About the Battery and The Battery Conservancy

The Plein & Pavilion, The Battery, New York City, Designed by Dutch Architectural Firm, UNStudio, Courtesy The Battery Conservancy

The Battery is a 25-acre waterfront park and the cradle of New York City history. Located at the tip of Manhattan overlooking New York Harbor, The Battery hosted Dutch settlers when they arrived at Manhattan Island in 1626 and established New Amsterdam. Today with the leadership of The Battery Conservancy, a nonprofit organization established in 1994 to partner with government to design and rebuild these historic acres, the park is the largest and most dynamic public place in Lower Manhattan. It is the front lawn of Downtown and a hub of harbor access and cultural tourism. Over five million people, including residents, office workers, school groups, and tourists from around the world, visit the park and its major landmark, Castle Clinton National Monument, every year.

New Amsterdam Plein & Pavilion within Battery Park will be a dramatic space where more than 5 million people a year, including 70,000 daily commuters and 2 million annual tourists, can find an extraordinary “outdoor living room” for spontaneous and scheduled activities, public markets, seating and shade, and an iconic state-of-the-art pavilion for food and information, all designed by internationally celebrated Dutch architect Ben van Berkel of UNStudio, Amsterdam. The Plein & Pavilion will be unique among the city’ many public spaces — a landscaped intermodal transportation hub of the 21st century, where bicycles, buses, the subway and water transportation intersect with cultural offerings in a singular expression of daring but lyrical design.

The Battery Conservancy, with its partners at the city, state and federal levels, has raised over $101M to revitalize the park. Expansive lawns, overarching shade trees, vast perennial gardens designed by Piet Oudolf, the Dutch landscape designer,  waterfront promenades designed by the Dutch architectural firm of UNStudio with sweeping views and cultural programs will soon be complemented by The Battery Bikeway connecting the East and West Sides of Manhattan; the much-anticipated SeaGlass ride; and a remarkable new Battery Playspace, designed by Frank Gehry.

One of many monuments in the Battery. Emma Lazarus Memorial Dedicated: 1955 Description: SoL poet; plaque on plinth; lead capsule in foundation contains list of 402 contributors; bronze and limestone. Donor/Source: Federation of Jewish Women’ Organizations, Inc., Courtesy The Battery Conservancy

Many cultural institutions are within walking distance of The Battery. Attractions include the South Street Seaport, the New York Stock Exchange, the Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian, the Museum of Jewish Heritage, the Staten Island Ferry, and the soon–to–be–restored Pier A. They all radiate from the Battery, which has historically been called the “emerald doorstep of the metropolis”.

The Battery will become a hub of waterborne transportation for New York Harbor. Castle Clinton presently serves as a busy ticketing center for three million passengers who annually board ferries to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Connections between New York State Heritage Area sites, the National Parks of New York Harbor, and New Jersey’s Liberty State Park, are also in the planning stages

http://www.thebattery.org

The above information and pictures are provided by The Battery Conservancy.