Augustus St. Gaudens Playground can be found at Second Avenue, East 19 Street. To East 20 Street.
Augustus St. Gaudens Playground Background
The park is named after Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907) a sculptor of the Gilded Age of American art.
He was born in Dublin, Ireland on March 1, 1848, his family immigrated to Boston, eventually settling in New York. At the age of 13, Saint-Gaudens became a cameo cutter’s apprentice. He then enrolled in evening drawing classes at Cooper Union to start his artistic education. He enrolled in the National Academy of Design full-time in 1866.
He became one of the first Americans to study sculpture formally in Paris.
He helped to form the Society of American Artists (1876) and the National Sculpture Society (1893) which helped to professionalize the field of art.
The Augustus St. Gaudens Playground site became a playground in 1966 and served the students attending P.S. 40.
What’s at Augustus St. Gaudens Playground
Within the Augustus St. Gaudens Playground, there are facilities such as basketball courts, the playground structure for children and swings.
The playground area is open from 7 am to 6 pm from Nov. 1 to March 1, and from 7 am to 9 pm from March 2 to Oct. 31.
There are also butterfly bushes like milkweed planted at the park. This attracts butterflies include the monarch butterflies as they make their migration across North America each year.
There are also public restrooms at the Augustus St. Gaudens Playground. Unfortunately, these restrooms are not wheelchair accessible.
The Augustus St. Gaudens Playground is being reconstructed and we look forward to upgraded park facilities when it is done.
You may also be interested in the Asser Levy Playground close by.
