Manhattan · New York County
Riverside Park Hippo Playground
NYC Parks
- Location
- Riverside Drive at West 91st Street, Upper West Side
- Size
- Part of Riverside Park acres
- Hours
- Dawn to dusk
- Type
- NYC Parks
Riverside Park Hippo Playground features large concrete hippopotamus sculptures that children climb and slide on, the companion to the Dinosaur Playground at 97th Street and one of the most beloved themed playgrounds on the Upper West Side.
The hippo sculptures, created by artist Bob Cassilly, include a mother hippo with an open mouth that serves as a slide and baby hippos scattered around the playground. The sculptures have been a neighborhood landmark since their installation.
The Upper West Side's collection of sculptural playgrounds, including the Dinosaur Playground and the Hippo Playground, represents a design philosophy that prioritizes imagination and artistic expression over the standardized equipment found in most modern playgrounds.
Riverside Park's playgrounds serve one of the most family-dense neighborhoods in Manhattan, where the combination of excellent schools, cultural institutions, and Riverside and Central Parks creates one of the most desirable environments for raising children in the city.
The Hippo Playground provides imaginative play on concrete hippos that have been polished smooth by decades of small hands and feet, a testament to the power of artistic playground design to create places children love.