CENTRAL PARK
The Central Park Conservatory
14 East 60th Street
New York, New York 10022
(212) 310-6600
http://www.centralparknyc.orgWith 25 million visitors each year to its 843 acres, Central Park is the most frequently visited urban park in the United States. To manage the Park, Conservancy crews aerate and seed lawns; rake leaves; prune and fertilize trees; plant shrubs and flowers; maintain ballfields and playgrounds; remove graffiti; conserve monuments, bridges, and buildings; and care for waterbodies and woodlands, controlling erosion, maintaining the drainage system, and protecting over 150 acres of lakes and streams from pollution, siltation, and algae.
COLUMBUS CIRCLE
MERCHANTS' GATE ENTRANCE
Named for Christopher Columbus, Columbus Circle was completed in 1905 and was renovated a century later. It is located at the intersection of Broadway, Central Park West, Central Park South (59th Street), and Eighth Avenue, at the southwest corner of Central Park.
The "Grand Circle" at Merchants' Gate – Columbus Cirlcle's most important Eighth Avenue entrance – was part of the original vision of the park. The Maine Monument, an imposing edifice of marble and gilded bronze (third photo in this gallery), was built in 1913 as a memorial to sailors killed aboard the battleship USS Maine, whose mysterious 1898 explosion in Havana harbor precipitated the Spanish-American War.
A VIEW FROM THE MANDARIN ORIENTAL
Travelers with a fear of heights or an aversion to high room rates should steer clear of this posh luxury hotel, which occupies the 35th to 54th floors of the monumental Time Warner Center at the southwest corner of Central Park, on Columbus Avenue.
Accommodations at the Mandarin Oriental combine state-of-the-art technology with elegant Asian-influenced interiors and 1940s-style furnishings, with floor-to-ceiling windows that frame lofty views over Midtown Manhattan, Central Park and the Hudson River.
The first two photos in this gallery were shot from the interior of the Lobby Lounge, located on the sky lobby on floor 35.
