PROGRAM
Explore the lives and legacies of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt from multiple perspectives. Roosevelt House and FDR Four Freedoms Park are offering tours in collaboration–you’re welcome to attend one or the other, but we hope you’ll join us for both! For new look at Roosevelt life and how it was shaped by New York City, start your day at Roosevelt House with tours at 10:00am or noon. Designed by Charles A. Platt, the Colonial Revival double townhouse was home to Franklin, Eleanor and Sara Delano Roosevelt from 1908-1941, and was acquired by Hunter College in 1942. Recent renovations by Ennead Architects preserved the building’s interior and added classrooms and an auditorium for public programs. Hear about the Roosevelts’ family lives, civic activities and governmental positions as they transformed the nation and the world with FDR’s Four Freedoms and Eleanor’s work at the United Nations. The house tour will be followed by a walk through the neighborhood to the Roosevelt Island tram station at 59th Street and Second Avenue. A Four Freedoms Park representative will meet the group as it exits the tram on the island. President Roosevelt envisioned a world in which all people everywhere would live with four essential human freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Consider the meaning of these freedoms today, as you explore Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island. An unparalleled public space appealing to design lovers, history buffs, and anyone who appreciates a beautiful view, Four Freedoms Park is truly worth visiting. You’ll learn about the Park’s origin-which is deeply tied to NYC history-Louis Kahn’s design, and the reason it took 40 years to build the only memorial dedicated to FDR and his legacy in his home state of NY.
Two Walks Are Offered:
May 2, 2015 | 10:00 AM
May 2, 2015 | 12:00 PM
ABOUT JANE’S WALKS:
Jane’s Walks are free, locally organized walking tours, in which people get together to explore, talk about and celebrate their neighbourhoods. Where more traditional tours are a bit like walking lectures, a Jane’s Walk is more of a walking conversation. Leaders share their knowledge, but also encourage discussion and participation among the walkers.
A Jane’s Walk can focus on almost any aspect of a neighbourhood, and on almost any topic you can think of.Walks can be serious or funny, informative or exploratory; they can look at the history of a place, or at what’s happening there right now. Anyone can lead a walk — because everyone is an expert on the place where they live!
Some examples: A walk in Colchester, England was led by two brothers, aged 6 and 4, who showed walkers around their favourite park and shared interesting historical facts about the local castle. In Ljubljana, Slovenia, a city councillor came on a walk to discuss the history and potential future of the area around a stalled construction site. In the heart of Toronto, Canada, a Queer Newcomer Youth walk was led by a group of young people who had all arrived in the city recently, but had found a welcoming community there. In Calcutta, India, a group set out to explore the wetlands at the city’s edge.
