Works by Nivola

Before the Stephen Wise Towers were built in 1965, the site was developed with tenements and brownstones, and these were often divided into smaller apartments and turned into rooming houses. Many of these buildings were constructed when the Upper West Side was first developing in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

During the 1950s, the City thought that buildings in the area were overcrowded and provided poor conditions for those that lived in them. They were often referred to as ‘slums’, though there is little evidence to support this. The City developed a plan called the West Side Urban Renewal Area. This plan proposed to demolish some buildings and renovate others in the area between West 87th Street and West 97th Street and from Central Park West to Amsterdam Avenue. This would allow the City to ‘renew’ the West Side.

These buildings were demolished in the early 1960s, and the families who lived in them were moved, often to other boroughs of the City. This was very difficult for the displaced families who were not all able to afford to move, and were separated from their neighborhood and community. It did not acknowledge the difficulty that people of color, large families, or people with limited English would have leaving a familiar neighborhood and finding new housing.

The Stephen Wise Towers was the area’s first redevelopment project, and the first to break from NYCHA’s typical superblock design. The street grid of West 90th and West 91st Streets were kept. NYCHA built more ‘human-scale’ housing in the renewal area, as well as renovating existing row houses and converting them for low income apartments.

credit: NYC Municipal Archives

The plaza is the large public space between the two towers, and is a landscaped playground for the whole community. Nivola used murals and sculptures to create areas for play and relaxation that, together, form one carefully thought out plaza.

Concrete Wall – A deeply cut cast concrete wall with geometrical figures separates the play area from West 90th Street.

Concrete Horses – On the West 91st Street side, a group of 18 cast concrete horses, originally mixed with marble dust to sparkle in three colors – red, yellow and blue – gather to be played. When they were first built their legs were longer and they had proper noses. It is thought that their noses were cut off not long after they were installed.

Sgraffito – A long sgraffito mural runs along the wall of 120 West 91st Street.

Fountain – In the center of the plaza, Nivola made two 8 foot tall diamond fountains, with water gurgling through gutters. He used colored sand, cast in layers, to enliven and emphasize the concrete surface of the fountain. It is not known whether the fountain has ever worked as planned.

The Nanny – On the upper level near the entry to 117 West 90th Street, sits ‘The Nanny’, a 7 foot high abstract human figure watching over the plaza.

The plaza at Stephen Wise Towers was designed and built as one whole landscaped playground. In 1965 when the towers were built, artists and architects were changing the way playgrounds were designed. They wanted them to be more playful and be able to be enjoyed by everyone that visited, not just children. This type of playground is called a playscape.

Playscapes use as few man-made structures and equipment as possible. They might use plants, rolling hills, nature and trees to create different spaces to encourage play and interaction and to be as creative and imaginative as possible!

The plaza at Stephen Wise Towers is an excellent example of a playscape. Instead of the normal jungle gym equipment, NYCHA trusted Costantino Nivola to create a more inclusive space that could be used by many.