Prospect Park Alliance to receive Landmarks Conservancy’s Lucy B. Moses award

February 23, 2022 Raanan Geberer

This rendering envisions Prospect Park’s Vale of Cashmere, or The Vale, after renovation. Rendering courtesy of Prospect Park Alliance

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The Prospect Park Alliance will receive one of three prestigious Lucy Moses Awards from the Landmarks Conservancy this year.

The Lucy B. Moses Awards are the Conservancy’s highest honors, and Rand Engineering, on its website, referred to them as the “Oscars of Preservation.”

A spokesperson for the Conservancy, which offers financial and technical assistance to help institutions, businesses and individuals restore historic properties, said that the award is basically being given to the Alliance for all its work, not for one particular project.

The Prospect Park Alliance, according to its website, is a nonprofit organization that “sustains, restores and advances Brooklyn’s Backyard, in partnership with the City of New York. The Alliance provides critical staff and resources that keep Prospect Park green and vibrant for the diverse communities that call Brooklyn home.” It was created in 1987 to help restore the park in tandem with the New York City Parks Department.

During the last few years, the Alliance undertook several renovation projects and also worked to keep the park running during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Assemblymember Robert Carroll and then-Councilmember Brad Lander joined the cleanup effort in Prospect Park in 2020. Eagle file photo by John McCarten

In August 2020, the Alliance said that it was determined to care for the park despite COVID-related cuts in the city budget. It sought volunteers to help keep the park clean, and established several “It’s My Park” community volunteer-days on Mondays during that month.

In November 2020, despite the pandemic, the Alliance completed work on the restoration of the Endale Arch, which leads to the Long Meadow on the west side of the park. The effort was funded by the Tiger Baron Foundation to the tune of $500,000 and restored the arch’s striking original appearance, with layers of differently-colored stone and wood, now enhanced by LED lighting.

Prospect Park’s stunning Endale Arch, restored to its original splendor. Photo by Paul Matrinka

In April 2021, the Alliance sponsored an Earth Day cleanup and celebration in which volunteers picked up trash. July of last year marked the comeback of Summer Movies in the Park, presented by Showtime and hosted by the Alliance, the Borough President’s Office and other entities. The previous month, the Alliance welcomed the return of the famous BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival, with live concerts and movie showings at the bandshell.

Then, in December 2021, the Alliance announced plans to re-do the Vale of Cashmere, also known as the Vale, in the northwest part of the park. Then-Mayor Bill de Blasio allocated $40 million, described at the time as “the biggest funding in the history of the Alliance.”

In particular, the effort would restore two historic features of the Vale, the Children’s Pool and the former Rose Garden. After the Brooklyn Botanic Garden opened in 1911, the Rose Garden fell into disuse.

The 32nd Annual Lucy G. Moses Awards will take place on April 20, 2022 from 6 to 9 p.m. at The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, Manhattan. Also receiving the Moses Awards will be Yuien Chin, executive director of Harlem One Stop, and Alex Herrera, director of technical services at the Landmarks Conservancy.

The Alliance was also honored with the Moses Award in 2019 for the reconstruction of the park’s Wellhouse, described as “the only building created by the park’s original designers—Olmsted and Vaux—still standing in Prospect Park.”