the President of the Amsterdam Houses Residents Association, nothing has stopped Margarita Curet from achieving the goal of getting computers set up in the Amsterdam Houses community room, so that seniors can not only learn to use them but also move forward and learn new technology.

But she couldn’t do it by herself, so Margarita got in contact with other people. After working for several months with NYCHA and local elected officials like Gale Brewer, who I met for the first time, their hard work has paid off.  Amsterdam Houses now has a computer lab, but they’re not stopping there. I hope more equipment will come for the great people at Amsterdam Houses. 

I got to meet some of the seniors that will be learning to use computers, and I think that the whole project is a great way to bring the community closer together.  After all, everybody should have a chance to connect with other people on the internet.

LW! congratulates the collaborative efforts of all who supported this project and helped it to become a reality!  And we look forward to continuing our close relationship with Margarita Curet and her Amsterdam Houses "family".  Next on the calendar: the annual Family Day celebration, on Sunday, August 3rd.  Come by and discover this spirited community and this landmark-worthy architecture for yourself (details to follow via email)!

PHOTO (from left to right): Council member Gale Brewer; Melanie Schmidt, Lincoln Square Neighborhood Center; Thomas Kamber, OATS; a representative from the Macquarie Group; Victor Gonzalez, Resident Association President of Wise Towers and NYCHA's first Resident Board Member; Doris McDonald, Vice-President of Amsterdam Houses Resident Association; Margarita Curet, President of Amsterdam Houses Resident Association.  Back row, between Doris McDonald and Margarita Curet: Clarence Gordon, Amsterdam Houses Resident Manager.

Photo credit: Office of Council member Gale Brewer.

Inspiring Dreamers :: Youth education all year 'round!

Over the past few weeks, LW! has been working with the "I Have a Dream" Foundation (IHDF) at the De Hostos-Wise Community Center on West 93rd Street through Keeping the Past for the Future, our youth education program.

Through IHDF, the De Hostos-Wise Dreamers (14 and 15 year olds) all receive long-term support such as tutoring, extracurricular activities, summer programs, and tuition assistance for their college education. This summer, the teens have partnered with LW! to examine the immediate neighborhood around where they live and go to school. Embodying the roles of preservation architects and urban planners, the Dreamers started with a thorough survey of buildings on 93rd and 92nd Streets, looking at each building’s function, condition, materials, windows, alterations, etc.

With a new sense of the spaces and structures that they pass by every day, the students began to question, “What makes a great neighborhood?” They considered the places that they particularly love in their community--from the corner deli to the basketball courts--and wondered what else they need. What could they add to the neighborhood that would truly enhance it for its residents? Working in groups of three, the students created “idea boards” for their designs.

The first group created an inspired 3-D model of a multi-level shopping complex,
with brand-name stores, an adjoining hotel, and a public green space with sitting area.

The next group designed a community recreation center, with an indoor pool,
multiple basketball courts, and a food court on the main level.

The final group envisioned a “green” movie theatre, surrounded
by a park, with a café, and a community green roof.

Finally, to see architecture and urban planning in action, the Dreamers were invited to visit Perkins Eastman Architects near Union Square. Associate Tracy Maher introduced us to the work of the firm and gave us a great tour of the offices, including a peek into the model-making workshop! Architect Ayo Yusuf talked to us about how one would enter the field, and his experiences as an architect. Michael Imranyi showed us a 3-D computer rendering of a project in the Middle East and a physical model of a shopping complex in Long Island.  Proof positive that architect and urban planning knows no geographic boundaries!

Thanks so much to Marvin Cabrera at "I Have a Dream" Foundation for his help in coordinating this summer program as well as to Fran Rosenfeld, a member of the LW! Education Committee, for her support with the program and for coordinating our visit to Perkins Eastman.

Keeping the Past for the Future is supported, in part, by public funds from New York City Council Member Gale Brewer via the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and the NYC Department of Education.

New York Mag's Grub Street blog highlights Landmark Feast!

Last week, New York Magazine's daily food blog, Grub Street, included Landmark Feast in its Neighborhood Watch report!  Click here to read our mention!

Our thanks to Grub Street for highlighting the participation and support of Upper West Side chefs Bill Telepan of Telepan Restaurant, John Fraser of Dovetail Restaurant, and Jonathan Benno of Lincoln Restaurant.  Learn more about these chefs (and all the West Side chefs who'll be preparing locally-sourced seasonal dishes at the Feast!) on the Meet the Chefs page.

Tickets are selling fast--200 friends, new and old, have already reserved their seats at the table for this extraordinary dining experience!  Buy your tickets online today!

(Re)Discover Riverside Drive :: Slide lecture on August 18th

LOST RIVERSIDE DRIVE

A History in Postcard Images
Slide Lecture and Book Signing

 

There was much hope and hype in the 1870s and 1880s that the Upper West Side would surpass Fifth Avenue in attracting the well-to-do in the area. A winding boulevard with vistas stretching for miles up and down the river, it was to become home to some of the private residences in New York City. This plan, however, was short lived, as aristocratic New Yorkers did not budge from their mansions on the East Side. Within a generation, the fancy homes and institutions built on Riverside Drive were engulfed in a dramatic redevelopment of the boulevard.

Please join LW! and vintage postcard collector Michael V. Susi (author of the Postcard History Series' The Upper West Side [2009], and Columbia University and Morningside Heights [2007] from Arcadia Publishing) for a rare glimpse into his personal collection depicting the majestic Riverside Drive.

Thursday, August 18th, 2011 at 6:00PM
Macaulay Honors College
35 West 67th Street

**SPACE IS LIMITED**
Tickets are $25
Reservations are Required

Call 212-496-8110 or email landmarkwest@landmarkwest.org

300 of Our Closest Friends, and Now Nick & Nora, too!

Nora Ephron & Nick Pileggi invite you to feast!

They join Honorary Event Chair Ruth Reichl and fellow co-chairs Garry Trudeau & Jane Pauley and Shirley & Milton Glaser in celebrating Landmark Feast, an unprecedented outdoor farm dinner celebrating the Upper West Side and life’s essentials—great architecture, parks, people, food—all key to a sustainable future.

Tickets are selling fast -- dinner is already half sold out!  Reserve your seat at the table soon!

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On Sunday, September 25, 2011, the Arthur Ross Terrace at the American Museum of Natural History will be transformed into an extraordinary outdoor dining room for a four-course sit-down dinner—served family-style at one long, communal table under the stars—featuring best-quality local food prepared by the Upper West Side’s most brilliant chefs, all of whom are donating their time and talent.

Landmark Feast is being orchestrated by Outstanding in the Field, an international leader in the farm-to-table movement with a track record of coordinating unique food experiences across the country.

All proceeds from Landmark Feast support Friends of Roosevelt Park, the only group dedicated to maintaining and beautifying the green oasis surrounding the Museum of Natural History for the enjoyment of West Siders and four million annual visitors to the area, and LANDMARK WEST!, the grassroots organization responsible for preserving the Upper West Side's historic character and livability for the past 25 years.

Down at the Archives :: Interns team up for building research, share their findings

REPORT from the FIELD

Jointly reported by interns Kate and Ingrid

Kate writes ...

Design review: the definition of advocacy in action!

As we've blogged before, our Certificate of Appropriateness (C of A) design review committee analyzes all projects on the Upper West Side that go through the Landmark Preservation Commission (LPC) public hearing process. That is, projects seeking approval for modifications beyond the scope of the LPC's Rules such as a rooftop or rear yard addition, the restoration of a stoop, the replacement of windows, you name it! To take effective and informed action requires a lot of research! So here's a little insight as to how we prepare and research every project.

Both historical and contemporary research always inform conscientious landmark stewardship. For every project, we complete the following steps:

1. Visit and document the current condition of the building
2. Obtain historic tax photos
3. Review the architectural plans for proposed modifications

The Municipal Archives are house in the Surrogate's Court building.

For historical research, the Municipal Archives (located just north of City Hall) is a treasure trove of information.

On July 15, 2011, I asked fellow intern Ingrid to join me as I ventured to the archives in search of historic tax photos. Historic tax photos are an important visual record of a building's original characteristics. Between 1939 and 1940, the city took a photograph of every single building in New York City's five boroughs and then repeated this process again in the 1980s. (For more information, click here.) For one item on our C of A agenda, I was particularly eager to see an historic image of the building, since we were trying to determine the original window configuration.

So, Ingrid and I ventured into the archives to see what we could find.

Tax photo research, Ingrid's take ...

Adventure outside the office- as I would call it.

Sample Sanborn tax map.

When Kate G. and I went down to the Municipal Archives it was my first time there- very exciting! The mosaics they have up on the ceiling in the lobby are amazing. Our mission was to get a picture from the 1940s of two certain buildings. On July 14th, we visited 163 West 87th Street and 327 Central Park West and took pictures of the way the buildings look now. As we took photographs, we discussed the way each building was back before the changes and the way the architect wants to change the building now. For example, at 327 Central Park West, they currently have one-over-one double hung windows, but originally in the 1940s the windows, as seen in the tax photo, were six-over-six double hung windows.

But back to the municipal archives... first, we had to use the Sanborn tax maps to confirm the block and lot of the buildings we were looking for- kind of hard because they had a lot of information on one building . Next, once we had the blocks and lot numbers we had to look inside the Manhattan photograph index book for the microfilm numbers, and once we had everything, we sat down at a microfilm scanner.

A microfilm reader, just like the
ones used for research at
the Municipal Archives.

I had seen many in movies, but never in my lifetime did I imagine I would get to use it and see the way it actually works. I can say my favorite part was learning and watching Kate try to explain how to use it- very funny!

Kate brings it all together ...

With our archival research, we were able to confirm that the original windows at 327 Central Park West were in fact six-over-six double hung windows. We will use this photo documentation to bolster our argument that any master plan for the building's windows should aim to return the building to the original fenestration planned by the architect.

GUEST BLOG :: From East Side to West Side, newsracks making headlines

REPORT from the FIELD

A guest blog by intern Kate Gilmore

Ever seen these along the street?

From Municipal Art Society Photo Competition, "Nasty Newsracks"
Southwest corner of 1st Avenue and 51st Street

Newsracks--a common piece of New York City street furniture--often blend into the background of our experiences in the City. But newsracks have become such an eyesore that many neighborhoods are saying enough is enough!

Newsracks are just one of the many factors affecting the quality of our city's streets.  Communities throughout New York City have tackled issues including commercial signage, storefronts, bus shelters and newsstands through streetscape improvement initiatives. This past semester I worked with Community Board 9 to brainstorm how they might create and administer their own streetscape improvement project. While researching precedents, Landmark West!'s innovative Retail Assistance Program Pilot launched in 1997 was a key example I reviewed for insight.  Community Board 9, Landmark West! and CIVITAS are all engaged in promoting sensitively designed and well-maintained streetscapes. Since I was already familiar with many current streetscape challenges, I wanted to learn more about CIVITAS' efforts to clean up newsracks.

So, I wanted to learn more. To do so I attended a presentation by CIVITAS at a joint meeting of Community Board 7's Transportation and Parks Committees on July 12, 2011. CIVITAS is a non-profit that works on quality of life issues on the Upper East Side and East Harlem. They have been working on the issue of newsracks for years, with the goal of improving compliance with the current newsrack law and advocating for more stringent regulations that would standardize newsrack design.

Rita Hirsh, Chair of CIVITAS streetscape committee, and Tali Cantor, Associate Director, presented a series of slides on the history and current conditions of newsracks from their UES and East Harlem neighborhood. The first newsracks appeared on the streets of Manhattan in 1984, and since then their numbers have multiplied. Each publication's newsrack uses a bright, unique color to attract the attention of a passing pedestrian.

Photo: LANDMARK WEST!

As seen in the images, newsracks are prone to vandalism and often sit empty. According to CIVITAS, many newsracks do not comply with the current laws governing their placement and upkeep. For example, if you ever see newsracks attached to subway entrances- that's illegal! The Department of Transportation (DOT) is responsible for all street furniture, including newsracks; however, due to weakened legislation they are not able to issue violations to publishers that do not maintain their newsracks. Publishers self-inspect and self-report to the DOT.

CIVITAS asks: What is the solution? Could New York standardize newsracks like the one seen below on Madison Avenue? Or is enforcement the key, allowing publishers to keep their colorful newsracks, but impose stricter adherence to required upkeep?

Photo: Madison Avenue Business Improvement District
Photo source, click here.

There was a lively discussion among Transportation and Parks committee members and the public, some encouraging stricter design guidelines and standardization and others celebrating the the newsracks colorful punctuations along the concrete streetscape. The discussion also considered whether publishers should pay a permitting fee to place a newsrack on the street, since the current system allows publishers to first, place a newsrack on the sidewalk and second, notify the DOT.

CIVITAS asked that CB 7 renew their resolution (originally passed in 2006), supporting CIVITAS' efforts and recommending that the DOT's ability regulate newsrack upkeep be strengthened. They also asked that CB7 request that Council Member James Vacca (Chair of the City Council's Transportation Committee) hold an oversight hearing. Ultimately, CIVITAS wants to clean up the chaos created by newsracks littering the streetscape.

To learn more about newsracks on city sidewalks, visit CIVITAS' website.  Once there, be sure to sign the petition!

No Falo Portugues :: Help LW! translate interview with "unsung hero" CTA Architects

We at LW! may be multi-talented, but multi-lingual is not necessarily our claim to fame.  A bit of French?  We've got you covered.  Basic Spanish?  We'll make it work.  But Portuguese?  Alas, no falo portugues*! 

So while we were thrilled to finally come across the video interview of Unsung Hero and architect Dan Allen of Cutsogeorge Tooman & Allen Architects with TV Globo (previewed on the blog in May), we're at a loss.  We need help from a language-savvy friend to translate the interview for us!  Can you help?  Let us know!

*That's "I don't speak Portuguese" in Portuguese, which we had to look up for the purpose of our blog.  Learning a new language, one blog post at a time!

Public Art in Riverside Park

DID YOU KNOW: The monument dedicated to Joan of Arc in Riverside Park (at West 91st Street) was the first public sculpture in New York City dedicated to a non-fictional woman.

DID YOU KNOW: The position of repose in which the woman rests at the Ida Straus memorial, in Straus Park, is almost physically impossible to mimic.  At the very least, it sure isn't comfortable!

Michele Bogart welcomes the group at the Soldiers & Sailors Monument.

Yesterday evening, friends of LANDMARK WEST! gathered in Riverside Park to tour a selection of monuments and memorials.  Led by Jean Parker Phifer and Michele Bogart, the group of curious urban explorers discovered the lesser-known details of five works of public art:

Soldiers & Sailors Monument.

Soldiers & Sailors Monument, Riverside Park at West 89th Street
Sculptor: Paul E. Duboy
Architect: Charles & Arthur Stoughton

The tour explores the Soldiers and Sailors Monument.

Michele Bogart discusses the Joan of Arc Memorial.

Joan of Arc Memorial*, Riverside Park at West 91st Street

Sculptor: Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington

Architect: John V. Van Pelt

From the Joan of Arc Memorial.

Jean Parker Phifer discusses the Joan of Arc sculpture.

The tour takes in the Firemen's Memorial
on approach westward from within Riverside Park

Firemens' Memorial, Riverside Park at West 100th Street

Architect: Harold Van Buren Magonigle

Firemens' Memorial.

Bas relief at the Firemens' Memorial.

Sculptural grotesque from the Firemens' Memorial.

General Franz Sigel, Riverside Drive at West 106th Street

Sculptor: Karl Bitter

Architect: William Welles Bosworth

Straus Park, between Broadway and West End Avenue at West 106th Street

*For additional information on the Joan of Arc Memorial, check out this DNA Info article featuring West Sider Valerie Thaler.

SAVE THE DATE :: Landmark Feast coming this September

Playful Design is Serious Fun in Central Park!

Summer Is Here In A Big Way, So Get Out And Play!     Recreation and play are serious art forms in Central Park! To help you plan your summer play, LANDMARK WEST! brings you a map paired with a few facts about the Central Park playgrounds! Learn about these creative play spaces - a full listing follows - but first, some of LW's favorites designed by renowned architect and lfUD fellow Richard Dattner (Follow Dattner Architects on Twitter!).   HECKSCHER PLAYGROUND - #1 (Find it on the map below!) The Heckscher Playground originally opened in 1926, and is named for its founder August Heckscher Sr., grandfather of August Heckscher III who served as Parks Commissioner under Mayor John V. Lindsay. The playground is both the largest (roughly 3 acres) and the oldest in Central Park, and is the only playground that is not located around the park's perimeter. Heckscher Playground is located at approximately 62nd Street at 7th Avenue, slightly west of the center of Central Park. The playground recently underwent a $6 million renovation/redesign and reopened to the public on May 12, 2006. It is located in one of the three locations originally designated for play in Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux's initial 1858 Greensward Plan for Central Park. If you're a kickball fanatic, this the place you want to be!    ADVENTURE PLAYGROUND - #3   Opened in 1967 the Adventure Playground was built by Robert Moses after the famous dispute surrounding a plan to create more parking for the privately-owned Tavern on the Green restaurant in Central Park at West 67th Street (now a visitor's center). The was the first of the "adventure playgrounds" designed by Mr. Dattner for Central Park. Born out of the World War II era, the adventure playground philosophy is that children would create play areas out of found materials, or debris. For this reason, they were sometimes also known as "junk" playgrounds.  Adventure playgrounds (our preferred name) encourage children to create their own play environments using their imaginations by utilizing tools and movable objects.  When controversial renovation plans for the playground arose in the late 1990s, LANDMARK WEST!, Friends of the Adventure Playground, and other members of the neighborhood met with Dattner, ultimately resulting in proposals for  the redesign. As landscape architect and city planner Michael Gotkin wrote in his essay The Politics of Play, "The Central Park Adventure Playground was a pivotal work of landscape design and survives as perhaps the most important extant modern playground in America." Landmark West! interviewed Richard Dattner. Click to view. Watch LW's interview with Richard Dattner as he discusses the history of the Adventure Playground by clicking the image.  Afterward, check out more of the great interviews that LANDMARK WEST! has done with prominent figures of New York City architecture.  The Institute for Urban Design (@IfUD) tweeted a great way to learn why Dattner's early design work continues to spark discussion.    EAST 72ND STREET PLAYGROUND - #5 This playground features tire swings, wooden climbing structures, sand, a stone slide, a water tower, and a net "spider web" for climbing. It is situated adjacent to the East Green. Generally a busy playground, the East 72nd Street Playground is an excellent playground for older children because of its many interactive play features.  ANCIENT PLAYGROUND (aka - Ancient Play Garden) - #12  Mr. Dattner designed this playground with the Egyptian art of the neighboring Metropolitan Museum of Art in mind. The spray shower in the park is analogous to the African nation's Nile River. Other references to ancient Egypt include obelisks that allude to Cleopatra's Needle, climbing pyramids that reflect the Temple of Dendur, a vast sand area representing the Egyptian landscape, and a sundial.  The Ancient Playground is located just to the north of the Museum, at 85th Street. The playground underwent a renovation in 2009, and as part of that effort the Osborn Gates by Paul Manship (built 1953, removed 1972 due to vandalism) were restored. WILD WEST PLAYGROUND - #15 You guessed it! This almost-entirely-wood playground was designed to resemble a frontier town.  Featuring the key ingredients of children's play, a water "river" runs through it, allowing children to build sand castles and to cool off in the summer. The Wild West Playground is near Central Park's Tennis House (the focus of an LW! advocacy campaign) between 94th and 96th Street. ______________________________________________________________   POP QUIZ!  The Question...  According to Robert Moses, why are nearly all of the playgrounds in Central park located near entrances, along the perimeter of the park? See the answer after the maps below! ______________________________________________________________    Let this map help you navigate your summer fun in the playgrounds of Central Park.   And for a little extra enjoyment, see where the Central Park Playgrounds fall on a map of Central Park from 1875, long before the playgrounds existed as we know them today. Full listing, below. Hinrichs' 1875 Guide Map of the Central Park with the modern parks marked out in red. Click to enlarge.  Playgrounds on the Map Heckscher Playground,  at 59th Street at 7th Avenue    Tots Playground,  at West 67th Street  Adventure Playground,  at West 67th Street   Billy Johnson Playground,  at East 66th Street  East 72nd Street Playground,  at East 72nd Street   James Michael Levin Playground,  at East 77th Street   Pat Hoffman Friedman - Three Bears Playground,  at East 80th Street  Diana Ross Playground,  at West 81st/82nd Street  Mariners' Playground,  at West 85th Street  Abraham and Joseph Spector Playground,  at West 86th Street  Arthur Ross Pinetum Playground,  at West 85th Street  Ancient Playground,  at East 85th Street  East 96th Street Playground,  at East 96th Street  Safari Playground,  at West 91st Street  Wild West Playground,  at West 93rd Street  Rudin Family Playground,  at West 96th Street  Tarr Family Playground,  at West 100th Street  Robert Bendheim Playground, at East 100th Street  Bernard Family Playground, at East 108th Street Lenox Avenue Playground, at 110th Street at Lenox Avenue West 110th Street Playground, at West 110th Street   POP QUIZ - The Answer is... "Located near the major entrances, [the playgrounds] intercept children on the way into the park and provide a place in which excess energy can be worked of without damage to the park surroundings." -Robert Moses    BEAT THE HEAT!   Stay inside and still explore the Upper West Side     Download the FREE LANDMARK WEST WALKING TOUR app and access photos and facts about historic neighborhood buildings, all from the comfort of your home.       Click here to DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE COPY   of the LANDMARK WEST! Walking Tour app for iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch, today! IMAGE AT LEFT: The southern tower of the San Remo Apartments, as seen from Central Park. 145-146 Central Park West, between W. 74th St. and W. 75th St. Built: 1929-1930. Architect: Emery Roth.