A landscape is any outdoor space, planted or not. NYU has a great variety of urban landscapes that link academic and housing facilities on the Washington Square campus and beyond. NYU Landscaping is responsible for the design, installation, and maintenance of outdoor spaces enjoyed by NYU and the surrounding community.

Native Woodland Garden

The Native Woodland Garden is designed to recreate the landscape of Manhattan Island in the time of its indigenous inhabitants, the Lenape. It’s believed that the plants in this garden may actually be the same type of plant life that was in this area when Manhattan Island was lush and green. Learn more about the native plant life through the Welikia Project, an educational program which aims to discover the original ecology of New York City.

Woodland Garden

238 Thompson Rooftop Garden

This 3,700 square foot un-irrigated green roof features a wide variety of plants not typically seen on green roofs: Wild Columbine, Goldenrod, Moss Phlox, Corsican Violet, and even chives are just a few of the plants that grace this roof bordering Washington Square Park.

close up of chive blossoms

Statue of Cervantes in a garden

Willy's Memorial Garden

Located at 1/2 Fifth Ave, this 8,000 square foot courtyard garden serves as the entrance to the Graduate School of Arts and Science and the faculty residences of 7-13 Washington Square North. The latest renovation of this space introduced shrubs, perennials, and bulbs for year round interest.

trees and garden grounds

Mercer Plaza (CoGen Park)

This 13,000 square foot plaza was built in 2010 atop NYU’s state of the art Cogeneration Plant. Plantings include a collection of native trees like Tulip trees, Sweetgum, and Willow Oaks, along with a variety of native shrubs, perennials, and grasses such as Witch Hazel, Rose Mallow, and Switchgrass.

Light coming through grove of trees

Silver Towers Oak Grove

The Oak Grove is a half-acre site on the north side of the Silver Towers complex. It features 22 native species of oak trees including Willow oak, Red oak, and Swamp White oak This site is unique in Greenwich Village for the large number of mature, native trees.


The NYU Urban Forest Project

In response to superstorm Sandy, NYU commissioned a campus wide tree inventory and risk assessment of over 700 trees on and adjacent to NYU properties. We now have a wealth of data which will be used to manage the NYU’s Urban Forest.

9/11 Memorial Tree

This tree, provided by NYU’s Center for Student Activites, Leadership, & Service, was planted in the Silver Towers Oak Grove on September 7, 2011 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the events of 9/11. The tree species, Quercus bicolor (Swamp White Oak), is the same species employed in the park of the National 9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero.