Jane's Carousel

Jane's Carousel was created by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company (P.T.C.) in 1922 and designated P.T.C. No 61. Originally installed in Idora Park in Youngstown, Ohio, it is an exceptionally elaborate carousel with 48 horses in rows of three and two chariots, and its wood carvings, often attributed to John Zalar and Frank Caretta, are among the finest of their kind. The horses, chariots, rounding boards, scenery panels, center pole, and platform are all original, and P.T.C. No 61 was the first carousel listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1983, David Walentas, designated developer of Empire Fulton Ferry State Park, commissioned a master plan for the park that called for a carousel. Jane and David Walentas purchased it at auction on October 21, 1984, preventing it from being sold off piecemeal. In poor condition when acquired, it was restored beginning in 1984 at Jane Walentas's Dumbo studio, where she made carpentry repairs and hand-scraped away 62 years of park paint with an X-acto knife to reveal the original 1922 carvings, color palette, and designs. Those discoveries were recorded with photographs, color matches, and detailed drawings that guided repainting. The horses were rendered in faithful detail, decorative carved trappings were newly painted and re-leafed, missing embellishments such as faceted jewels, small beveled mirrors on the bridles, and delicate pinstriping were restored, and the founding boards, scenery panels, and structural pieces were repainted, stenciled, and re-leafed. Blackened varnish was removed from the original paintings to reveal their true colors, dozens of old beveled mirrors were reglazed, and the mechanical systems were updated with new gears, motor, and electronic controller. Totally rewired, the carousel now shines with 1,200 lights. Installed in a pavilion designed by Pritzker Prize winning architect Jean Nouve), it was intended to delight visitors to Brooklyn Bridge Park for generations, and the carousel and pavilion are a gift from the Walentas family to the people of the City of New York.

New York, New York · United States