Architecture, art, and play have become one at the dedication of the Bear Mountain Merry-Go-Round and Pavilion, a new 7,500-square-foot building in Bear Mountain State Park, N.Y.

The park is now a part of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission and is in New York's Hudson River valley region, next to the U.S. Military Academy. It also features the historic Inn at Bear Mountain. The park was created in 1910 as a result of the efforts of Union Pacific Railroad President E.W. Harriman and a group of wealthy businessmen who wanted to block the move of Sing Sing prison to the area. They donated land and money for the purchase of other area land. Later, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt used the park for Depression-era public works programs. Although more modern construction equipment and building materials were available for use at the time, "planners wanted these new buildings constructed with the same principles and designs used to build the (Bear Mountain Inn) in 1915," according to park information.

Architect Roger Bartels, AIA, of Roger Bartels Architects, South Norwalk, Conn., used the same guiding principles as he designed two connected pavilions for a new hand painted, carved wood merry-go-round. The pavilion design and structure is reminiscent and commensurate with the history that surrounds it, Bartels said. As a result, the exterior of the building is a reinterpretation of the rustic park architecture of the Inn and similar buildings such as the Inn at Yellowstone National Park. The interior features a circular and square pavilion that intermingle to create a skylight. The circular pavilion houses the merry-go-round and a theme mural, entitled "Hope", by the architect's son, Jacques Bartels. While the building evokes the spirit of earlier times, all the building materials are new; the stone comes from the same quarry as other buildings in the area. The timber consists of Douglas fir from the West.

"It is lit by a cupola supported by curved steel trusses reflect the carnival light strands of the merry-go-round itself," according to the architect. The square pavilion features a celebration space, which can be used for functions, such as weddings. The building is open daily. Call the Palisades Interstate Park Commission, 845-786-2701, for information.

Copyright 2001 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.