Landmarks Preservation Commission The Forest Park CarouselThe Cyclone is one. So is the Wonder Wheel. And now a carousel that has been delighting children for over a century has joined the list.
On Tuesday, the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to award landmark status to the Forest Park Carousel in Queens. It became the first carousel and the third amusement ride to be granted such a designation. (The Parachute Jump, which like the Cyclone and the Wonder Wheel is in Coney Island, also has landmark status but no longer functions as a ride).
The commission’s vote on the carousel came on a busy day when the commission named seven other individual landmarks, including a library branch in Lower Manhattan, a church on theUpper West Side and a former high school in Jamaica, Queens.
The carousel, which was completed in 1910, was manufactured by D.C. Muller and Brother, a Philadelphia-based carousel-carving firm known for its intricately-detailed work, according to the commission. It is only one of two carousels manufactured by Muller still operating in the United States â€" the other is at the Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio.
The carousel not only has 46 hand-carved horses, but it also has a deer, a lion and a tiger.
“This exquisitely carved herd is part of one of the last surviving carousels made by a firm that was celebrated for its highly realistic work and attention to detail,†said Robert B. Tierney, the commission’s chairman.
