New York City’s growing Hudson River Park, successor to much of the city’s former piers and docks, has added a new park within the park, an island sitting on concrete pillars whose varying heights turn the landscape into rolling hills. And that’s its name: Little Island.
Located near the western end of 14th Street in downtown Manhattan, the new park, financed by media mogul Barry Diller, occupies what once was the location of Pier 55, and is connected to the shore by two short pedestrian bridges. Its 132 ‘tulip pot’ columns support two and a half acres of spaces for walking, sitting and more; it includes a 687-seat performance space.
Packed into that space are 35 species of trees, 65 kinds of shrubs and 290 kinds of grasses and other plants. The designer’s aim was that from the air it would resemble a leaf floating on water. The tulips, by the way, were assembled up the river, and barged down four at a time.
