Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
A park along a river.
An introduction to Bronx Park, where the Bronx Zoo spreads across 265 acres on both sides of the Bronx River.
On this page
Read the park
The zoo lies in Bronx Park, with its main entrance on Southern Boulevard and another off the Bronx River Parkway. The Bronx River runs through its grounds.
A city guide can give context without turning a neighbourhood into a backdrop. Notice how woodland, water and old stone buildings sit together in a park within the city.
Stone, carving and planting
The early buildings around Astor Court, designed by Heins and LaFarge, carry carved animals on their facades.
Begin with a detail and ask how it was made, repaired and kept. A photograph alone cannot tell you who carved the stone or planted the trees, or the conditions in which they worked.
A Bronx chapter
The zoo shows how New York set aside parkland at the end of the nineteenth century for a new kind of public institution.
Look at the meeting of the two: carved buildings of 1899 and habitats designed a century later.
Make room for context
Pair this city reading with the zoo’s history and the Journal. This is an introduction for visitors, not a claim that our team manages these places, commissions their restoration or represents their makers.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
