Brevoort Playground

Brevoort Playground Is July's Park of the Month

BREVOORT PLAYGROUND IS JULY’S PARK OF THE MONTH
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
No. 70
http://www.nyc.gov/parks

Brevoort Playground has been named July’s Park of the Month. Located on Ralph Avenue and Chauncey Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, the playground features a spray shower area, a glass rock wall, a fully landscaped central garden and an exciting performance space.

On June 16, 2009, Commissioner Adrian Benepe joined Council Member Darlene Mealy, community members and children from P.S. 40 to cut the ribbon on improvements to Brevoort Playground. This project fully reconstructed Brevoort Playground with play equipment for toddlers and young children, swings, an exercise area with fitness equipment for adults, handball courts and basketball courts. Drinking fountains, lighting, game tables, a new flagpole and steel fencing complement the improvements.

“July’s Park of the Month is another design masterpiece by Parks’ landscape architect Emmanuel Thingue, whose creativity has revitalized parks from South Oxford to Cadman Plaza. More of his designs will pop up in Brooklyn as Calvert Vaux Park is now under construction,” said Parks Commissioner Benepe. “With more than $2.5 million in funding from Council Member Darlene Mealy and Mayor Bloomberg, Brevoort has become a neighborhood oasis. We have made many additions to this park during the past year, including new basketball courts, a spray shower and a glass rock wall. It is also the new model for sustainable design, with pavers made from concrete recycled from the old wading pool and an absorbent lawn and planting beds replacing the old asphalt. If you are looking for a playground with lots of variety, Brevoort Playground is one of the best bets in Brooklyn.”

New York City acquired this parkland along with the site for the adjacent housing development in February of 1951. The New York City Housing Authority leased the playground to Parks in 1957 and it was named after the Brevoort family, who settled in what was then New Amsterdam in the 17th century.

This playground and the adjacent housing development were built at the same time and are named for one of New York’s oldest families, the Brevoorts. At their peak, the Brevoorts held nearly 80 acres of property, stretching from the Bowery to Sixth Avenue and from what is now Ninth Street to 18th Street. Other famous Brevoorts designed St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Grace Church in lower Manhattan and the Booth Theater in midtown. The Brevoort name, like the name Stuyvesant, is synonymous with the story of Old New York.

Park of the Month introduces some of our greatest parks and recreation centers to curious New Yorkers and visitors alike. Visit www.nyc.gov/parks for more information about Brevoort Playground and an archive for past featured parks.
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