Paley Park

53rd Street between Madison and Fifth Avenues
New York, NY

Contributed by Project for Public Spaces

Located within Midtown's cultural district and surrounded by high-rises, this celebrated "vest-pocket" park is a welcome respite from the sights and sounds of urban living.

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Why It Works

A small vest pocket park in midtown Manhattan, the park was developed (and every detail considered) by the person who paid for it, William Paley, former Chairman of CBS. Mr. Paley was involved in all aspects of planning the park from its conception to the selection of just the right hot dog (which is still served at a reasonable price). Featured in William H. Whyte’s film The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, the park is a success for several reasons.

For one, it is located directly on the street so that people are attracted to look in and enter. It has good, reasonably priced food, as well as moveable chairs and tables that let people be comfortable and have some control over where they sit. A waterfall provides a dramatic focal point and a reason to enter the park; its noise blocks out the sounds of the city and creates a sense of quiet and privacy. There's adequate shade in the summer from the trees, though they allow a beautiful dappled light to pass through their leaves.

People that PPS interviewed in the park said that they liked it because they could be "alone" in a busy city and it gave them a quiet, restful feeling. In reality, Paley Park is a quite heavily used place, but the movable chairs allow people the freedom to sit where they choose. It is also very noisy - but the noise is white noise from the waterfall.

History & Background

Completed in 1967, Paley Park is celebrated as one of the smallest manageable urban parks, and a prime example of a successful privately owned public space. The design for this 4200 square foot space, created by Zion and Breene Associates for the William S. Paley Foundation, proves that in even a small space can serve both a popular meeting ground and a place for relaxation and calm. Slightly elevated from street level, the sidewalk blends with the park allowing for easy access from passer-by. The park’s 20-foot cascading waterfall, running at 1800 gallons per minute, creates a backdrop of sound that causes the city noise to fade away.

The walls are covered with dense, green ivy and 17 honey locust trees provide a thin overhead canopy. The park's wire mesh chairs and tables help to make it a popular luncheon spot. Paley Park has an intimate relation with the street. Low and inviting steps and trees that canopy the sidewalk often influence passer-by to stroll through the park on impulse.

User Comments:

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08/26/02 Andy Wiley-Schwartz said:: I ate two chili dogs in Paley Park for lunch last Friday. The concessionaire was friendly, and the menu was wonderfully quirky ("I don't have any sauerkraut"). The park was nicely crowded, and somehow each conversation was isolated from the next. My favorite activity was to sit and face the street, watching people as they slowed down to gape inside, stop, double-take, keep walking, as if all of us inside the park were playing hookey, and the passerby was tempted to join us, but then thought better of it. I think the thought made both of our days better.
11/03/02 felix pfeifle said:: Paley Park spawned a number of other similar spaces in New York, also referred to as "vest pocket" parks, but Paley stands apart. Its subtle difference--not mentioned in the text about the park, I believe--is the slight elevation above the street, so one enters an outdoor room. One ascends a few steps and already feels a bit removed from the urban din. Paley is really an ingenius space.
11/16/02 Jean Ryan said:: I'm a wheelchair user, and when I went to Paley Park the other day, I couldn't access it because of steps. Is there a way to get into the park that I'm not aware of? And if there isn't, why not? It's such a lovely park and it should be for ALL the public.
03/11/03 felix pfeifle said:: To Jean Ryan: There are ramps on either side of the steps. While I remember them to be steeper than current code would allow for new construction, they seem wide enough and include rails. It would be terrible if the ramps were useless for the wheelchair user.
07/21/03 Katharyne Marcus said:: Paley Park is a place I go in my head when I need to escape...since I live in Ohio. It was the most amazing surprise presented before me. I will visit it every time I return to NYC! It's a tremendous space that has left a huge impact on me, emotionally and intellectually with regard to the importance, value and purpose of our living spaces.
11/24/03 adam ravestein said:: Paley Park’s intrigue lies in what Tony Hiss, author of Experience of Place calls a "lovable object." This is something we can talk about, describe, and ultimately give us a reason to return to in the future. A rippling wall of water is just that element that we all are drawn to and bring us back time and time again.
12/05/03 Jean Ryan said:: The ramps on either side are totally unsafe and unusable for someone who uses a wheelchair. They are too steep. Adding railings would not help. We would not be able to get onto the ramp and if we could, we'd tip over backwards. It's not good to be shut out of such a tranquil oasis. I wanted to bring out-of-town guests to the park this month because we'll be nearby, but not if I have to be on the outside looking in. I am going to write to the William S. Paley Foundation, Inc. about access to this park for people with disabilities.
01/15/04 Carol-Ann Grippo said:: I got engaged in Paley Park on January 24th 2003. My wedding is July 17, 2004. It was the most amazing setting and a place my fiancé and I continue to go to whenever we want to have a romantic moment. Paley Park will always be my favorite place in NYC the greatest city in the world!
07/06/04 David Marlowe said:: Up through the early 1980's there was a college prep school on 54th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues (Rhodes School - 11 W. 54th). Paley Park was one of the favorite lunch locations for students at Rhodes during good weather days. And in early June every year the place would be flooded with Rhodes students cramming for final exams while eating hot dogs and other food from the concession stand. It was a great place to study for tests (or at least pretend we were studing for tests!).
11/02/05 Lucinda Cookman said:: My father brought me there as a teenager in the 60's.He and my mother had their wedding party at the "Stork Club" which was at that spot. Whatever happened to the plaque on the wall stating that, here stood the "Stork club"? Also a very important landmark steeped in fun, martinis, romance and of course beautiful women and men wearing the greatest hats of the day!!! Please does anyone remember the "Stork Club"?? Need to know. Sincerely Lucinda.
05/23/06 ricky disini said:: I had the wonderful chance of walking by this beautiful park back in the 80's when i was pursuing my masters in urban planning at Pratt Institute...Ii was surprised how clever and simple the design was back then. It worked then and now as a way creating an oasis for people to slow down and rest. A watering hole amidst tall buildings and traffic.
11/18/06 kari Marlowe said:: Comment on "what happened to the Stork Club." Mr. Billingsly who owned the Stork Club had a bad relationship with Mr. Paley. When the New York City night club scene was dying out, Mr. Billingsly went bankrupt. Mr. Paley bought the property and quickly bulldozed the Stork Club and created Paley Park. This bad blood is most likely why there is no plaque acknowledging that this is where the Stork Club used to be.
01/09/07 William Feezer said:: The Park is a wonderful oasis tucked away in bustling Midtown. It would be nice if it offered public wireless internet access like Bryant Park. It would be easy and reasonable to accomplish given it's small scale.
01/28/07 oscar hoehn III said:: I am an architecture student in boston, and I am currently writing a paper on Paley Park and it's integration with the city surroundings. however i havent been able to find any photos of it rom acroos the street looking into the park, or its basic surroundings. i was wondering if any one who has visted this park had any. i would be very grateful if you could email them to me at oscarhoehn@yahoo.com. also any coments you would like to make about the park and what works and doesnt work would also be very helpful. thank you.
06/24/08 Barbara Green said:: Maybe I missed it, but nobody has noticed that the waterfall blocks all sound from the busy streets in Manhattan. The park is not only beautiful and restful, but it is amazing in it's ability to create a private and personal space so the visitor is inside the art and part of it. Also, the park is dedicated to William Paley's parents, Samuel and Goldie Paley. There is no need to add the history on a plaque. It's public knowledge and can be found by researching the address.
10/16/08 andre nyc said:: Looked really lovely after the rain that weekend in september. See a photo there http://www.flickr.com/photos/nycandre/2947025300/