By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER EAST SIDE — A trailer park has sprung up in Andrew Carnegie's backyard garden.
Trailers for administrative offices for the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, which is housed in Carnegie's former mansion, moved into the famed garden over the summer as the first phase of a $64 million rennovation.
Posters touting the museum's Design USA exhibit partly cover the trailers, which stand on the west side of the garden facing the park along Fifth Avenue on 90th Street.
"I almost thought it was part of the art installation," said Susan Leopold, who visited the museum for a Parsons School of Design class.
"It's almost like when you go to a museum and sit and stare at the fire hose," Leopold said.
Completion for the rennovation is expected for 2013. Until then, the trailers aren't going anywhere.
"We're trying. It's hard because they're not pretty," said Jennifer Northrop, a spokeswoman for the museum. "This is frustrating for us."
Construction on the three-year project is expected to begin in the next couple of weeks, according to Northrop.
Although the east side of the garden will remain open during the project, the trailers will obstruct the view of the park.
"I'm worried but I have great confidence that once the trailers are removed the garden will be restored to its former beauty," said Elinor Loveridge, whose office window at the Church of Heavenly Rest faces the garden.
The plan calls for an overhaul of the museum's townhomes along 90th street in order to accommodate a master's program and design library, among other offices.
Administrators and staff will move back into the townhomes in 2011 when work will begin on the mansion, which is a National Historic Landmark.
All the changes to the museum will amount to 60 percent more public gallery space, according to Northrop.
The museum's neighbors take the trailer eyesore philosophically.
"It's just construction," said Annette Millington. "I don't know what else they could do."
