Social Diary
New York Social Diary
June 12, 2003
The Battery Conservancy hosted a gala benefit party and garden celebration at The Battery overlooking the newly planted Gardens of Remembrance, New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty. They honored the Bank of New York with the Battery Medal for Corporate Leadership. They also celebrated the recent announcement by Mayor Bloomberg that the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) is granting $8.5 million for the rebuilding of the Battery Bosque – a lush 3.75 acre “park within a park” at the southernmost tip of the city.
The Bosque was also the setting for the night’s cocktail reception. New York City Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe unveiled a scale mock–up of the new Bosque’s planting which was funded by the Battery Conservancy and designed by Piet Oudolf
But no one had come across vestiges of the original Battery, a wall of cannons erected in the 1680s at the confluence of the East and Hudson rivers to protect the nascent British colony.
The Battery is visited by more than 16 million people every year, twelve million of whom come from their nearby workplaces. It’s Lower Manhattan’s most dynamic public open space with 23 contiguous acres of parkland offering fabulous views of the Harbor and the City behind.
The Gardens of Remembrance are enhanced by 6000 newly planted flowers. The Battery is home to more than two dozen important monuments as well as green spaces, paths for pedestrians and cyclists. The public park is also home to Castle Clinton, the US National Monument that during the past two centuries has served a series of functions in the social and economic evolution of New York and the country. It started as a military fort, evolved into a culture and entertainment venue, before which it served as the nation’s key immigration portal prior to Ellis Island.
William Rudin, Chairman of the Battery Conservancy and President of Rudin Management (real estate), presented the medal to Gerald Hassell, President of the Bank of New York, before members of the city’s cultural, business and policy community. Rudin pointed out that this is “an auspicious moment for the Battery and for all of downtown New York,” which was so devastated by the 9/11 attack.
The Gardens of Remembrance were made possible by a $400,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and a $1 million grant from Verizon. The Battery Conservancy has launched another program to raise $3 million to full endow the Gardens and assure their perpetuity.
