History

The Concert Grove was originally intended as a large promenade for audiences of open-air concerts on Music Island, a small islet in the middle of the nearby Lake. Two structures augmented this formal space: the Concert Grove House and the Concert Grove Pavilion (nicknamed the Oriental Pavilion for its Chinese and Moorish inspired architecture). Both were designed by architects Thomas Wisedell and Calvert Vaux in 1874. The Concert Grove House served as a restaurant and comfort station for the music-lovers who arrived by horse-drawn carriage to attend elegant Saturday afternoon orchestral and choral concerts. The Oriental Pavilion, with its broad hipped roof and delicate cast-iron support columns, served as a tea house.
Due to acoustical difficulties, concerts were moved to another section of the Park in 1887, when the Music Pagoda was built at the north edge of the Nethermead. Soon after, the Concert Grove came to be referred to as the Flower Garden.

                                                                                        Concert Grove, c. 1910. Collection of Bob Levine.

In 1949, the powerful Parks Commissioner Robert Moses altered the Park forever by demolishing the Concert Grove House and transforming the graceful Oriental Pavilion into a snack bar. Wollman Center Rink opened in 1960, located between the Concert Grove and the Lake. The Oriental Pavilion suffered a fire in 1974, after which it stood dormant until a 1987 restoration.

The Concert Grove possesses a rich collection of historic bronze sculptures. Three were donated by United German Singers of Brooklyn as trophies won in the national Saengerfest choral competitions. These works include Henry Baerer’s bust Ludwig von Beethoven (1894), Augustus Mueller’s Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1897) and Chester Beach’s Karl Maria Von Weber (1909).

Other statues in the Grove are John G. Draddy’s portrayal of Irish poet Thomas Moore (1879); J. Wilson McDonald’s representation of American author Washington Irving (1871); Henry Kirke-Brown’s Abraham Lincoln (1869); and Sigvald Asbjorsen’s homage to composer Edward Grieg (1914), a gift of the Norwegian Societies of Brooklyn. The Lincoln statue was a gift from the War Fund Committee of Kings County and is one of the oldest statues in the Park, having originally stood in Grand Army Plaza until 1895.

Restoration

After being turned into a snack bar in the 1950s, the Oriental Pavilion was almost completely destroyed by a fire in 1974. It remained that way until 1987, when it received a complete restoration to its former design, including a recreation of the ornate stained glass skylight.

In 1997, the Concert Grove’s bronze statues were conserved with a grant from the Florence Gould Foundation.