{"nrhp_refnum":"66000538","name":"Central Park","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Bounded by Central Park S., 5th Ave., Central Park W., 110th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.78259746300003,"lon":-73.96548011663708,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-10-15","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1963-05-23","areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Central Park is a large urban public park in Manhattan, New York City, running from 59th Street to 110th Street between Fifth Avenue and Central Park West. It was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux and built mainly between 1857 and 1866.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that Central Park holds a prominent place in the history of the American park movement because it dramatized the need for urban parks and spurred their creation. It was the first large-scale public park in the nation designed and built according to a plan. The Olmsted and Vaux design, with its naturalistic landscape and separated circulation systems, remains a notable example of their work despite later changes.","narrative":"Central Park is an 840-acre public park in the middle of Manhattan, bounded by 59th Street, 110th Street, Fifth Avenue and Central Park West. Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won the 1858 design competition with their Greensward plan, and most of the park was complete by 1866. They turned a rocky landscape of swamps, waterways and squatters' shanties into a picturesque setting of lakes, mounds, meadows and woodland. Five separate circulation systems, including sunken transverse roads, footpaths, bridle paths and carriage drives, cross one another without conflict. About 50 bridges and arches, the formal Mall and Terrace with Bethesda Fountain, and Victorian Gothic buildings designed by Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mould add to the design. It was the first large public park in the United States built according to a plan, and it gave impetus to the national urban park movement. Later playgrounds and rinks have changed parts of the original layout.","period_of_significance":"1857-1866","architect_builder":"Frederick Law Olmsted; Calvert Vaux","architectural_style":"Victorian Gothic (park buildings); picturesque landscape design","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as in good condition and occupied; modern additions such as playgrounds, fields and rinks have altered the original plan, and restoration is hampered by lack of funding.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:39.760134-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/66000538_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000538/0cbec39a13-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000538/0cbec39a13-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Ed Yourdon from New York City, USA","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Southwest_corner_of_Central_Park,_looking_east,_NYC.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ed Yourdon from New York City, USA</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Southwest_corner_of_Central_Park,_looking_east,_NYC.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75315940","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Park","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q160409"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/central-park-66000538/"}