Long-Awaited Monument to Little Syria Moving Forward in Elizabeth H. Berger Plaza

 

 

 

 

A Memorial to the Poets of the Syrian Colony to take shape in Elizabeth H. Berger Plaza. Image rendering courtesy WSHS.

After years of planning and delays, the tiny triangular Elizabeth H. Berger Plaza, unveiled its artist renderings for the’ Poets in the Park Monument‘ ~ memorializing the literary heritage of the Mahjar writers in a place that lies adjacent to the former Syrian Quarter near Washington Street in Lower Manhattan.

Continue reading “Long-Awaited Monument to Little Syria Moving Forward in Elizabeth H. Berger Plaza”

Elizabeth H. Berger Plaza, Without Artwork or Tribute to Little Syria, Now Open to the Public

 

 

 

The Elizabeth H. Berger Plaza opened to the public this month. The project creates a new park by combining two existing plazas, rerouting traffic exiting from the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel, and removing excess roadbed along Greenwich Street.

The project was originally designed to include the first public monument to early Arab immigrants in New York, commemorating the influential writers and poets associated with Little Syria. We were surprised, and disappointed to see, that it did not.

Continue reading “Elizabeth H. Berger Plaza, Without Artwork or Tribute to Little Syria, Now Open to the Public”