The City of New York commissioned the celebrated architect Louis I. Kahn to design this memorial park at the southern tip of Roosevelt Island in 1973, but his sudden death and the city’s imminent descent into financial collapse stalled the project for nearly 40 years. The plans were ultimately revived, and the park opened to the public in 2012.
Allées of linden trees lead to a memorial bust honoring President Franklin D. Roosevelt and “the room,” where an inscription of his famed “Four Freedoms” speech is etched into a granite wall.
Sloping granite slabs along the perimeter cant toward the East River and further delineate the borders of the triangular park.
Built on a landfill, the park is approached and amplified by a statement-making granite stairway comprising 100-foot-wide risers. The Roosevelt memorial, positioned at the southern terminus, lies across the river from the United Nations.
