Central Park’s Conservatory Garden is a magical place. Divided into three separate gardens designed in Italian, French, and English styles, it’s a quiet zone with lovely walkways and fountains.
The main entrance to the garden on Fifth Avenue between 104th and 105th Streets, is through Vanderbilt Gate.
Impressive, right? Made in France, it’s “considered one of the finest examples of wrought iron work in New York City,” states centralparknyc.com.
It’s original home, however, wasn’t the Conservatory Garden. The gate was created to serve as the imposing front entrance to Cornelius Vanderbilt II’s magnificent mansion. (Not to be confused with another Vanderbilt house palace several blocks south.)
That mansion, the largest private residence ever built in New York City, stood at Fifth Avenue and 58th Street from 1883 to 1927, after which it was bulldozed to make way for Bergdorf Goodman.
Luckily the gate was repurposed and installed at the garden, a fitting entrance for an enchanting spot.
[Top photo: Central Park Conservatory]
Tags: Conservatory Garden gates, Conservatory Garden New York City, Cornelius Vanderbilt II, Fifth Avenue mansion, gates of Central Park, Vanderbilt Mansion 58th Street, Vanderbilt Mansion Fifth Avenue
Ephemeral New York 
June 3, 2013 at 4:33 am |
Hard to believe such an impressive edifice only stood for 44 years. By way of comparison, for instance- my piece of crap suburban high school is older than that, and it is an architectural waste of bricks (among other shortcomings).
June 3, 2013 at 5:28 pm |
I was just at the park a couple of weeks ago with some friends when all the spring flowers were in bloom. It is a beautiful park.
June 3, 2013 at 6:34 pm |
I was there yesterday and the roses were magnificent!
June 4, 2013 at 3:20 am |
I love the history of Vanderbilt Family. I read the book The First Ticon by T.J. Stiles. Just loved it. Also its possible to see the mantle of his fire place exposed at Metropolitam museum. I write about NYC in Portuguese in my blog too. Thanks for sharing such great things in your blog.
June 4, 2013 at 3:50 am |
Thank you! The Vanderbilts are so entwined with the history and growth of New York, an entire blog could be devoted to them.
April 6, 2014 at 4:53 am |
I’ve always what happened to the second gate from the other side of the Vanderbilt’s horseshoe driveway, but I’ve never been able to track it down on the interwebs.
July 17, 2017 at 6:36 am |
[…] To get in, you pass through a cast-iron gate designed in France for the Vanderbilt mansion down Fifth Avenue on 58th Street; when the mansion was torn down, the Victorian-era gate ended up here. […]
July 17, 2017 at 9:09 pm |
Thank goodness someone cared enough not only to preserve this beautiful work of art but also place it where it is in Central Park.
September 2, 2019 at 6:31 am |
[…] When the couple moved in, the East 50s off Fifth Avenue was a residential enclave crawling with rich Vanderbilt family members, including Cornelius Vanderbilt II, whose spectacular mansion was just down the block at One West 57th Street. […]
November 23, 2020 at 5:02 am |
[…] all, his neighbors were among the wealthiest New Yorkers, including several Vanderbilts, who occupied their own mansions across the street. (Plant bought the land from William K. […]
November 26, 2020 at 5:35 am |
[…] all, his neighbors were among the wealthiest New Yorkers, including several Vanderbilts, who occupied their own mansions across the street. (Plant bought the land from William K. […]
January 25, 2021 at 1:14 am |
[…] with that—except, supposedly, the very rich widow living out her days in a 137-room mansion that spanned 57th to 58th Street, and whose bedroom window had a direct view of Pomona’s nude […]