Friends of St. Nicholas Park

from Darren Boch, National Parks Service:

The temporary garden was planted at 287 Convent Avenue, the Grange’s former home, on June 17 by students participating in the First Bloom program. Students from Ms. Torres’ fourth-grade class at PS 153 created the garden’s layout with help from advisors from the New York Horticultural Society. They were joined for the planting by members of the Harlem Boys and Girls Club.

First Bloom is a nation-wide program developed by the National Park Foundation to help connect urban youth with the outdoors and the national
parks through gardens comprising plants native to the area where they live. The students learn about the plants and gardening, design and plant the
gardens and then help tend them. In turn, they receive a sense of accomplishment, pride in their neighborhoods, and a stake in helping to
conserve and protect the national parks

from Darren Boch, National Parks Service:

For the beginning of the year, most of the work on Hamilton Grange National Memorial has been happening on the inside or off-site. The mechanical systems work (HVAC, fire suppression, etc.) in the groundfloor level is proceeding as expected, and excavation for and installation of utility pipes and conduit has taken place and the resulting rubble removed. Off-site restoration of the original staircases and 10′4″ inch tall seven-panel doors and sashes is complete and those pieces are ready to be re-installed into the Grange as soon as the house is ready for them.

With the improvement in the weather, work on the exterior has resumed. Most notably, the piazzas are being installed on the east and west sides of the Grange. The floors and columns are in place on both sides of the house and the roof is on the western piazza. Investigation by the National Park Service’s Architectural Preservation Division and project Architects JG Waite and Associates has revealed that the original roofs for the piazzas were flat and probably covered with lead cladding, something not typical
for the time.

The main roof itself is mostly complete and is waiting for the chimneys and balustrade to be reconstructed/restored.

Hamilton Grange was awarded $2.3 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Those funds will be used to complete the restoration (including fabrication and installation of exhibits on the ground and first floors) but not the refurnishing of the first floor rooms (library, dinning room, parlor, hallways and back chambers) and for the restoration of the non-public spaces on the second floor, including the upper hall, rooms and attic stairs. The balustrade on the roof will also be restored with these funds.

ARRA monies will also fund exterior lighting to provide architectural highlighting at night as well as security.