Open House New York in Prospect Park

Mark your calendar! Registration for Open House New York begins Friday, October 3 for events city-wide including exciting happenings in Brooklyn’s Backyard. Join Prospect Park Alliance for a tour of the Prospect Park Vale with an inside look at the upcoming restoration to make it more welcoming and accessible to all Brooklyn residents. Plus, join the Alliance and the NYC Parks Urban Park Rangers for an inside look at the Soldiers’ + Sailors’ Memorial Arch, which was recently restored by Prospect Park Alliance.

Save the date! Registration begins on Monday October 3:

OHNY: Re-Envisioning the Prospect Park Vale
Saturday, October 18, 11 am-12 pm + 12 – 1 pm
Registration coming soon!

Join Jillian Pagano, Landscape Architect II, and Deborah Kirschner, Vice President of External Relations, at Prospect Park Alliance, the non-profit that sustains Prospect Park in partnership with the City, to learn about the upcoming restoration of the Prospect Park Vale in the northeast corner of the park. Learn about the Alliance’s plans to transform the Vale, an important woodland landscape that serves as a critical habitat to birds and other wildlife, and the extensive community outreach and engagement efforts that led to a new vision for this lesser-known park landscape to make it more welcoming and accessible to all Brooklyn residents. The former Rose Garden has served many functions since the park opened in 1867. It was originally a Children’s Playground, complete with the Park’s first, horse-driven carousel, and then became a formal Rose Garden, with three pools with goldfish and lilies, at the turn of the 19th century as part of the City Beautiful movement. In its heyday, children would line the pond banks and race miniature toy boats. In the 1890s, the renowned firm of McKim, Mead and White replaced the pond’s soft edge with a formal marble and granite balustrade.

This tour will be led on pedestrian pathways but closed toed shoes would be recommended, particularly if there are rainy conditions. The area is not ADA-accessible. It will be fully outdoors.

Please note there will be two hour-long tours: 10:00 am – 11:00 am and 11:00 am – 12:00 pm

OHNY: Re-Envisioning the Prospect Park Vale
Saturday, October 18, 10 am-2 pm
Registration coming soon!

Enjoy an inside look at the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial Arch at Grand Army Plaza in Prospect Park! Join the NYC Parks Urban Park Rangers to tour the American Civil War monument, which has been recently restored by the Prospect Park Alliance. Visitors will learn about the exterior and interior restoration, and ascend three flights of stairs inside the arch to view the “Trophy Room” above the archway. Tours will delve into the history of the arch, the Brooklynites commemorated who served during the Civil War, and the work to preserve the memorial for future generations.

Ticketed tours will be held every 30 minutes from 10 am-2 pm.