Trefoil Arch

This sweet little arch leads to the Boathouse area. Those ornaments I focused on are quatrefoils.

Greenswards says: "Perhaps most surprising of all is that the revetment is brownstone throughout. In a generation when brownstone, from the banks of the Passaic and Connecticut Rivers, spread throughout the city and beyond, it was not the favored stone for the park bridges. That distinction Vaux reserved for New Brunswick sandstone."

Well, maybe it was surprising then, but now it looks very classically New York!

Greenward continues:

"Trefoil was completed in 1862 on the designs of Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mould.

Trefoil is under the East Drive on the path leading from Conservatory Pond to the Lake and Boathouse, in line with 73rd and 74th Streets. Its span is 15 feet 10 inches between abutments, with the highest point 11 feet 9 inches above the path. The underpass is 66 feet and the railing 110 feet long. A statue of Hans Christian Andersen stands nearby.

Trefoil was restored in 1983-85 at a cost of over $300,000."

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• arch
• central park
• new york city
• trefoil arch
• brownstone

[TGoodman]

Very nice.  This was featured in the 1970 Jack Lemmon film, "The Out of Towners," a personal favorite of mine. :-)