Overview
- Crews began tearing down Ned Smyth’s Upper Room on Wednesday and by Thursday the sculpture had been reduced to rubble to clear ground for a tidal gate.
- Commissioned in 1986 as Battery Park City’s first public artwork, the 20-column piece with an elongated chessboard table was appraised at $1.5 million in 2019.
- The Battery Park City Authority says relocation was impractical due to rebar-filled columns, foundations, and deterioration, and it had notified the artist and community in advance.
- Smyth and neighborhood advocates object to the loss, and some residents are suing over the broader North/West Battery Park City Resiliency project.
- Project plans also call for removing hundreds of trees and closing North Cove Marina for roughly five years along the Hudson River waterfront from First Place to Chambers Street.