Place of the Month
Sasaki Garden at Washington Square Village
The Washington Square Village garden was designed by Hideo Sasaki, (1919-2000), the pioneering American modernist landscape architect, former chair of Harvard’s Landscape Architecture program, and co-founder of the world-renowned design firm, Sasaki, Walker and Associates. Completed in 1959, the tranquil courtyard garden is bounded by West 3rd and Bleecker Streets, Mercer Street and La Guardia Place. NYU would like to erect two large academic buildings on the east and west sides of this block, between the two existing residential buildings. The plan for new development also includes several levels of below-grade academic space. If the plan is implemented, the Sasaki Garden will be destroyed in order to construct the subterranean spaces, and NYU will redesign the garden. Even more unfortunate, the expansion will also seriously affect the block south of Washington Square Village, and it will take 20 years to complete.
On January 12, 2012, NYU presented an open space plan to Community Board 2’s Parks Committee. After the presentation, scores of community members delivered emotional testimonies against the proposed expansion. Concerned parents asked how they were going to raise their young children to adulthood in a construction site, or how they would teach their kids to ride bikes with an additional 12,000 students-worth of pedestrian traffic on the Greenwich Village campus. Other speakers were older residents who sadly noted that they likely did not have 20 more years, and that they would never again experience the neighborhood without the construction. Many people spoke about how important the Sasaki Garden is to the local community.
There is undeniable value in the presence of educational institutions and economic generators like NYU in our city. But we believe that their ability to expand at the expense of the communities that host them must be limited. You can find a wealth of information about the past, present and potential future of this issue on the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation’s website.
