St. Mary’s Park Master Plan and Reconstruction

Under NYC Parks’ Anchor Parks initiative, Starr Whitehouse led master planning and design and oversaw the $30 million reconstruction for the largest park in the South Bronx. While St. Mary’s Park has beautiful rocky terrain similar to the most dramatic parts of Central Park, much of its beauty was inaccessible or unwelcoming to the local community due to steep paths and remote, under-programmed areas that felt unsafe. Through a series of community engagement sessions, the design team learned the priorities that would drive the design: a desire for a large, centrally located amphitheater built into the hillside to house performing arts events; welcoming entrances and social spaces connected to an accessible loop for walking and running; a dog run; and new ballfields. The stately promenade and its neighborhood entrance at the south of the park were revitalized as a social spine, the centerpiece of an ADA-accessible path network that opens the rugged interior to people of all abilities. This path network leads to a vibrant new plaza on the park’s north side, organized around the iconic “slide rock” and featuring water sprays, social spaces and a place for the weekly farmer’s market. Native pollinator gardens, designed within NYC Park’s maintenance protocols, meander through the natural upland areas and can be expanded over time as maintenance regimes evolve. These interventions create a new identity for St. Mary’s Park, and above all, a welcoming environment for community members of all ages to reaffirm social ties.

Photos by Alex Fradkin and Francine Fleischer