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Medieval Impostors: Belvedere Castle
by
Lavina Andrews and Joana Ramos
View of Castle looking at it from the West

Belvedere Castle (also known as Fort Belvedere or Belvedere Tower) was designed in 1865 by Calvert Vaux and JacobWrey Mould. It sits on Vista Rock in Manhattan's Central Park next to Shakespeare's Garden" and was built in 1869 as a lookout.

The Belvedere Tower later came to house the New York Meteorological Observatory which was founded by Dr. Daniel Draper in 1868. Upon Dr. Draper's retirement in 1912, the United States Weather Bureau took over the observatory. 


After its restoration in 1982, while still housing weather measuring devices, the tower once more became a lookout. In May 1996, the Henry Luce Nature Observatory also moved in. 






Left: view of Castle looking  from the North


Fort Belvedere has been criticized for being modeled in the Rococo style but being designed to look like a military fortress and today stands as a nature observatory.


Above: view of the Castle looking at it from the East



Belvedere Castle Mid-Central Park at 79th Street (212) 772 - 0210 11:00 am - 4:00 pm
Wednesday - Monday
Above: View of the Castle looking at it from the South
Right: Partial map of Central Park taken from a park brochure to show Castle's location
Medieval New York | Castles Main Page | Castle Clinton | Belvedere Castle


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© Site Concept and Design: Paul Halsall created 26 Jan 1996: latest revision 11 March 2024 [CV]