August 12, 2021, Dallas, TX – Downtown Dallas Parks Conservancy unveiled plans for the playground at Harwood Park, a new public park scheduled to break ground fall 2021 in Downtown Dallas. Harwood Park is the final park in the four Priority Parks program, a public-private partnership between Downtown Dallas Parks Conservancy and the Dallas Park & Recreation Department.
The Harwood Park Playground features two sculptural play structures that take the form of Columbian Mammoths. Why Mammoths? Austin-based Ten Eyck Landscape Architects Inc., designer and project lead for Harwood Park, envisions this playground as the recreational heart of a park inspired by the site’s storied past.
Christine Ten Eyck, founding principal of the landscape architecture firm, explains that, “The design of Harwood Park tells a story that spans the last 100,000 years: from grazing ground of prehistoric Mammoths to the former tributary of the Trinity River; from a residential neighborhood, to automobile service and then film industry, to its present role as a contemporary mixed-use neighborhood for downtown living.”
The 3.8-acre park site is currently a collection of surface parking lots and vacant buildings located in the Harwood Historic District within the new East Quarter District and north of the Dallas Farmers Market. Harwood Park is bounded by Jackson Street to the north, Pearl Street to the east, Young Street to the south, and Harwood Street to the west.
The Young Street section of the park will offer a variety of play features for all age groups including: various types of swings, an interactive water feature, “prehistoric centipede” inspired benches and a multi-function sport court for pickleball, basketball, volleyball and more.
Click here to learn more about Harwood Park, coming soon to Downtown Dallas in 2023.
