Chelsea Waterside Park
557 W 23rd St, New York, NY 10011, United States
Chelsea Waterside Park, located on West 23rd Street and West Side Highway, this two-and-a-half acre park includes a dog run, a playground with water features, a field and a basketball court. The central part of the park includes a pedestrian walkway flanked by recreation lawns and lush, mixed herbaceous beds.
The Chelsea Waterside section of the park was built by the NYS Department of Transportation and is run by the Hudson River Park Trust. His rich program includes something for everyone.
Chelsea Waterside Park Play Area was the first playground ever developed by the Hudson River Park Trust, which opened in 2000. The playground was used extensively by children of all ages before being worn down by 2016. The Hudson River Park Trust determined that the playground was to be renovated and directed a broad, rigorous and inclusive public process within the Chelsea community to design a new playground. Architect Michael Van-Valkenburgh and Danish design firm MONSTRUM have created a new playground that will be reopened on 14 August 2018.
The play area opens from 8 a.m. to the dusk. Open all year round. In winter, the water features are turned off. Supporting donors & partners: Design and construction of a $3.4 million playground were funded by the Hudson River Park Friends’ Playground Committee, State Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, State Senator Brad Hoylman and the Hudson River Park Trust. Major private donors include Related Companies and Howard Lorber, President of Douglas Elliman, Friends Board members Mike Novogratz and Ben Shaoul, the Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, and dozens of West Side families and Friends.
In 1986, the Chelsea Waterside Park Association asked Thomas Balsley Associates to translate this community ‘s vision for a waterfront park into a design document that would be used to plan the new Route 9-A and the proposed Hudson River Park. Ten years later, when funding was identified for Chelsea Waterside Park, Thomas Balsley Associates won an invited design competition and the 2.5-acre park was completed in the fall of 2000. Chelsea Waterside Park has become a beloved community space and the first jewel in the “necklace” Hudson River Park.
The design takes into account the multiple open space and recreation needs of Chelsea and its diverse community. They are all expressed in a modern design language of curving shapes and colors, balanced with lush plantings and historically rugged stone detailing for walls and pavements.
Nowadays, the park is home to round-the-clock activities, lawns and green spaces for passive use such as sun and picnic, multipurpose sports fields and court games, shade structures, an interactive water play area, Chelsea’s only public horticultural displays, elevated sunset views, a food concession structure with toilets and cafeteria, and a state-of-the-art adventure dog run.
