Robert Moses

Robert Moses (1888-1981) was a New York state and municipal official whose ambitious public works projects of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s transformed the urban landscape of New York City.  Appointed to head the parks commissions of  New York and Long Island in 1924,  Moses expanded the state's park system and built numerous parkways.  With his appointment in 1933 as New York City Parks Commissioner and  head of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, Moses built hundreds of new playgrounds and parks, and important highways, bridges and tunnels linking the boroughs of New York City. During the next two decades Moses led a major effort to replace old tenements with public housing projects.  As head of the city's Parks Department, Moses was Isamu Noguchi's primary antagonist in the sculptor's quest to construct a playground in New York City.  First rejecting Noguchi's Play Mountain in 1933, Moses and his department later rejected Noguchi's 1939 playground equipment designs, his 1941 design of Contoured Playground for Central Park, and his 1952 design of a playground at the new United Nations Headquarters.  By the late Fifties there was strong public reaction to Moses and his aggressive urban reconstruction, and he resigned his city positions in 1959 to become president of the World's Fair.  Under the administration of Governor Nelson Rockefeller, Moses lost his New York State jobs, finally departing from the state government in 1968.

Noguchi on Play Mountain   |  Noguchi on Playground equipment   |  Noguchi on Contoured Playground  |  Noguchi on United Nations Playground