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Put
on the map by the motion picture "Autumn in New York",
featuring Richard Gere and Winona Ryder, Bow Bridge has been the
romantic setting for wedding proposals, many classic film shoots, and
the choice of many photographers who want to capture one of the
signature design features of Central Park
Bow
Bridge is one of the most handsomely designed cast iron bridges in
the world. It spans sixty feet across the Lake, linking the
cultivated and flowering landscape of Cherry Hill with the rustic and
sprawling woods of the Ramble. Its proportions and sinuous length
inspired one visitor to remark that the bridge looked
"poured" over the Lake.
Calvert
Vaux, Frederick Law Olmsted's partner, designed Bow Bridge in 1859,
mindful of the flexible engineering properties of iron. Vaux and
Olmsted generally preferred that bridges and arches in Central Park
be crafted from natural materials – such as granite and
brownstone with brick, or bluestone, or warm Nova Scotia sandstone.
Using these natural materials, they argued, would soften the
intrusion of a manmade structure into the Park's "natural"
setting. But in the case of Bow Bridge, cast iron was a clear ally in
their design efforts; it allowed them to build a bridge that served
as the perfect transition between the emphatically architectural
statement of Bethesda Terrace and the abundant randomness of the Ramble.
City
commissioners overseeing the building of Central Park also welcomed
Bow Bridge, but they had a simpler reason: cost. By 1859, the
commissioners projected that it would cost at least $3.6 million to
build the Park – twice the authorized budget! While Olmsted and
Vaux debated the aesthetic qualities of building materials, some
commissioners eyed only the bottom line. The most cost-effective
material for building bridges at that time was cast iron, since it
eliminated masons' and stonecutters' labor costs.
The
true "value" of Bow Bridge, completed in 1862, does not
lie in construction ledgers, however, but in its extraordinary visual
effect. It has been the romantic setting for wedding proposals,
classic film shoots, and the choice of many photographers who want to
capture one of the signature design features of Central Park. |
