History
The original design for Prospect Park did not include the playgrounds that are such popular destinations today.  When Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux were planning public parks, play spaces specifically designed for children was a new idea.  Prospect Park’s area was located in what is now called the Vale of Cashmere, and included a sheltered meadow and a small pond for sailing toy boats.


Playground Pool, c. 1890s
 

By the 1920s active recreation was seen as an important mission of public parks.  Playgrounds evolved into specialized spaces equipped with sandboxes, see-saws, jungle gyms, swing sets and slides.  Prospect Park’s first such playgrounds were Lincoln Road Playground (1928) and Vanderbilt Playground (1929).   Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, using federal aid through the Works Progress Administration, added hundreds of playgrounds in New York City during his tenure from 1934 to 1960.

Playground now known as Harmony Playground, seen here in 1941.  The playground was given  a 15-month, $1.7 million renovation in 2001-2002.


Restoration

In the late 1980s, the Alliance undertook responsibility for the design and oversight of playground renovations in the Park.  The first Alliance-designed and supervised playground renovation was a $1 million dollar project started in 1989 at the Vanderbilt Street Playground.  This was followed by the renovation of the Third Street Playground in 1993, and a two million dollar renovation of the Lincoln Road Playground in 1994.  The Third Street Playground received additional restoration in 2007.

The creation of the Garfield Tot Lot in 1992 is an example of an Alliance partnership with neighborhood residents.  Parents in the Park Slope community worked with the Alliance to raise private funds for the construction of a toddler’s playground.  The Garfield Tot Lot Committee was able to raise enough money to fund landscaping for the surrounding area as well.

Once known as the Ocean Avenue Playground, Imagination Playground was transformed in 1995 into one of the Park’s most fanciful and innovative play areas.  The $1.5 million renovation included the addition of a dragon sculpture water feature and a storytelling area centered on a statue of Ezra Jack Keats’ storybook characters Peter and his dog Willie.  The playground and its dragon were designed by Alliance landscape architect Christian Zimmerman, and the Keats characters were sculpted by Brooklyn artist Otto Neals.  Both men received City of New York Art Commission Excellence in Design awards for their work on this project.