A Geometric Pattern Buried in the Design of Central Park? Does it Really Exist?
Map of Central Park. Is there really a hidden geometric design buried in this image?
When I first began researching Central Park Story, a young adult adventure series set in Central Park in NYC, I came across a number of features in the park that I considered highly unusual.
First, the promenade that extends from the Olmsted Flower Bed and ends at the Bethesda Terrace points due north (rather than in line with the grid of the city). Second, it points directly at Belvedere Castle on the opposite side of the Ramble. Third, the distance from the flower bed to the angel and from the angel to the castle in the north are exactly the same. And fourth, if you used both of these distances as the diameter of two separate but equal circles, the perimeter of each circle passes either through or close by eight familiar landmarks in the park.
Was this deliberate on the part of the designers of the park or merely coincidental?
One can be certain that Calvert Vaux (Olmsted’s architectural partner who originally designed the Mall) consciously chose to point the promenade due north, but the rest? That’s anyone’s guess.
However, as a writer of fiction I wasn’t going to let this discovery go to waste, and decided to make it a part of a puzzle that Christopher Middleton, the main character of my story, must solve in order to avert a disaster that would otherwise engulf the city.
Still, it made me wonder how many more amazing things are contained in the park–something that I plan to enumerate in my next post, so stay tuned!
