Tudor City Greens

Tudor City Greens is alongside Tudor City Place, which is elevated and runs parallel to First Avenue. The park is actually two parks that straddle 42nd Street down below. Fred F. French, a real estate developer, saw the need for a tranquil residential area for busy middle class New Yorkers and began building Tudor City in 1927. French wanted residents to enjoy green, open spaces in the middle of the city while also being able to wlak to work in Midtown. As a result, Tudor City was built around parks and open spaces. 
After French died in 1936, his firm owned and managed the Tudor City buildings until the property was purchased by the Helmsley-Spears company in 1972. The problem was that Helmsley-Spears wanted to build skyscrapers on French’s suburban utopia, but the tenants were having none of this. When they saw the bulldozers approaching, they rallied and stopped them before they could begin bulldozing the park space.

Time Equities, Inc., took over in 1987 and donated the parks to The Trust for Public Land putting an end to future development and construction in the parks. Tudor City Greens, Inc, formed in 1987, is curently tasked with the upkeep and preservation of the parks.

Tudor City Greens parks are open to the public from 7am to dusk daily with the exception of occasional special events during which a portion of the parks is closed to the public. There are also two playgrounds: Mary O’Connor Playground on the north side of  42nd St., and Tudor Grove Playground on the south side of 42nd St.

SOURCE: http://tudorcitygreens.org/item_list.asp?subcat=7&subtitle=History

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