New York will provide $3.9 million to close the remaining funding gap for reconstruction of the historic Highland Park Children’s Pavilion, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Monroe County Executive Adam Bello announced July 7.
The new 6,000-square-foot pavilion will cost approximately $7.73 million to construct and will retain the three-story design of the original structure, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted of Central Park fame. It will be situated at one of Highland Park’s highest points. It will feature new accessibility elements like an elevator, to give all visitors access to the views from the top.
The original pavilion, paid for by famed nurserymen George Ellwanger and Patrick Barry, cost $7,000.
Restoration of the pavilion, torn down in 1963, has been on the mind of Rochesterians for decades. The city said the structure, built in 1890, was in a state of “excessive deterioration” when it was razed. Use of the pavilion was banned two years prior, and the first floor was fenced before it was torn down. An April 17, 1963, Democrat and Chronicle article on its razing said, “…in a few years, a new pavilion may be constructed there, a park spokesman predicted.”
Six decades later, the landmark will be restored, with construction expected to start in 2027 and an anticipated opening in early 2028.
The project will be funded through various sources of public and private funding, including:
Since 1963, talk of a new pavilion has popped up several times.
In 1975, a D&C article mentioned a six-year improvement plan for the parks that included a children’s pavilion at Highland Park. The Highland Park Conservancy collected materials on the pavilion for an educational program and to see if there was enough community support to reconstruct it in 1998. A study from the Committee to Rebuild the Children’s Pavilion followed in 2001; the group raised $25,000 by 2002, with a goal to raise $1.5 million for the project.
In 2019, Monroe County officials announced a new goal for a 2022 groundbreaking with a price tag of $3 million and $600,000 in funding from the county. In Bello’s 2026 State of the County address, he mentioned rebuilding the pavilion at Highland Park and the fact Hochul said she would fill the funding gap.
“We are finally going to get this project done in time to kick off our park centennial celebration,” the county executive said in the June 4 address.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Highland Park Children’s Pavilion finally gets funding to return
Reporting by Steve Howe, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Steve Howe, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle | USA TODAY Network
