Playground Reconstruction in Progress
To Open in Spring 2027
A modernization of St. Vartan Park’s half-acre playground started the week of March 15, 2026.
An Illustrative NYC Parks rendering of the playground appears above. The area shown will be closed to the public during the 12-month reconstruction.
Access to the rest of the park, including to the restrooms next to the playground, will continue for park visitors.
A north segment of the St. Vartan Park playground at the beginning of reconstruction on March 17, 2026
The playground plans reflect community input received at public hearings. Starting with a February 2020 NYC Parks public-input meeting, the community feedback has led to a number of changes to NYC Parks' plans for the space.
The facility will modernize amenities featured in the previous playground and bring additional equipment and increased safety and comfort.
Reduction of the impact of climate change — including improved sustainability and more plants and permeable surfaces — is also among the upgrades.
A $4.49-million city budget was allocated for the reconstruction.
Playground (2002-2026)
Children in the St. Vartan Playground engage in an exercise activity hosted by local community groups on April 30, 2022
The St. Vartan Park playground renovated in 2002 featured a spray shower, swings, slides, climbing units and additional play equipment. The playground was previously renovated in 1984.
Retrospection
First located near the west end of the park (including as captured in the below footage with sound from June 29, 1932), the playground area was moved to its current east-side home in 1936 after construction of the Tunnel Approach Street impinged on the playground and cut the park in two.
The park is credited as home to the first traditional playground slide in the city and perhaps beyond, as reported in this story from the St. Vartan Park Conservancy newsletter.
The park’s playground appears on August 11, 1934, in its original location near the now-defunct Second Avenue elevated train line and across the street from the since-razed St. Gabriel’s church (the dark building on the right) and the St. Gabriel’s branch of the New York Public Library (to the immediate left of the church) | Photograph courtesy of NYC Department of Records
“We’ve rounded up some of the shadiest playgrounds in NYC—as in places with lots of shade . . . . There are a few in Manhattan, an awesome all-abilities playground, and even some where you can get wet when you really want to cool off . . . a Murray Hill favorite: St. Vartan Park. This east side park provides relief on hot days thanks to mature trees, sprinklers, and restrooms. You’ll find fun climbing structures, swings, various ball courts, gardens, and lots of open space to play.”
The St. Vartan Park playground is seen from the southeast side of the park in 2022
“By 1951, residents of the congested neighborhood had succeeded in restoring the playground areas lost when the tunnel approach was built. The renovation added a sand pit, jungle gym, and seesaws as well as a 16-foot-high fence separating the ball field and the children’s playground.”
In 2020, in the finale of the second season of the NBC (later Netflix) television series ‘Manifest,’ actresses Elizabeth Marvel (left) and Parveen Kaur appear in a pivotal scene filmed in the St. Vartan Park playground
On November 1, 2022, (left to right) NYC Parks Borough Commissioner Anthony Perez, St. Vartan Park Conservancy’s Kevin O’Keefe and Kelley Anne Allen, NYC Parks Borough Chief of Recreation Ken Conyers and NYC Parks Regional Manager Mark Vaccaro meet at the St. Vartan Park playground to address the future of the playground and the full park
“. . . a rehabilitated playground . . . facility —complete with swings, slides and 9,200 shrubs—was renovated with $900,000 provided by the Glick Organization, a real estate developer. In return, the city agreed to rezone a section of Kips Bay from manufacturing to residential to allow Glick to construct a 35-story luxury apartment building. [Mayor) Ed Koch called the zoning swap ‘a good example of the marriage of community and private interests.’”
“Children who came to the park . . . found a crowd collecting in the girls’ playground, where a May party was being prepared . . . Groups of little girls in garlands of pink and yellow paper roses were lining up . . .”
A 1939 view from the playground on the north side of the now-named St. Vartan Park shows the Chrysler Building and construction underway across from the park for the 1940 Queens-Midtown Tunnel Tunnel | Photograph from St. Vartan Park Conservancy collection
“The playground . . . was opened on October 4, 1906, at 10 a.m. . . . features in the playground are a ‘large slide’ and old-fashioned ‘see-saws.’ Both of these innovations have proved great successes, for every child, irrespective of age or size . . . On this ground are also found swings for the older children, baby swings for the little ones, a sand box about 12 feet in diameter . . . Material also for ball games, tennis, racing pins, potato racing, dumb bells . . .”
An August 1938 view of the park playground swing set with the Empire State Building in the background | Photograph by George Reinhardt
“. . . a substantial clothing business in this out-of-the-way district of New York City, the only busy spot being the new playground for children in St. Gabriel’s [now St. Vartan] Park”
The park’s early playground on the west side of the park (left) was near a running track (partial view on right) of ten laps to a mile | Photograph courtesy of City of New York
“The park [has] about one-half acre in a playground for boys and girls and a small space with sand boxes for babies.”
Part of the park playground is shown in 1929 (center bottom) in the foreground ofthe under-construction Chrysler Building (top center left) | P.L. Sperr
