Gotham's Garden of Eden

Barry Lewis, architectural historian

New York City is unimaginable without Central Park (and we don’t say that just because it's our home!) but how did it become the city's own Garden of Eden? In a captivating talk, architectural historian Barry Lewis explains how the Park civilized New York, giving all residents, no matter what their class, their own "private country estate," enabling them to escape the less desirable side of urban living and commune with nature. Learn how the Park's brilliant designers, Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmstead, used all their enormous talents to create a completely artificial yet stunningly naturalistic place we all share and enjoy more than 150 years after its creation.