Endale Arch, Prospect Park, ca. 1890.

Located just 200 feet from Grand Army Plaza, Endale Arch was one of the first architectural elements built within Prospect Park. It was created by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux to serve as a passage from the busy surrounding city into the park’s peaceful Long Meadow. Today, the archway continues to provide a layer of protection for pedestrians in the park from vehicular traffic nearby.

Completed in the late 1860s, the Endale Arch is comprised of alternating bands of black walnut and yellow pine. The function of this design avoids "the drip which would occur from the condensation of moisture,” according to the 1870 Annual Report of the Brooklyn Park Commissioner. Along with other arches in the park, this archway was first envisioned as a room with seats for people to hide from the scorching summer heat. As the New York Times put it in 1869, it was a place “where weariness may be lounged off."