| Verdi Square | |
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 Interactive map of Verdi Square | |
| Type | Traffic island,urban park |
| Location | Manhattan,New York City, United States |
| Coordinates | 40°46′45″N73°58′54″W / 40.77917°N 73.98167°W /40.77917; -73.98167 |
| Area | 0.1 acres (400 m2) |
| Created | 1887; 138 years ago (1887) |
| Owned by | NYC Parks |
| Status | Open all year |
| Public transit access | Subway:72nd Street (1, 2, and 3 trains) |
| Designated | October 4, 1990 |
| Reference no. | 90002223[1] |
| Designated entity | Verdi Monument |
| Designated | January 28, 1975 |
| Reference no. | 0857[2] |
| Designated entity | Verdi Square |
Verdi Square is a 0.1-acre (400 m2) park on a trapezoidaltraffic island on theUpper West Side ofManhattan inNew York City. Named for Italian opera composerGiuseppe Verdi, the park is bounded by72nd Street on the south, 73rd Street on the north,Broadway on the west, andAmsterdam Avenue on the east. Verdi Square's irregular shape arises from Broadway's diagonal path relative to theManhattan street grid. The western half of the park is built on the former northbound lanes of Broadway, which were closed permanently in 2003 during a renovation of theNew York City Subway's adjacent72nd Street station. Verdi Square is designated as aNew York City scenic landmark and is maintained by theNew York City Department of Parks and Recreation.
The eastern half of Verdi Square contains theVerdi Monument, sculpted in 1906 byPasquale Civiletti [it]. The monument contains a dark-granite pedestal with four statues of characters from Verdi's operas; a statue of Verdi stands atop the pedestal. Surrounding the monument is the original park, a triangular site with plantings. The western half of the park contains ahead house that serves as an entrance to the 72nd Street station. Designed by Richard Dattner & Partners and Gruzen Samton, the head house contains artwork that references Verdi's operaRigoletto. Each September, the park hosts a series of free concerts called Verdi Square Festival of the Arts.
The portion of Broadway around modern-day Verdi Square opened in 1703 and was added to theCommissioners' Plan of 1811, which created Manhattan's street grid, in the late 19th century. The city government acquired the site of Verdi Square in 1887. The site was originally the northern part ofSherman Square, under which the subway station was built in 1904. The Verdi Monument was installed in 1906 following a fundraising effort led by newspaper founderCarlo Barsotti, and the site around the monument was named for Verdi in 1921. The park was for several years beginning in the early 1970s (and is still, sometimes) referred to as "Needle Park", after the 1970 filmThe Panic in Needle Park, referring to the selling and use of heroin in that film (even though the site where that film was set, and much of it was shot, wasSherman Square, a similarly shaped but characterless grassy street divider a few blocks south on Broadway). The Verdi monument was restored in the late 1980s, and the park was significantly expanded in the early 2000s.
Verdi Square is operated by theNew York City Department of Parks and Recreation and covers 0.10 acres (400 m2).[3] It occupies a trapezoidal site bounded by72nd Street on the south, 73rd Street on the north,Broadway on the west, andAmsterdam Avenue on the east.[4] Much of the park is built on the former northbound lane of Broadway.[3] One block to the south isSherman Square.[4] On the north side, the park faces theApple Bank Building at 2112 Broadway,[5] designed byYork and Sawyer.[4][6] To the northwest isThe Ansonia apartment complex, while to the southeast is another apartment building,The Dorilton.[4][7] Two apartment buildings are on the east side of the square: the Severn and the Van Dyck, designed by Mulliken and Moller.[8]
Originally, Verdi Square was a triangle.[2] The park's shape arises from Broadway's diagonal alignment relative to theManhattan street grid.[7][9][5] Further south, the angled course of Broadway creates convergences with other avenues atColumbus Circle and atTimes,Herald,Madison, andUnion Squares.[9][10][a] Verdi Square is the northernmost location at which Broadway intersects an avenue diagonally, as Broadway straightens out to the north. TheMuseum of the City of New York described Verdi Square as one of several bowtie-shaped intersections "where the bustle of New York is brought out in all of its glory".[5]
The eastern section of Verdi Square contains theGiuseppe Verdi Monument, amonument to theopera composerGiuseppe Verdi, erected in 1906 and sculpted byPasquale Civiletti [it].[3][11] The monument measures 25.75 feet (7.85 m) tall and up to 18 feet (5.5 m) across.[12][b] Thepedestal is made of dark granite steps, topped by a cylinder,[13] and measures 15 feet (4.6 m) tall.[11][2] Statues of four characters from Verdi's operas are on the pedestal:Aida,Otello, Leonora ofLa forza del destino, andFalstaff.[12][13][14] These statues respectively face north, east, south, and west.[15] The character statues are made of white Carrara marble, with large marble lyres placed between them. The western side of the pedestal contains an etching with Civiletti's name.[13] Atime capsule was embedded in the Verdi monument's base.[16] The main statue of Verdi, placed atop the pedestal, is also made of white Carrara marble.[13]
Surrounding the monument is a triangular green space surrounded by shrubs, walkways, and trees. Prior to Verdi Square's expansion, those were the only greenery in the park.[13] In the landscaping devised by Lynden Miller in 2004, flowers around the statue bloom in the spring and summer months.[17] In 2019, chairs and tables were installed around the monument.[18] A garden known as the Woodland was planted around the Verdi Monument;[19] it contains native species such asLindera benzoin,Asclepias tuberosa, andMagnolia virginiana.[20] A raised garden called the Meadow faces Broadway.[19]
The72nd Street station, served by theNew York City Subway's1, 2, and 3 trains, lies under the square. The western section of Verdi Square contains ahead house,[21] built on Broadway's former northbound lanes.[22] The head house is one of two entrances for the 72nd Street station;[23] the other, built within Sherman Square on the south side of 72nd Street in 1904, is one of theIRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line's three remaining original head houses.[24][25] Verdi Square's head house was designed by Richard Dattner & Partners and Gruzen Samton.[23] Its overall design was inspired bythe Crystal Palace inLondon.[26] The artwork inside is a mosaic pattern, signifying the notation for an excerpt from Verdi'sRigoletto.[27][28] Elevators and stairs from the head house lead down to the station's platforms.[29]
Next to the entrance is a plaza containing granite urns with raised plantings.[19][30] The urns are made of cast iron and are near the northern end of the park. The urns were inspired by bronze planters, designed byStanford White, near one entrance toProspect Park inBrooklyn. The Verdi Square planters do not have cobra-shaped handles, unlike the Prospect Park planters. Additionally, the design of the planters was modified to fit Verdi Square's surroundings.[30]
There is a concession stand next to the plaza, which was built in 2002 as a newsstand. NYC Parks considered removing the newsstand in 2015, on the grounds that there was also a newsstand in the subway entrance.[30] The concession stand was leased by aLe Pain Quotidien bakery in 2016.[30][31] Though theNew York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene cited the stand for unsanitary conditions the next year,[32] the concession remains in operation as of 2022[update].[33]
Near the 72nd Street end of the plaza is a bronze lamppost,[34] one of two that originally flanked theFiremen's Memorial onRiverside Drive. Installed at Verdi Square in 2004, the pole dates to between 1913 and 1935 and was removed from its original location in the 1970s, when it was vandalized. The pole contains a bronze coating withcloven hooves at the base and rams' heads at its pinnacle.[17][30] Verdi Square also containsOdalisca, a sculpture by Spanish artistManolo Valdés. The sculpture alludes to the artwork ofPablo Picasso andHenri Matisse.[35]
The portion of Broadway around modern-day Verdi Square opened in 1703 as Bloomingdale Road, which extended fromLower Manhattan in the south to modern-dayMorningside Heights in the north.[2][36] The road originally only measured 33 feet (10 m) wide.[2] In the 1760s, a neighborhood known as Harsenville was developed around Bloomingdale Road between modern-day 68th and 81st Streets, after farmer Jacob Harsen moved there with his family.[37] The neighborhood contained several countryside villas, which overlooked theHudson River to the south.[2] Many French people settled in the area in the aftermath of theFrench Revolution in the 1790s, includingLouis Philippe I, who later became the king of France.[2][38]
Bloomingdale Road was initially excluded from the Manhattan street grid, which was laid out as part of theCommissioners' Plan of 1811. Because the Upper West Side was largely undeveloped until the late 19th century, Bloomingdale Road remained in use.[39] Bloomingdale Road was widened to 75 feet (23 m) in 1849 and was renamed Broadway.[2] In 1867, city plannerAndrew Haswell Green convinced the state legislature to give hisCentral Park Commission the power to make changes in the grid north of59th Street.[40][41] Green laid out a street through the West Side along the path of Bloomingdale Road.[40] Work began in 1867,[42] and the road between 59th and 155th Streets was widened the next year, becoming an avenue with landscaped medians.[43] The road was called "Western Boulevard"[44] or "The Boulevard"[43][45] and measured 150 feet (46 m) wide;[2] it was paved in 1874.[45] Residential developments in the area increased in the late 1870s,[43] and the Harsenville neighborhood was consequently razed by the 1880s.[2][37]
What is now Verdi Square was acquired by thegovernment of New York City in 1887.[3][2] The site was then considered part of Sherman Square, which in turn was named after U. S. Army generalWilliam Tecumseh Sherman. In 1899, the Boulevard was renamed Broadway.[2] By then, planning for the city'sfirst subway line was underway; the line was planned to run under Broadway on the Upper West Side. A plan was formally adopted in 1897,[46] and all legal conflicts concerning the route alignment were resolved near the end of 1899.[47]August Belmont Jr., incorporated theInterborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) in April 1902 to operate the subway.[48] Work on the IRT's West Side Line (now the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line) from 60th Street to 82nd Street had begun in August 1900.[49] The tunnel was built directly under Broadway using acut and cover method of construction, requiring the avenue's pavement to be ripped up.[50][51] The 72nd Street station opened on October 27, 1904, though its initial entrance was south of 72nd Street.[52]
Meanwhile,Carlo Barsotti, the founder of Italian-language daily newspaperIl Progresso Italo-Americano, had started raising funds for a monument to Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi after the latter died in 1901.[53] Though the monument had received $4,000 worth of subscriptions by early 1903, a site had yet to be selected.[54] Ultimately, the Verdi Monument's backers decided to install it in the northern section of Sherman Square.[53] Pasquale Civiletti sculpted the monument in his studio in Italy, and it was shipped to the U.S. at the end of August 1906.[55][56] The monument'scornerstone was laid on September 20, 1906,[57][58] and the monument was dedicated on October 12, 1906, coinciding withColumbus Day.[12][59][60] Thousands of people were present at the dedication, including representatives of the Spanish, French, German, Russian, and Argentine governments.[59][60] Contemporary newspapers variously reported the cost of the monument as $20,000[59] or $30,000.[60] At the time of the dedication, Barsotti still owed some money on the monument. As a result, a fundraiser for the monument was hosted during a luncheon in Barsotti's and Civiletti's honor in June 1907.[61]
In the decade after the subway's opening, the surrounding area grew rapidly into a residential neighborhood.[62] The northern section of Sherman Square was dedicated as Verdi Square in 1921.[63] Musicians frequently visited the park during the early 20th century.[3] These included tenorEnrico Caruso and conductorArturo Toscanini, who lived in the Ansonia, as well as composersGeorge andIra Gershwin, who lived a few blocks away onRiverside Drive.[7][64] In addition, the Central Savings Bank Building (later Apple Bank Building) was erected north of Verdi Square from 1926 to 1928, with a narrow facade on the square.[6] By the late 1920s, dirt had accumulated on the Verdi statue. The managers of the Hotel Ansonia wrote a letter to the city's parks commissioner in December 1929, offering to clean the statue; the commissioner readily accepted this offer.[65] The next month, the statue was cleaned by severalMetropolitan Opera members who lived at the Ansonia.[66] Several dozen pigeons at the park were poisoned in 1937 in the city's first recorded mass poisoning of birds; the perpetrator was never caught.[67]
Through the mid-20th century, Verdi Square existed as a small traffic island between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway. Its widest frontage on 73rd Street was only slightly wider than the median of Broadway. An image from 1955 indicated that the Verdi monument was surrounded by fences and benches.[68] In the 1960s and 1970s, Verdi Square andSherman Square were highly frequented by local drug users and dealers.[7][69] As part of a citywide "beautification" initiative announced in 1967, the city government would have planted trees and flowers in the park.[70] The nickname "Needle Park" came to be applied to Verdi Square after the release of the 1971 filmThe Panic in Needle Park, although the "Needle Park" in the film might have been Sherman Square.[7] In 1972, local teenagers repainted the benches and planted 300 begonias in the park.[71]
TheNew York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) proposed designating Verdi Square as ascenic landmark in November 1974.[72] The LPC had gained the authority to designate city parks as scenic landmarks the preceding year.[73] The square was designated as a landmark on January 28, 1975, along with the facade of the adjacent Apple Bank Building;[74][75] theNew York City Board of Estimate ratified the designations that March.[76] Residents of the Ansonia cleaned the monument in mid-1975,[77] and it was cleaned again in 1977.[78] Civic organization Friends of Verdi Square held free concerts at the park in October 1976 to raise money for a planned $70,000 renovation.[79][80] The organization planned to relocate benches, fence off the statue, and add bright lights.[80]
In 1983,The New York Times wrote that "a succession" of homeless men slept on the park's 73rd Street sidewalk because warm air came from the subway ventilation grate there.[81] By the end of that decade, theTimes described Verdi Square as having undergone a "noticeable transformation".[69] The park was still used by homeless people at night, even though it served as a busy meeting place for elderly residents during the day.[14] In 1987, NYC Parks announced that the Verdi monument would be restored for $300,000.[63] Over the years, the marble had cracked because of repeated freezing and thawing of water during the winter,[14] as the Carrara marble was naturally soft.[63] The entire monument had to be removed for restoration, and NYC Parks planned to clean the monument regularly after it was restored.[14][63]
NYC Parks' antiquities director Jonathan Kuhn sought funding for a further restoration of the monument. Kuhn asked pasta companies, attendees at a Verdi concert in Central Park, and the publicist of screenwriterFrancis Ford Coppola to donate money, but he was unsuccessful.[82] Ultimately, Italian brandBertolli funded the monument's restoration, which was completed in June 1996. Bertolli also donated $50,000 to a maintenance fund for the monument.[83] The same decade, parks commissionerHenry J. Stern also installed a flagpole in Verdi Square, one of 750 he installed without receiving prior approval from theNew York City Art Commission or the LPC.[84] The New York City government opened a seasonalgreenmarket at Verdi Square in 1997.[85] The market attracted two dozen farmers and 2,500 to 5,000 visitors each weekend[86] and was shown in the 1998 filmYou've Got Mail.[87]
Dattner Architects and Gruzen Samton had completed a design for the 72nd Street station's renovation in 1996.[88] The architects announced plans for the renovation two years later, which included a new entrance in Verdi Square.[89][90] The plans included closing the three northbound lanes of Broadway from 72nd to 73rd Street, which were mainly used by buses, and diverting northbound traffic to Amsterdam Avenue. This move, which would more than double Verdi Square's size,[90] would offset the loss of park space caused by the head house's construction.[91] TheNew York State Legislature had to agree to transfer ownership of the roadway to NYC Parks.[92] The new subway entrance would contain elevators directly above the platforms; as a result, Broadway's southbound lanes also had to be shifted to the west. Local residents and business owners expressed concerns that Broadway's western sidewalk would be narrowed by up to 8 feet (2.4 m).[90] The greenmarket was closed in December 1999 to make way for the renovation.[93]
Work on the project, which was to cost $53 million (equivalent to $96.8 million in 2024),[94] commenced in June 2000.[29] When excavations began, contractors discovered that the Verdi monument was infested with rats; residents had known about the infestations for years and had nicknamed the park "Vermin Square".[95] The northbound lanes of Broadway were permanently closed in 2001,[96] and the head house was built in the expanded park.[29] The station's renovation was completed on October 29, 2002.[97] The project was closed-out fourteen months late due to a setback in the installation of street lighting, as well as theNew York City Department of Transportation's acceptance of the project.[98] TheFiremen's Memorial lamppost was renovated and installed in the park in 2004 upon the request of former parks commissioner Stern.[17] Stern had wanted to surround the monument with a fence depicting parading elephants, a reference to Verdi's Aida, but the Art Commission disapproved because it would "detract from the monument".[30] NYC Parks also hung a fake owl in a tree near the Verdi Monument to deter roosting pigeons,[99] and theOdalisca sculpture was installed in Verdi Square in 2010.[35]
After the park's renovation was completed, local resident Lauri Grossman contacted several friends to organize an opera festival there, having been inspired by street musicians she saw during a trip to Europe.[7] Many people, including then-parks commissionerAdrian Benepe, supported the proposal.[7] George Litton, father of orchestral conductorAndrew Litton, launched the annual Verdi Square Festival of the Arts in September 2006.[100] The festival's first season contained two concerts performed by theManhattan School of Music andThe New School; subsequent seasons were expanded to three concerts due to their popularity.[7] The festival consists of three free outdoor Sunday afternoon concerts, presenting young musicians in repertoire ranging from opera tobluegrass.[100] Each concert typically included printed programs for 400 guests. The concerts typically took place during September, but two of the 2009 concerts were moved to May due to holidays in September.[7]
Verdi Square gradually fell into disrepair again after its renovation.[18] Though theTimes reported in 2014 that Verdi Square "has become as much a place to hang out as pass through",[101] local residents cited an increase in homeless people in the park.[102] The Verdi Monument was restored in mid-2016 as part of NYC Parks' Citywide Monuments Conservation Program.[103] Additionally, a Le Pain Quotidien bakery opened in the park's concession stand in 2016.[30][31] Local resident Aleya Lehmann founded an organization, Friends of Verdi Square, in 2018 to clean up the park.[18][20] The next year, Friends of Verdi Square installed seating areas around the monument and cleaned up the park with guidance from NYC Parks officials.[18] Verdi Square became an official partner of NYC Parks in September 2019.[20] With this cleanup, the park's rodent population had decreased by 95 percent by March 2020.[18] Plans for renovations to Verdi Square, which included mechanical upgrades and a new asphalt path, were proposed to the LPC in February 2025.[104][105]
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See also:National Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan (Islands,Below 14th St.,14th–59th Sts.,59th–110th Sts.,Above 110th St.) andList of National Historic Landmarks in New York City Note: National Historic Landmarks are not listed separately. | |||||||||||||||
