Frederick Douglass Circle

The plaza shortly after its 2010 completion

Frederick Douglass Circle is a traffic circle located at the northwest corner of Central Park at the intersection of Eighth Avenue (Frederick Douglass Boulevard and Central Park West) and 110th Street (Cathedral Parkway and Central Park North) in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The traffic circle is named for the American abolitionist, women’s suffragist, editor, orator, author, statesman and reformer Frederick Douglass.

Although a ceremony was held to name the circle after Frederick Douglass on September 17, 1950, the pedestrian plaza in the center of the intersection was not completed until June 2, 2010. In 1993, local residents and the Central Park Conservancy began developing plans to redesign the circle and make it symmetrical with Duke Ellington Circle at the Northeast corner of Central Park. Construction on the pedestrian plaza began in 2004 and was to be completed in one year. However, due to numerous construction delays, the plaza was not completed until June 2, 2010.

The traffic circle features a complex colored paving pattern that alludes to traditional African American quilt designs. Harlem-based artist Algernon Miller designed the paving. Additional features, including wrought-iron symbolic and decorative elements, a water wall, and inscribed historical details and quotations representing the life of Frederick Douglass and the slaves’ passage to freedom. A central bronze sculpture, depicting a standing Frederick Douglass, has been crafted by Hungarian-born artist Gabriel Koren.

Neighborhoods

IRT Ninth Avenue Line in 1900

Frederick Douglass Circle connects the New York City neighborhoods of Harlem with the Upper West Side. It is located on West 110th Street and 8th Avenue (where the avenue shifts between alternative avenue names: Douglas Boulevard (North) and Central Park West (South), and street names Cathetdral Parkway (West) and Central Park North (East). It stands feet from the northern B/C 110th Street station entrance/exits.

The circle stands at a point of connection between Harlem and the Upper West side. Harlem lies to the North and East of this intersection, although it extends further West along Morning side park at this point, and parts of the park might be considered to be part of Harlem also. The "Harlem Hills" are a hilly section of the six-mile road, shared by bikers, runners and car, which wraps inside the park.

Morningside heights is nearby, although it does not start on paper for some distance to the west, and with the exception of a garage and a single luxury housing facility, no edifice of Morningside heights is accessible for at least a quarter of a mile. One might reasonably walk from the circle to Saint Paul's Cathedral, but the circle may as well be associated with the Lasker Pool & Rink to the West, and the Lincoln Correctional Facility as Columbia or Barnard by distance.

Transportation

The M3, M4 and M10 bus lines and the A B C services of the New York City Subway all stop near Frederick Douglass Circle. Until 1940, this was also the site of the "Suicide Curve" of the IRT Ninth Avenue Line.

External links

• Public Art New York Times, 2009