This hidden rustic shelter in the Ramble dates back to Central Park’s earliest days
Part of Central Park’s wonderfulness lies in just how much the current park remains true to the genius 1850s vision of its two designers.
The Lake, the arches, the drives, the mall: Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux’s 1853 Greensward Plan lay the foundation for the Central Park New Yorkers enjoy today.
Their vision included many smaller features scattered across the park’s 843 acres, including rustic architecture—bridges, benches, and open-air shelters with seats that offered visitors a place to rest, relax, and catch cool breezes as they traversed the natural beauty around them.
More than a hundred of these rustic structures existed in the park’s early years. By the 1950s, battered by the elements (and possibly neglect), most disappeared, according to the Central Park Conservatory.
Amazingly, one rustic shelter remains that contains original elements. It’s one of four that were built in the Ramble—the “wild garden” of the park, as Olmsted and Vaux deemed it.
“Rustic structures require constant upkeep and restoration,” states the Conservatory. “For this reason, most of the Park’s original structures disappeared by the 1950s, though visitors can still see evidence of these original rustic designs at the Ramble shelter.”
“The shelter has been renovated with new materials over the years, but its original posts are still standing. The posts are thought to be made with hearty red cedar, which would explain their decades-long endurance.”
About the renovation: a plaque on a nearby boulder from 1982 notes that an “interested citizen” had a hand in restoring it, along with the Central Park Conservatory and NYC Parks.
The Ramble shelter, also called the Summerhouse, isn’t the easiest feature to find; it lies about even with 75th Street in the park center. But those wood posts are imaginative marvels right out of a fairy tale.
They were likely created by Hungarian woodworkers and artisans Anton Gerster and Alexander Asboth “out of unfinished, twisted, and bent red cedar” to reflect the “romantic naturalism” of Olmsted and Vaux’s design, states Cynthia S. Brenwall and Martin Filler in their 2019 book, The Central Park: Original Designs for New York’s Greatest Treasure.
That romantic naturalism endures, even though the Ramble shelter isn’t in the best shape. View it from one of the footpaths or sit inside it—a simple structure that offers so much beauty and wonder.
[Third photo: NYPL Digital Collections; fifth photo: eBay]
