from 6sqft

The city’s Parks Department and the Prospect Park Alliance this week unveiled plans for the restoration of the Vale of Cashmere. The proposal, presented during a Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing on Tuesday, includes a new pollinator garden, natural exploration play areas, a planted arbor, and a wooden pavilion with a green roof and bathrooms. Several LPC commissioners, preservationists, and LGBTQ+ advocates opposed the proposal for the Upper Vale, with most taking issue with the plan’s erasure of the site as a significant meeting spot for the city’s queer community as well as the disregard for the original vision of the Vale.

The Vale of Cashmere, a scenic, 26-acre portion in Prospect Park’s northeast corner, was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, who wanted to connect New Yorkers to nature with pools and gardens. Since it first opened, the area’s landscape has undergone a number of changes, and most recently, has fallen into a state of disrepair.

The Vale of Cashmere has been a meeting and socializing spot for the LGBTQ community for more than 40 years, according to Amanda Davis, project manager of the NYC LGBT Historic Site Project.

“In the 1970s, if not earlier, the Vale of Cashmere became an important cruising, recreational, and social gathering space for the LGBTQ community, particularly for the Black queer community,” Amanda Davis, project manager of the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, testified on Tuesday.

“It’s imperative that the Prospect Park Alliance conduct immediate outreach with these communities and that the process be far more transparent and inclusive, so that this socially significant LGBTQ landscape is preserved and interpreted, rather than erased from the history of Prospect Park.”

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from Architect’s Newspaper

Today the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) discussed a plan to redevelop a secluded section of Prospect Park that’s also a well-known cruising spot for Brooklyn’s LGBT community.

“In the 1970s if not earlier, the Vale of Cashmere became an important cruising recreational and social gathering space for the LGBTQ community, particularly for the Black queer community,” said Amanda Davis of NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project. “It is imperative that the Prospect Park Alliance conduct immediate outreach with [communities], so a socially significant LGBTQ landscape is preserved and interpreted, rather than erased from history.” Photographer Thomas Roma produced a book on the Vale of Cashmere’s cruising scene for those interested in its history.

Read the full story from Architect’s Newspaper.

Featured thumbnail via Prospect Park Alliance/LPC.