Home Destinations USA New York New York City Sights Prospect Park

Prospect Park Review

Read our New York City sights reviews. Or post your own.

Prospect Park

Map It

Category: Parks
Location: Park Slope

Write a review

Fodor's Review:

Brooklyn residents are fiercely passionate about Prospect Park. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the park was completed in the late 1880s. Olmsted once said that he was prouder of it than any of his other works—including Manhattan's Central Park.

A good way to experience the park is to walk along its 3.5-mi circular drive and make detours off it as you wish. The drive is closed to cars at all times except weekday rush hours. Families with children should head straight for the eastern side, where most kids' attractions are clustered.

The park's north entrance is at Grand Army Plaza,where the Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Arch honors Civil War veterans. (Look familiar? It's patterned after the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.) Three heroic sculptural groupings adorn the arch: atop, a dynamic four-horse chariot; to either side, the victorious Union Army and Navy of the Civil War. The inner arch has bas-reliefs of presidents Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant, sculpted by Thomas Eakins and William O'Donovan, respectively. To the northwest of the arch, Neptune and a passel of debauched Tritons leer over the edges of the Bailey Fountain. On Saturdays year-round a greenmarket at the plaza sells produce, flowers and plants, cheese, and baked goods to throngs of locals. Other days, you can find a few vendors selling snacks here and at the 9th Street entrance.

If you walk down the park's west drive from Grand Army Plaza, you'll first encounter Litchfield Villa (718/965-8951. Free. Weekdays 9-5), an Italianate mansion built in 1857 for a prominent railroad magnate. It has housed the park's headquarters since 1883; visitors are welcome to step inside and view the domed octagonal rotunda.

The Prospect Park Band Shell (718/965-8999 park hotline; 718/855-7882 Celebrate Brooklyn Festival. www.brooklynx.org/celebrate) is the home of the annual Celebrate Brooklyn Festival, which from mid-June through the last weekend in August sponsors free films and concerts that have included Afro-Caribbean jazz, Nick Cave, and the Brooklyn Philharmonic.

The most prominent of several neoclassical structures in the park, the Tennis House (Free. Tennis House only, weekdays 9-5, weekends 10-5; BCUE gallery, during exhibitions) is a 1910 limestone-and-yellow-brick building, with triple-bay Palladian arches on both its north and south facades.

A smaller cousin to Wollman Rink in Central Park, popular Wollman Memorial Rink offers skating in winter and pedal-boat rentals from spring through fall. 718/282-7789. $5, skate rental $6.50; pedal boats $15 per hr. Rink: Thanksgiving-mid-Mar.; hrs vary, call for specifics. Pedal boats: May and June, Thurs.-Sun. noon-5; July-Labor Day, Thurs.-Sun. noon-6; Sept.-mid-Oct., weekends noon-5.

Styled after Sansovino's 16th-century Library at St. Mark's in Venice, the Prospect Park Audubon Center and Visitor Center at the Boathouse, built in 1904, sits opposite the Lullwater Bridge, creating an idyllic spot for watching pedal boats and wildlife, or just taking a break at the café. Here, learn about nature through interactive exhibits, park tours, and educational programs especially for kids. On a nice day, take a ride on the electric boat to tour the Lullwater and Prospect Lake. You can also sign up for a bird-watching tour to see some of the 200 species spotted here. Prospect Park. 718/287-3400. www.prospectparkaudubon.org. Audubon Center free; electric-boat tours $6. Audubon Center: Apr.-Nov., Thurs.-Sun. noon-5; Dec.-Mar., weekends noon-4; call for program and tour times. Electric-boat tours: Apr.-Oct., Thurs.-Sun. noon-4:30; Sept.-mid-Oct., weekends noon-4:30, every 30 mins.

Lefferts Historic House (718/789-2822. Free. Apr.-Nov., Thurs.-Sun. noon-5; Dec.-Mar., school holidays noon-5) is a Dutch Colonial farmhouse built in 1783 and moved to Prospect Park in 1918. Rooms of the historic house-museum are furnished with antiques and reproductions from the 1820s, when the house was last redecorated. The museum hosts all kinds of activities for kids; call for information.

Climb aboard a giraffe or sit inside a dragon-pulled chariot at the immaculately restored Prospect Park Carousel, handcrafted in 1912 by master carver Charles Carmel. 718/282-7789. $1.50 per ride. Apr.-June, Sept., and Oct., Thurs.-Sun. noon-5; July-Labor Day, Thurs.-Sun. noon-6.

Small and friendly, Prospect Park Zoo is perfect for those children who may be overwhelmed by the city's larger animal sanctuaries. Of the 400 inhabitants and 93 species, kids seem to be especially fond of the sea lions and the red pandas. An outdoor discovery trail has a simulated prairie-dog burrow, a duck pond, and kangaroos and wallabies in habitat. Be aware that there are no cafés, only vending machines. 450 Flatbush Ave., Prospect Heights, 11225. 718/399-7339. www.prospectparkzoo.com. $6. Apr.-Oct., weekdays 10-5, weekends 10-5:30; Nov.-Mar., daily 10-4:30; last ticket ½ hr prior to closing. Subway: 2, 3 to Eastern Pkwy.; B, Q to Prospect Park.