Grand Army Plaza

Grand Army Plaza is the gateway to Central Park. Of the four corners of Central Park, it’s the only one that’s officially part of the Park’s 843-acre landscape. It is actually two plazas. Central Park South bisects it into two semicircles – a split design inspired by Paris’ famed Place de la Concorde.

The southern half, opposite the Plaza Hotel, is home to the Pulitzer Fountain. Sculptor Karl Bitter designed the fountain in the Italian Renaissance tradition. The fountain is crowned with a graceful bronze figure of Pomona, goddess of abundance. On the fountain’s plaza — as well as on the northern plaza — are flowerbeds that erupt with hundreds of colorful blooms, designed and planted by the Central Park Conservancy.

The plaza was finished in 1916. It takes its name from the Grand Army of the Potomac, which was the Union Army in the American Civil War. The gilded bronze statue depicts Union General William Tecumseh Sherman by American artist Augustus Saint Gaudens. When the civil war ended, Sherman moved to New York City and rode his horse and carriage through Central Park daily.

To the north of Grand Army Plaza you’ll find the Doris C. Freedman Plaza, a great champion of the arts. This is a dynamic section of the plaza – every six months, new sculptures are installed here by the Public Art Fund.