Upper plaza of Amelia Gorman park in winter
Lower park entrance from Broadway, closed since 2020

Gorman Park (or Amelia Gorman Park) is a 1.89-acre (0.76 ha) park in Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York City.[1] It is bounded by Broadway on the west and Wadsworth Terrace on the east and stretches from 188th to 190th Streets. The land rises more than a hundred feet in a steep incline from Broadway to Wadsworth Terrace. The park features a path that winds upward among trees. However, the park and stairs have been closed since 2020, with the exception of the upper plaza, due to the city's delay in beginning a reconstruction project.

The park is dedicated to a mother and daughter, Gertie Amelia Gorman and Gertie Emily Gorman.[2] Gertie Emily Gorman and Charles Webb (a real estate investor and Yale graduate) had been married for less than a year when she died on September 25, 1923. Many of Gorman's relatives and friends suspected that Webb had poisoned his wife, though a toxicology investigation did not find evidence of such poisoning. For five years Gorman's will was disputed. A will dated August 21, 1923, left her entire estate to her husband and superseded a will that would have divided the proceeds among her relatives.

Webb donated two acres of land to the city in 1929 in honor of both his wife and her mother. A stone wall features an inscription dedicating the park to "Gertie A. Gorman," as his wife had wished.[2] In 2011 the park became the focus of a local zoning and land use dispute when Quadriad Realty Partners proposed to build new residential towers taller than the by-right zoning rules permit on a vacant lot adjacent to the park in exchange for adding land to the park and thoroughly renovating it.[3][4]

The park has been closed except the upper plaza since 2020. A capital reconstruction project has been on hold for two years, which the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation attributes to COVID-19 delays (as of November, 2022).[5] The project design begin in November 2019, and was completed a year later than projected, in June 2022. Funding of $2,163,000 was procured by October 2021. The projected start date for construction is March 2023.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Gorman Park". New York City Dept. of Parks & Recreation. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  2. 1 2 Pollak, Michael (September 7, 2014). "Answers to Questions About New York City Parks". The New York Times. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
  3. ↑ Pazmiño, Gloria (June 14, 2011). "Quadriad developers continue to address community concerns". Manhattan Times. Archived from the original on August 14, 2011. Retrieved 2011-07-06.
  4. ↑ Berger, Joseph (18 October 2011). "Washington Hts. Board Resists Plan for 4 Towers (Published 2011)". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  5. 1 2 "Amelia Gorman Park Retaining Wall Reconstruction". New York City Dept. of Parks & Recreation. Retrieved 2022-11-11.

40°51′21″N 73°55′57″W / 40.85583°N 73.93250°W / 40.85583; -73.93250

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