United Nations Gateway Dag Hammarskjold Plaza is central to the neighborhoods of Midtown East, providing outdoor leisure and culture to a densely populated area of Manhattan.
The land was acquired by the City of New York in 1948during the siting of the United Nations and dedicated as a park to Dag Hammarskjöld in 1961, the year the UN secretary general was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize after dying in a plane crash on a peace mission to the Congo. Despite lofty beginnings and historic marches, this diplomatic arena drifted into a period of decline, prompting the Turtle Bay Association to spearhead the park’s renewal and half-acre expansion.
The park that you see today evolved from a public planning process with NYC Parks Department, City Council and Community Board 6. Completed in 1999, the open plaza preserves the park’s historic role as a parade ground for mass rallies while water features, a garden and elegant iron work evoke a peaceful landscape. In 1997, the community dedicated the garden to actress Katharine Hepburn in recognition of her role as a neighborhood preservationist and longtime resident of Turtle Bay.
The Conservancy Movement
FRIENDS OF DAG HAMMARSKJOLD PLAZA was founded in 1993 to ensure that the newly designed park would never suffer the chronic neglect of public space that once blighted the neighborhood. We forged a public/private alliance to keep Hammarskjold Plaza clean and green under the NYC Partnerships for Parks model, which encourages civic engagement and park stewardship. Friends give the park a voice, continually pressing city government for our fair share of public services and resources.
Home of the Katharine Hepburn Garden
The park’s Katharine Hepburn Garden is the largest public garden on the east side of midtown Manhattan. Park architect George Vellonakis designed the naturalistic garden, preserving the park’s original sycamore trees and creating a lower canopy of birch trees, dogwoods and viburnums.
What to do at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza Park
