{"nrhp_refnum":"78001870","name":"Fort Tryon Park and the Cloisters","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Broadway and Dyckman St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.862578520000056,"lon":-73.93184841956011,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-12-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture","Art","Conservation","Military","Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 66.5-acre public park in northwestern Manhattan, New York City, containing The Cloisters, a medieval-style branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art built 1933-1938, plus Parks Department structures and the site of the Revolutionary War Fort Tryon.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the park preserves a dramatic natural landscape, a Revolutionary War fortification site linked to Margaret Corbin, and a possible prehistoric shell heap. It was assembled and donated by John D. Rockefeller Jr. and landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. The Cloisters, built with original medieval European architectural elements, houses a leading collection of medieval art in the country.","narrative":"Fort Tryon Park covers about 66.5 acres of rocky, wooded high ground in northwestern Manhattan, with long views across the Hudson River to the Palisades. The site holds the remains of a Revolutionary War outwork where Margaret Corbin made her stand, and a shell heap suggesting earlier Native American use. Early in the twentieth century only a few large estates occupied the land. John D. Rockefeller Jr. bought them, gave the park to the city, and kept about four acres for The Cloisters. Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. designed the landscape around the natural terrain, with pathways, terraces, gardens and a heather garden. The Cloisters, designed by Charles Collens and built between 1935 and 1938, serves as the park's focal point. It incorporates medieval cloisters, chapels and apses brought from France and Spain. Utilitarian ashlar structures built by the Parks Department in the 1930s complete the district.","period_of_significance":"1700-1799; 1935-1938 (The Cloisters)","architect_builder":"Charles Collens (The Cloisters); landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.; Guy Lowell designed the earlier Billings mansion","architectural_style":"Neo-Norman and neo-Gothic details; medieval-inspired design echoing southern French monastic architecture","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition is marked good; present uses are museum and park. A temporary structure covers the Fuentiduena apse to protect the stonework from pollution.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:39.349559-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/78001870.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78001870/e2e07ab8ca-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78001870/e2e07ab8ca-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Beyond My Ken","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2013_Fort_Tryon_Park_main_entrance_sign_at_Margaret_Corbin_Circle_in_snow.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Beyond My Ken</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2013_Fort_Tryon_Park_main_entrance_sign_at_Margaret_Corbin_Circle_in_snow.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319515","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Tryon_Park","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1190346"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/fort-tryon-park-and-the-cloisters-78001870/"}