Soho Park Reopens After $1.9 Million Renovation

SOHO, NY — The tiny Father Fagan park in Soho reopened on Friday after a $1.9 million upgrade that brought new seating and other cosmetic changes to the wedge-shaped park.

The park now has an updated sitting area with new benches, pavements and plant beds, park officials said. The park, which sits at the corner of Prince Street and Sixth Avenue, was funded by former NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn and current Speaker Corey Johnson.

The tiny park's upgrades have brought more greenery and better drainage to the triangular space.

The outdoor space is named for Father Richard Fagan, a priest at the nearby St. Anthony's of Padua rectory who died in a 1938 rectory fire while saving two of his fellow priests. The park also commemorates three city firefighters who died in a 1994 fire that gutted a Soho apartment building. The firefighters were trapped inside the building by the flames while trying to ensure that the building had been vacated. All three men — Captain John Drennan and firefighters James Young and Christopher Siedenburg — are memorialized in the park with pear trees and three bronze plaques.

Image credit: Courtesy of NYC Parks