RYE, New York (WABC) — High winds damaged an important piece of history at one of the area’s most beloved amusement parks.
Westchester County’s Playland Park has dealt with several different issues over the last few years and is now figuring out how to repair the Music Tower.
The gaping hole spans almost the entire length of one side of the 100-foot tower.
Steel framing was left exposed after the facing was ripped off by the heavy winds – damaging the landmark Art Deco Music Tower at Playland Park.
“There’s some Styrofoam-type materials, and over that is stucco, and that is what came down over this past evening,” said Peter Tartaglia with the Westchester County Parks Department.
The parks department was notified around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday and crews spent the better part of the day cleaning up the material.
The amusement park is closed for the season but the boardwalk remains a popular walking attraction year-round.
“This does not seem to be structural, which is good news, so this will not interfere with our season,” Tartaglia said. “We are looking at all options on how we can patch this quickly and make it look as best we can. We’ll eventually have it restored to what it needs to be.”
Playland suffered heavy damage during Superstorm Sandy and a couple of years ago underwent a $135 million restoration.
It’s unclear how much it will cost to deal with the latest blow from Mother Nature.
“Very windy area and the winds last night were very, very high, so as far as we can see it, it must have grabbed a part of this facade and made it come to the ground,” Tartaglia said.
The Music Tower was built in 1928 as part of the park’s original construction and was most recently restored nearly 20 years ago.
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