Mcgolrick Park Greenpoint, Brooklyn

McGolrick Park Greenpoint, Brooklyn

“That inasmuch as play under proper conditions is essential to the health and the physical, social, and moral wellbeing of the child, playgrounds are a necessity for all children as much as schools.”

(National Recreation Association records, “Early Days,” undated) Objective…

! McGolrick Park is located in Greenpoint, Brooklyn between Driggs Avenue to the south, Russell Street to the west, Nassau Avenue to the north, and Monitor Street to the east.

! This project focuses on children and their behavior in playground environments, specifically in the northwest corner playground of McGolrick Park.

! Children wish to explore and experience a greater variety of settings than that which public playgrounds offer. To date, playgrounds have been designed with the notion that “this is what children need” and are rarely designed from observance and/or listening to the children. Children need environments where they can invent and be challenged rather than have play dictated to them. As a direct result, if they are not challenged enough they will then seek out their own challenging and typically more dangerous situations. Methods of Analysis…

! This study was conducted at one day between the hours of 10 to 11:30am when ABC Child Center, Inc. on Nassau Avenue went for their daily trip to the McGolrick Park playground. There were approximately 20 children, which are then allowed to run freely throughout the playground under supervision. These children were then observed as to how they were playing on the existing equipment and where they played vs. what the actual intention was of the equipment. Likewise there was photographic documentation of the play-sets taken every 10 minutes to monitor where the children were at the moment.

! Later upon arriving back at the child center, several children were asked to draw the park that they were just in or at least their favorite aspect of it. They were also questioned about their favorite activity within the playground. History of the Playground…

The development of organized recreation programs in the American playground movement came around during the mid 1890s, and was directly related to the changes brought about through industrialization, urbanization, and immigration.

The first Supervised public playground in the U.S. was the Sand Garden in Boston, established in 1886. The first free-equipped public playground was the Charlesbank Gymnasium in 1889 also in Boston. In New York, the first public playground opened in 1890 by the University Settlement. All of the above led to the interest of play space for children.

In 1906 the Playground Association of America was established. Later in 1930 it became known as the National Recreation Association. The NRA lobbied for supervised public playgrounds, developed training programs for “play leaders,” provided professional consultation and coordination services for recreation departments and created playground campaigns. The idea was that children’s play was preparation for adult life. They also studied the ideas of industrialization, psychology, child development, and the effect of the environment of the individual to create an argument for the benefits of organized recreation. Reformers also argued that recreation promoted spiritual, moral, and character development. “The Playground of today is the republic of tomorrow. If you want twenty years hence a nation of strong, efficient men and women, a nation in which there shall be justice and square dealing, work it out today with the boys and girls on the playground.” (Hamner, 1910, “Health and Playgrounds”) McGolrick Park…

! The park opened in 1891 and was originally called “Winthrop Park” after assemblyman Col. Winthrop Jones. ! In 1910 the classical shelter pavilion was erected, originally of brick and limestone features and a wooden colonnade. In 1966 the Shelter Pavilion was designated a New York City landmark. ! On either side of the Pavilion can be found either the 1938 monument commemorating the USS Monitor ironclad ship or the 1923 bronze winged victory figure honoring those residents in Greenpoint who fought in WWI. " In 1941, the park was renamed for Monsignor Edward J. McGolrick, pastor of St. Cecilia’s Roman Catholic Church nearby. Playground Features…

Elements… Analysis of Play-set A…

! Typically the children only entered on the stairs to the right, slid down the slide and left the play set. It was rare that children lingered around. Analysis of Play-set B…

! Initially the children played on the “slide-down rails” but as the play session progressed, the children chose to play underneath the set rather than on the set as it was intended for. The children rarely played on the platform above… it was only served as a point of transition. Also, the slide located on the right side, was most frequently used as a means of getting on top of the platform rather than sliding down. Or the children chose to swing from the bar above the slide. Analysis of Play-Set C…

! Here, the children most frequently played to the front side of the play-set where the slides are located. They most prefer to slide down them on their bellies either lying forward or back. Rarely did the children run across the “bridge,” but they often frequented on the “chain ladder” and the “climbing spiral.” This set in many cases served as a point to run around when playing “tag” or other running games. The children also frequently played under this set. The monkey bars were never used because they were too high up for the children. Alternative uses/Activities within the Playground… Alternative uses/Activities within the Playground (cont.)… Child Afterthoughts… What’s your favorite part about the park?

Alex, Age 3 Kasia, Age 3 Nicolas, Age 2 “Run” “Slide” “Up High”

Emmanuel, Age 3 Veronica, Age 4 “Play in Dirt” “Ladders”

Jessica, Age 4 Logan, Age 3 Matthew, Age 6 “Slides” “Slide” “Slides”