7. Septuagesimo Uno 0.04 Acres

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At 256 West 71st Street is the park Septuagesimo Uno (meaning 71 in Latin), which is often cited as New York City’s smallest park. As you can see from this list, it’s not quite – although compared to many of the other parks on this list it is more “park-like” than the rest, secluded between two brownstones with some benches.

Septuagesimo Uno was acquired by the city through condemnation on March 28, 1969, near the height of the city’s budget woes. But the park wasn’t officially opened by the parks department until May 1981 (probably because of aforementioned budget woes). In 2000, the park benefitted from a $14,000 restoration project that, among other things, contributed the gates that now help enforce the park’s opening hours. The same year, the park got its current name, a Latin-ization of its former bland, but perhaps more fitting name: “71st Street Plot.”