The High Line - An Afternoon Stroll in the Fall

Just back from New York City where we spent Thanksgiving. We had five nights in the city, we walked, ate and caught up with family and friends. We saw a Lincoln Center Theater revival of Clifford Odets' Golden Boy on Broadway which we enjoyed. We made our required visit to the Met where we all liked the current George Bellows exhibit. 

On the first day of our trip we took a stroll along  The High Line which we have been meaning to do for years. A urban park built on the old elevated railway, The High Line is successful and well designed. This is an aesthetically attractive reclaiming and remaking of a post-industrial urban green space.

Running north from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District the park is a raised ribbon of green in a formerly gritty urban landscape. It is well designed with plantings thick with natural grasses and wooden seating in various configurations. 

The walkway is wide at some points and narrows at others with nooks and tiered seating off at angles. It ducks and dives under and between buildings as it makes its way northward creating a rhythm and energy in the space. You can see further details of the landscape design here. 

One of the first things we noticed after climbing the stairs at the southern end of The High Line was DVF, the Dianne Von Furstenburg building pictured above. I was captivated because I had read an extraordinary  Architectural Digest profile of the "steel and glass aerie" she calls her, "treehouse". This has to be one of the most extraordinary live/work spaces in the city. 

It's very much worth clicking through to see the Architectural Digest images which are spectacular. Here's one  to give you an idea, here is the bedroom inside that amazing glass structure, how I wish I could visit it in person, it is exquisite. Imagine, a bed, inside a tent, inside a glass dome!

Back on the High Line, at  points there are lovely views out over the water...

The architecture is fascinating as I wish we had known more about it. At points you see older buildings and then you turn and you're surrounded by newly built highly stylized construction in glass and steel, see below for contrast. 

There are art works throughout the park including a rotating selection of sculptures and installations. We particularly liked the street art below which was on a surrounding building.