Outside In - Melanie Fischer - Central Park Arsenal 3/3 - 4/22

The Arsenal is the second oldest building in Central Park. It has been a storage space for munitions before the Civil War and the first home of the Museum of Natural History. Today it is the Parks Department’s headquarters and for the next few weeks artist Melanie Fischer has built an indoor park using man-made materials to create a fun pastoral environment. The opening was last night so I stopped in between Chopin’s birthday party and the Charles Addams Exhibit opening at the Museum of the City of New York.

Outside In is located on the third floor of the building.  Enjoy it and read about the public art project that will be gracing the islands of Broadway north of 59th Street starting in late April.  Also, ask the Park staff where the original Plan for The Central Park drawings are located these days.  The exhibit is free and open 9:30 to 5:00 weekdays. Enjoy!

 My pictures show the Arsenal in the background behind the “old” Menagerie. The postmark on the top Menagerie picture is 1908 and the bottom picture comes from the days when elephants were still housed in Central Park. It was printed by the Manhattan Post Card Co which started business in 1928.

 For those of you riding double decker buses, the Arsenal comes between the Frick Museum stop and the Central Park South stop.  It is a short walk from either stop. Note: there are many armories in Manhattan. For military history buffs, Nancy L Todd has actually written a book “New York’s Historic Armories: An Illustrated History”.

Two years ago, Open House New York, gave a party at the at the Arsenal to honor those of us who have volunteered on the Columbus Day weekend event from its beginning. One of the highlights of the evening was gaining access to the view from the Arsenal’s rooftop.

Comments

[Sue]

I meant to put up a link to Melanie's website. Sorry, here it is http://melaniefischer.com/

[Sandy]

great postcards!

[Sue Katz]

Thanks Sandy - There are many more. So many post ideas. So little time!