Designed by landscape architect Bruce Kelly (1948-1993), one of the principal members of the Central Park Conservancy's management and restoration planning team, Strawberry Fields was named in 1981 by a New York City Council law introduced by Council member Henry J. Stern and signed by Mayor Edward I. Koch.

It is named after the song Strawberry Fields Forever in honor of John Lennon (1940-1980), the musician and member of the internationally famous Beatles.
His widow, the artist and performer Yoko Ono, later donated $1 million to the Central Park Conservancy to relandscape and to maintain the 2.5-acre tear-drop-shaped landscape.

Shaded by a grove of stately American elms, the black-and-white mosaic set in the pathway near its west entrance is a reproduction of a mosaic from Pompeii; it was fashioned by Italian craftsmen and was a gift from Naples, Italy. Its single word IMAGINE, the title of a popular Lennon song, is the only specific tribute to the musician within the beautifully maintained yet naturalistic, free-flowing park landscape.


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