Belvedere Castle

Belvedere Castle sits upon Vista Rock, the second highest natural elevation in Central Park, New York City. It was designed as an additional feature of the Central Park \”Greensward\” plan by Calvert Vaux and the sculptor Jacob Wrey Mould, when the team of Olmsted, Vaux and Mould were reappointed to oversee the park\’s construction once again in 1865. The Croton Aqueduct board transferred ownership of the site to the Park in 1867 and the existing fire tower was demolished. Belvedere Castle was built in 1869, using Manhattan schist from excavations elsewhere in the park, dressed with gray granite. The castle provided a feature—a folly—that capped the natural-looking woodlands of The Ramble, as seen from the formal Bethesda Terrace. As the plantings matured, the castle has disappeared from its original intended viewpoint.