Prospect Park Rose Garden Set for Restoration, Art Installation

Prospect Park is in the midst of its 150th anniversary celebration, and the landmark year for the park will see the restoration of the park’s Rose Garden.

Prospect Park’s 2.5-acre Rose Garden is one of the parts of the park that hasn’t seen renovation — or roses — in recent years. The area was first turned into a lush rose garden in 1895, complete with lily-filled pools. By 1969, the roses were gone and the pools, briefly transformed with fountains, dried up once the water was permanently turned off.

The Prospect Park Alliance has now announced plans to involve the public in the garden’s restoration plans. Working in conjunction with Hester Street Collaborative (a non-profit that seeks to improve the physical environments of underprivileged New York City neighborhoods) the Alliance will host a community design workshop to seek input on how the renovations should take shape.

In addition, this summer the Alliance, AREA4 and Reddymade Architecture and Design will present The Connective Project, an imaginative art installation in the Rose Garden. The public is asked to submit photos, artwork or writing that conveys their love for the park. While all the work will be featured in an online gallery, select pieces will be incorporated into the thousands of pinwheels that will be installed in the garden, transforming it with a wave of color.

“Since its founding, Prospect Park Alliance has been focused on restoring the Park for the enjoyment of all of Brooklyn,” said Sue Donoghue, president of Prospect Park Alliance in a statement. “Through these innovative community engagement initiatives, we are looking to involve all of the diverse communities that consider the Park ‘Brooklyn’s Backyard’ in the future vision of this corner of the Park, one of the few remaining landscapes untouched by restoration.”

The call for art submissions begins June 1. You can submit your work here. The pinwheel exhibition will open July 7 and run through July 17. The Community Design workshop takes place June 10, and you can check out more on that here.

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