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Photos via AP  The original video about the Park as narrated by Orson Welles

Four decades in the making, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial known as Four Freedoms Park was dedicated yesterday on New York City’s Roosevelt Island. Originally conceived by then Governor Nelson Rockefeller and then NYC Mayor John Lindsay and designed by the visionary architect, Louis I. Kahn (Yale University Gallery of Art, The Salk Institute in La Jolla, CA, The Kimbell Art Museum in Texas), the four acre park overlooks the New York City skyline, in particular the United Nations Building which is just across the East River.  Kahn died in 1974 shortly after finishing the design. Following Kahn’s original design, the open air “room” has walls made of 36 ton granite blocks from North Carolina each separated from by a one-inch space to creating stunning views especially as the light changes throughout the day.  On the north wall, carved into the rock, are the Four Freedoms FDR believed to be the foundation of the world: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship,  freedom from want and freedom from fear. 

The park will be opening to the public on October 24th and can be reached either by the Roosevelt Island tram or the subway..