Sutton Place Park creates a 10,000 square foot waterfront public park atop a roof deck over the FDR highway with dramatic views of the East River.

The project resolves a 10-year boundary dispute between New York City and a private cooperative apartment corporation. Dirtworks led a multi-disciplinary design team that worked closely with legal teams for both parties, representatives from various City and State agencies, City Council representatives and numerous neighborhood community groups. The resulting design creates an innovative allocation of private and public land and a cooperative approach to maintenance, security and funding. 

Sutton Place Park completes a series of waterfront parks east of Sutton Place along the East River. This new park, creating continuous parkland between 56th & 57th Street, respects the private building’s architectural integrity and desire for privacy and security while providing beautiful and much needed public open space for the surrounding community. The park seeks to connect the user to the East River below both literally and figuratively. A curved wall and an undulating pattern of granite paving recall waves and the historic shoreline of the river. Sweeps of native plantings provide shade and year-round seasonal interest.