Time Landscape

This text is part of Parks’ Historical Signs Project and can be found posted within the park.

In the 1950s the row of tenements and townhouses lining the east side of LaGuardia Place were condemned and demolished to make way for a projected highway construction project that was never realized due to community opposition. As a result, this block remained vacant for decades.

Environmental artist Alan Sonfist (b.1946) conceived of Time Landscape, an homage to the lost forests that once blanketed Manhattan Island, in 1965. Sonfist and the local community extensively researched New York’s botany, geology, and history. In 1978 they used a palette of native trees, shrubs, grasses, flowers, rocks, and earth to recreate the precolonial forest that stood on this 200 x 40-foot rectangular plot. The space offers a dynamic representation of Manhattan’s landscape during the early 17th century as experienced by Native Americans.

Time Landscape portrays the three stages of indigenous forest growth in New York: from grasses and flowers, to saplings, and finally to grown trees. The southern part of the site showcases red cedar trees and hazelnut shrubs adorned with wildflowers. The center hosts a small grove of beech trees from a neglected forest from Sonfist’s childhood in the Bronx, which now stands amidst red cedar, black cherry, and witch hazel. A mature woodland dominated by oaks interspersed with white ash and American elm trees, among other diverse species, is found on the northern end of the site. Sonfist aimed to resurrect the ancient forests, rivers, and marshlands that once covered the city, infusing it with historical vegetation that thrived before colonization.

Time Landscape is now part of the Greenstreets program, a joint project of NYC Parks and the NYC Department of Transportation. Beginning in 1986, this initiative converted paved street properties, such as triangles and malls, into green spaces. Volunteers play a pivotal role in preserving this space, underscoring the significance of community involvement in preserving and enhancing urban greenery for present and future generations.