On Friday, Gail Wittwer-Laird of Starr Whitehouse, the landscape architecture firm retained by Friends of the Public Square (FOPS), presented the plans for the restoration and rehabilitation of the Public Square, a.k.a. Seventh Street Park, to the Historic Preservation Commission. The materials presented to the HPC were also being submitted to the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). Wittwer-Laird was seeking a letter of support from the HPC to be sent to SHPO.
Wittwer-Laird explained that work on the park would be undertaken in three phases:
- Phase 1: Interior
- Phase 2: Fountain
- Phase 3: Streetscape
Phase 1 also involves replacing the concrete and wood park benches with Central Park settees, the same style of bench used at the entrance to Promenade Hill, although the benches in the Public Square will be natural wood instead of painted. (Sadly, the paint on the benches at Promenade Hill is already peeling off.)
The fountain will re-created in Phase 2, but those hoping for the return of the Venus fountain that once graced the Public Square will be disappointed.
Wittwer-Laird explained that the original fountain was ordered from a catalog, and they have located an ironmonger in Tennessee--Robinson Iron--that has the original pattern collection of the antebellum Janney Iron Works of Montgomery. It seems the pattern for our 1883 fountain is part of that collection. The new fountain will be recast in bronze from the original mold, but there will be no Venus rising from the sea at the top.
Phase 3 of the project involves planting street trees around the entire park.
Construction documents are now being prepared, and the project is expected to go out for bid early in 2025. Construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2025.
The Historic Preservation Commission is holding a public hearing on the proposed plans for the Public Square on Friday, October 25, at 10:00 a.m.
COPYRIGHT 2024 CAROLE OSTERINK
Thank you for all the hard work Gail Wittwer-Laird and team.
ReplyDeletePublic parks are so important.
May we ask why a Michelangelo type statue is verboten and replaced with a goat?
If not a statue of David or Venus de Milo... then why not a splashy friendly Whale?
Will they make the benches too uncomfortable or impossible to sleep or pass out on? Otherwise, in the warmer months half of the new park will continue to be the lair of certain "park patrons" and totally uncomfortable and unwelcoming for all the other patrons who don't call the park their home during the daytime.
ReplyDeleteDespite a dogged 45 seconds sleuthing of trying to find a goat affinity in Hudson's history, I fell short.
ReplyDeleteThat said, the renderings look nice and this promises to be a big step-up from what the park currently looks like.
I can't see where the goat fits and I can't see what is wrong with a Venus. A fountain without a crowning beauty will look odd. Otherwise I look forward to the improvements.
ReplyDeleteThe goat doesn't fit. Robinson Iron probably found one (albeit reduced to one ear) in their parts bin. Cheaper this way.
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