In the 1990s, this 2,500-square-foot single lot was an active site for a local YMCA-associated Boys Club members, who enjoyed eating lunch and gardening there. After years of under-use, in 2003 New York Restoration Project (NYRP) revitalized the garden with a generous restoration and endowment grant provided by the Tiffany & Co. Foundation. Commissioned by NYRP, Tiffany & Co. Design Director John Loring worked with the organization’s staff and local community members for four months to develop and implement a design plan that would re-envision the space and its great potential.

Directly facing Thomas Jefferson Park, the Family Garden’s location inspired Loring to weave historical references into his design plan. Garden highlights include a wrought-iron entry gate that echoes the façade of Jefferson’s beloved Virginia home, Monticello, and garden furnishings that feature the Founding Father’s silhouette. Other Jeffersonian images and Colonial-era features are found in cut-metal figures affixed to the garden’s planting beds, a bluestone patio, a traditional arbor and brick planters with wide limestone caps.

Since its restoration, the Family Garden has become popular with the neighborhood’s elderly residents for its quiet, shaded seating area. The garden is also used by community residents as a secure space to engage small children in the surrounding natural environment and by local schoolteachers at lunchtime.

Residents of the neighborhood surrounding the garden, located in the East Harlem section of Manhattan, are primarily of Hispanic and African-American descent.