Oak Bridge, Central Park
All Work | Oak Bridge, Central Park, New York, New York
Oak Bridge, Central Park
New York, New York
Scope
Designed by Calvert Vaux, Oak Bridge was constructed in 1859 across a narrow arm of New York City’s Central Park Lake. Also referred to as Bank Rock Bridge, it was one of the larger and more elegant of the Park’s wooden bridges, constructed of carved white oak with panels and decorative cast iron set in the railings with a deck of yellow pine.
With the exception of its stone abutments, the original bridge did not survive long. Deterioration of the woodwork, which had been replaced in 1872, continued to be a problem through the early decades of the twentieth century, requiring several reconstruction and repair interventions. It was replaced in the early 1930s by a nondescript bridge of ordinary wood planks and iron pipe railing.
In an effort to restore the historic architectural character of this part of Central Park, the Central Park Conservancy hired JHPA Inc. to investigate the possibilities for reconstructing a replica of Oak Bridge based on the original drawings and historic photographs. JHPA Inc performed exhaustive research into the types of materials that would allow a faithful reconstruction that perform long-term.