Little Island
Pier 55 in Hudson River Park at, W 13th St, New York, NY 10014
For those of you (probably two people) who noticed I missed last week, it was because my parents were in town!! I was busy gathering research for this week’s star: Little Island!! My mom is a huge architecture fan and was chomping at the bit to see it in person.
Located off of 14th Street in Chelsea, this artificial island sits atop the Hudson River. Little Island is a (mostly) privately funded public space. While it is technically a park, I find it to be more of an elevated walking path. There are two concession stands (which I have never seen open), a small stage, and a 687-seat amphitheater facing the river.
This project was primarily funded by husband and wife duo, Barry Diller and fashion designer, Diane von Fürstenberg. Allegedly Barry founded the Fox Network and greenlighted The Simpsons, but I’m not entirely convinced. Sounds like fake news to me. It sounds even faker when you find out that they needed funds from the state and city government to finish this project. Man, I hate when rich people act poor.
The initial proposal for this development was to rebuild Pier 55 - a collection of haunted broken logs. Diller took one look and said, “Ugly.” I apologized for being in the way and scooted to the side. He didn’t see much promise in the deteriorated pier but the patch of water next to it certainly caught his eye.
In November 2014, it was announced that a new park would be designed by Heatherwick Studio at the old site of Pier 55. The reason they needed money from Mommy and Daddy to finish this project is because they got #canceled. A bunch of lawsuits started to be thrown around due to “questions about the park’s environmental impact”. However, there are themes of (sexual? romantic?) tension between two Rich White Men under the surface of this drama.
To summarize this tea: Douglas Durst (the man financing the lawsuits) and Barry Diller have long-standing beef. Barry once said he wished Douglas’ brother, Robert Durst, had killed Douglas. For context, Robert Durst, a “businessman”, was accused of killing people. Douglas took that comment to heart and funded lawsuit after lawsuit trying to get this project shut down. It got so bad that Mayor de Blasio asked him if he “could just knock it off”.
where the petal supports connect. very cool!
Because of all the lawsuits, the nearly complete project was canceled in September 2017. The cancellation only lasted 43 days because NY Governor Andrew Cuomo wrote them a cute little check to finish the remaining 30%. That’s an even shorter amount of time than Kim Kardashian’s marriage to Kris Humphries! However, that’s 3 days longer than Jesus spent in the desert. Do with those pieces of information as you will.
Little Island is supported by 132 pot-shaped structures suspended above the water. These "tulip pots" vary in height and are between 15 and 62 ft above the river. The heights of the pots were intended to give the appearance of a floating leaf or a wave. My mom was personally a huge fan of their use of corten steel. This type of steel, as well as many of the materials used in this project, is resistant to corrosion/water damage of any kind.
the corten steel my mom was geeking out over
The park officially opened on May 21, 2021. It ultimately cost $260 million to construct. Wowza! Imagine all the bagels you could buy with that! Located just a few streets away from the High Line, this attraction is the perfect place to get your steps in. There are several winding paths leading up to the top lookout spot.
Along the paths, you can enjoy the beautifully designed landscape. Signe Nielsen of Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects was the landscape architect and boy did he knock it out of the park! The landscape includes 35 tree species, 65 shrub species, and 350 species of flora! The park's four corners are designed with different topologies which I am bummed I did not notice.
In summary, this place is alright in my book. Private developments can give me the ick, but this one seems wholesome. The people who worked with Barry Diller on this project have said how much it means to him, even giving it the nickname “Diller’s Island”. Having an island named after yourself can be a risky endeavor, but luckily we aren’t in Florida.
the left pic is from my first visit here with bestie Ceceli in 2022!
Fun Facts
At the park's opening in 2021, the landscape contained sixty-six thousand bulbs and 114 trees!
THE BATHROOMS!!! Holy crap! Pun intended! These are the best public bathrooms I have ever been to. The lighting design??? The cleanliness?? It’s worth the visit just to see them
There are a few interactive musical elements scattered about. My favorite are these musical tiles. Here are videos of my dad and my friend Ceceli trying their hand at conducting music.
5 stars. No notes.
I hope you enjoyed this one! :)
Anyways… see you next week! Toodaloo!
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