Downing Street Playground[1] is on 6th Avenue between Carmine Street
and Downing Street in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. It was built by the
WPA in 1935, opening on May 29th of that year. Today it is coupled with
Winston Churchill Square[2], a small garden and sitting area that was added
in 1943. It's not clear if the latter can be counted as a New Deal site
—it depends on exactly when the work was done and who paid for it.
But the rest of Downing Street playground was built in 1935 along with many
others, as indicated in the Parks Department press release[3]:
The schedule of 160 new playgrounds announced by the Park Department on
January 1st of this year has been increased by forty-three new areas, making
a total to be completed by next summer of 203 new recreational
units. Seventy-three of these play areas have already been opened to the
public. Seventy of these were constructed with city, state and federal
relief funds by the Park Department and three of them were developed by
the Long Island State Park Commission and the New York State Department of
Public Works in conjunction with the construction of the Grand Central
Parkway through Alley Pond and Hillside Parks in the Borough of Queens. The
following is a list with the dates on which these facilities were opened:
A long list follows, which includes:
May 29 A Manhattan
Downing & Carmine Streets
References
-
Downing Street Playground - History, NYC Department of Parks website
(fails to mention New Deal assistance).
- Downing
Street Playground - Sir Winston Churchill Square, NYC Department of
Parks website.
- NYC
Department of Parks Press Release, August 12, 1935.