Shaping a Plaza's Next Century In 1916 Grand Army Plaza opened at the southeast corner of Central Park, designed by Carrère & Hastings as a grand outdoor room in the manner of a French garden - New York's version of the Place de la Concorde in Paris. Designated a landmark in 1974 and considered by many to be one of the most formal public spaces in the city, the plaza has nonetheless fallen into disrepair - its bluestone surface cracked, the gilded statue of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman eroded. Now the Central Park Conservancy is proposing a $2 million restoration of the plaza's trees and pavement. The work planned is what that nonprofit organization says it can afford, having raised $1.5 million. But preservationists and others say the plan does not go far enough, and that the plaza should undergo a complete overhaul that restores historical details like the original lights, benches, balustrades and columns, which have been changed or removed over the years. On Monday, after hearing emphatic testimony from various advocates, the city's Public Design Commission urged the conservancy to go back to the drawing board and return with a more ambitious plan. In their questioning at Monday's hearing, commission members and preservationists signaled that they were not convinced of the conservancy's financial limitations - particularly in light of the $100 million gift it received last year from the hedge fund manager John A. Paulson. James S. Polshek, a commission member and architect, noted that the plaza - near the Plaza Hotel - is midway between the New York Public Library at 42d Street, which is named after Stephen A. Schwarzman, and the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. "I can't imagine those two chaps" would not be moved to contribute, Mr. Polshek said. "This is a piddling amount of money - nobody can claim the city is in a slump," Mr. Polshek said. We really shouldn't settle for halfway. If it's another five or six million, that's not an adequate excuse. The Beaux-Arts plaza is "perhaps the single most historically significant surviving work of landscape architecture from the City Beautiful era in New York City," said Michael Gotkin, a preservationist, referring to the architectural and urban-planning movement from the 1890s and 1900s that believed attractive buildings could uplift the downtrodden. But Guy Nordenson, another member, suggested that the conservancy "take a step back" and consider how the plaza could be reimagined given that nearly a century has passed. "Is it best to go back or is there an adaptation of this that is more appropriate today?" he said. Maybe you could work with a landscape architect who could shake up the discussions. This is neither here nor there, and not convincing. Landmark West!, a preservation advocacy group, argued that the proposed reconstruction "merely seeks to restore the plaza largely as is - compounding the mistakes, accretions and loss of historic fabric over the past 100 years," adding that "the plaza deserves to be restored to its original glory as a public outdoor gathering place." The Institute of Classical Architecture & Art implored the commission to remember the plaza's importance as one of the city's leading crossroads. "The gateway thrusts into the fabled precincts of Fifth Avenue's prime shopping mecca across which even Holden Caulfield drunkenly traversed in search of the park's pond to discover where the ducks go in winter," said the institute's president, Paul Gunther, in his testimony. Now is the time to do it right. Christopher J. Nolan, a vice president at the conservancy, who presented the plan to the commission on Monday, said he would return with a more comprehensive final proposal but that the feasibility of such a master plan would depend on city or private contributions. "It's finding the money to put the balustrade back," Mr. Nolan said in an interview after the hearing. Mr. Nolan added that recreating the balustrade in granite would cost an additional $3 million to $4 million. He also said that the conservancy would need to raise money for the plaza's south side in five to 10 years, which features the Pulitzer Fountain, designed in the Italian Renaissance tradition. All agree that the plaza needs improvements. "I fear this is a restoration of mistakes, instead of a removal of those mistakes," said Susan Nial, an Upper West Side resident, in her testimony. In 1990 the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved a full restoration for the plaza that was only partly realized because of budget shortfalls and the economic recession of the early "90s. The use of the plaza is "intense," Mr. Nolan said, noting how many passers-by, horse-drawn carriages, street performers and others frequent the area. On Monday the design commission voted to approve the conservancy's proposal "on a preliminary basis contingent on seeing a comprehensive plan." The commission is a panel of art experts and others whose members review permanent works of art, architecture and landscape architecture proposed for city-owned property. After the hearing Mr. Nolan said the conservancy accepted this mandate. "It's a reasonable response," he said. If funding could be secured, likely our intention would be to stick to that original plan, which we'll consider in our final proposal. Mr. Polshek remained optimistic that the money could be raised among the city's rich and famous - like the real estate developers Donald J. Trump and Larry A. Silverstein. "You could name the columns," he suggested. You could have a Trump column and a Silverstein column. It's obscene, but they'll be gone and the columns will be here.