| Vietnam Veterans Plaza | |
|---|---|
| United States | |
 | |
| For New York City veterans of the Vietnam War | |
| Established | May 4, 1985 (1985-05-04) |
| Location | 40°42′09″N74°00′35″W / 40.7025°N 74.009722°W /40.7025; -74.009722 |
| Designed by | Peter Wormser, William Fellows, and Joseph Ferrandino |
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Vietnam Veterans Plaza is an American memorial plaza inManhattan,New York. It honors New York City citizens who served during the 20th-centuryVietnam War.
Located in theFinancial District inLower Manhattan, it lies on atrapezoidal parcel of land that was formerly a roadway namedCoenties Slip. The slip road was used from the 17th century by Dutch sailors between journeys.[1][2][3] The slip was filled in 1835, and it then became Jeannette Park in 1884, dedicated to the ill-fatedJeannette of theJeannette expedition.[4]HorticulturistSamuel Parsons was responsible for laying out the garden in 1886.
By the mid-20th century, city plannerRobert Moses had rebuilt the park with "horseshoe pitches and tennis, paddleball, handball, and shuffleboard courts all arranged around a tear-shaped asphalt plaza with a flagpole".[5] As part of the construction of the neighboring55 Water Street,Paul Friedberg was commissioned to redesign the land in 1971, to which he added the amphitheater fountain.[5] Initially, 55 Water Street's owners were responsible for maintaining the park, which was paved in brick similar to the Elevated Acre plaza next to the building.[6]
In 1982, plans were unveiled to redevelop Jeannette Park into a memorial for veterans of theVietnam War.[6] The architects Peter Wormser and William Fellows and the writer Joseph Ferrandino won a competition to design it.[5] The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Commission raised private donations of $2.5 million ($1 million fromDonald Trump, who served as co-chairman of the commission) to finance the memorial in 1983.[7][8] The park was officially renamed Vietnam Veterans Plaza on July 20, 1983.[9] The next year, it was announced that the plaza would contain a memorial wall, similar to that at theVietnam Veterans Memorial but made of glass blocks.[10][11] It was dedicated on May 6, 1985, by then-mayorEdward I. Koch to honor the 1,741 citizens of the city who died during the Vietnam War and the 250,000 men and women who served between 1964 and 1975.[12]
MayorRudy Giuliani rededicated the plaza on November 9, 2001, following theSeptember 11, 2001, attacks, as it underwent a $7 million restoration.[5][13] A new ceremonial entrance was added providing access fromWater Street toSouth Street and ablack granite fountain placed at the center. The "Walk of Honor" contains 12 polished granitepylons with the names and ages at death of all 1,741 people who died.[5]
In the future, the park may be the site of an entrance to aSecond Avenue Subway station underHanover Square.[4]
