Private Passage

Named for the former New York Governor Dewitt Clinton, Clinton Cove is a spectacular park in New York, New York. It includes a big green lawn for picnicking, a boathouse holdings canoes and kayaks and more, and more, including a giant bottle known as Private Passage. Created by artist Malcolm Cochran, Private Passage is a distinctive sculpture measuring 30 feet long.

A wine bottle resting on its side built using a combination of bronze and zinc with a traditional green patina, Private Passage is perhaps best known for the intricate representation of an interior stateroom from the Queen Mary ocean liner that sits inside of it. The interior was built using sheet metal and other materials that would give it a monochromatic look, representing black and white film from a 1930s magazine advertisement.

Visitors to Private Passage in Clinton Cove can see the interior through a number of portholes along the sides of the bottle. There are larger windows at either extreme end of the bottle; they give visitors a view straight through the middle. During the day, a row of portholes along the top of the bottle functions as a series of skylights. At night or when clouds block the sunlight, the stateroom inside of Private Passage is illuminated by electric lights that are made to look as though they are part of the cabin’s furnishings.

The sculpture was created with the New York City Percent for Art program, administered through the Department of Cultural Affairs.