Vincent F. Albano Jr. Playground

What was here before?

During the mid-1800s, this was the site of the Lucifer Match Factory which was owned by Mr. Le Cure. The red phosphorous used to make the matches was accidentally ingested and inhaled in poor ventilated factories that smelled like sulfur. The production of friction matches was extremely dangerous and often left the workers, mainly women and children, with a disfiguring fatal disease named “phossy jaw.”

Mixed used tenements replaced the factory after its closing and remained until the 1960s.

How did this site become a playground?

This was one of New York’s most ambitious unbuilt engineering projects, the Mid-Manhattan Expressway. The Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA) acquired the parcel as part of the right-of-way for an elevated highway, which would have run along East 30^th or East 36^th Street to link the Queens-Midtown Tunnel to the Lincoln Tunnel. Weaving among the skyscrapers of midtown Manhattan, this route was one of the many improvements envisioned in the Regional Plan of New York and Its Environs (1929). As head of the TBTA, the Department of Parks, and numerous other city, state, and independent agencies, Robert Moses (1888-1981) realized many of the projects outlined in the Regional Plan and attempted many others. 

Plans for the Mid-Manhattan Expressway were eventually abandoned.  In 1966 the TBTA extended a permit for the Department of Parks to operate the .346-acre parcel as a playground. The playground was designed by noted architect M. Paul Friedberg in the late 1960s.

In 1989 the park was rebuilt and officially named for Vincent F. Albano Jr. The capital restoration provided an accessible play area along with new game tables and an ornamental steel panel fence with bronzed ginkgo and oak leaf castings.  The playground was upgraded in 1998 improving play equipment, handball courts, and pavements. 

Mary Collins Playscape was dedicated in 1999 to a beloved community activist.  Engaged in community and church affairs, Collins (1937-1997) served on Community Board 6 and the 13^th Precinct Community Council.  Moreover, she directed her efforts into improving conditions at Albano Playground.  Collins headed the Lexington East Twenties Society (LETS) which participated in and contributed to the “Take Back Albano Park” initiative in 1996.

In 2024 the playground was rebuilt with new pickleball and handball courts, spray showers and play equipment on safety surface.

Who is this playground named for?

Vincent F. Albano Jr. (1914-1981) was the local Republican district leader for thirty-two years from 1949 until his death in 1981 and the New York Republican County Chairman from 1963 to 1981.  A power in Republican circles, he lived in the neighborhood and helped to preserve the playground during a time of transition in the area.