“Do you have any idea what it’s like to be single again for a gay man at my age? I’m a dinosaur!” So says Michael Lawson (Neil Patrick Harris), the Manhattan realtor at the center of the new Netflix series “Uncoupled,” who finds himself unexpectedly unattached when his partner of 17 years suddenly leaves him with no explanation as to why. As Jeffrey Richman, who co-created the program with Darren Star (the mastermind behind the seminal hits “Sex and the City,” “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Melrose Place”), told The Queer Review, “We thought of the lowest place we could start him at.”
Somber-seeming premise aside, the series takes a comedic look at Michael’s new life as he attempts to navigate his way through a completely unfamiliar dating scene while in his late 40s, his longtime best friends by his side. With glorious real estate showings scattered throughout, “Uncoupled” reads like a mix of “Sex and the City” and “Million Dollar Listing: New York.” It’s witty, sweet, poignant and eminently worthy of a binge-watch – not to mention stunning to look at!
Set and filmed in New York and its environs, the show makes use of such cinematic spots as the High Line, a disused-elevated-train-track-turned-urban-park spanning 1.45 bucolic miles across Chelsea, 620 Loft & Garden, a striking rooftop oasis situated atop Rockefeller Center, and the Urban Cowboy Hotel, a hiply rustic mountain lodge tucked away in a quiet corner of the Catskills.
But there is one location that stands out amongst the rest! The spot where Michael’s friends, the Jonathans (played by Colin Hanlon and Jai Rodriguez), tie the knot in episode eight is an absolute show-stopper – so much so that if you type “Uncoupled” into a browser search bar, the words “wedding location” invariably auto-generate! Viewers, it seems, have become so enamored of the venue, they’ve taken it upon themselves to go hunting for it virtually. So I figured I’d save everyone the legwork.
The “Uncoupled” wedding location is none other than the Prospect Park Boathouse, a gorgeous Beaux Arts-style structure situated along the banks of Lullwater on the eastern edge of Prospect Park at 101 East Dr. in Brooklyn.
-
Image Credit: Martin Seck, Courtesy of Prospect Park Boathouse Though it isn’t on the receiving end of nearly as many accolades as Central Park, Prospect Park is another creation gifted to the city of New York by celebrated landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. Construction began in 1866, nearly a decade after ground was broken on Central Park, and the finished design is “considered the duo’s masterpiece,” according to the book “Secret New York.” Author Michelle Haimoff writes, “In this later project, the team was uncompromising in their creation of a truly rural retreat, and although many structures and sculptures were erected subsequent to the park’s completion, the space maintains a naturalistic feel that lures Brooklynites to its rambling grasses year round.”
Comprised of over 500 acres of wooded bliss, Prospect Park stands as a sprawling oasis nestled amongst the bustling Park Slope, Crown Heights and Windsor Terrace neighborhoods. The myriad outdoor amenities include a 90-acre meadow, a bandshell, an ice skating rink, a ravine, a dog beach, a carousel, countless walking paths, numerous gardens and a grand Victorian boathouse that skirts the pristine shoreline of Lullwater, a picturesque arm of the park’s 60-acre lake.
-
Image Credit: Nadya Furnari, Courtesy of Prospect Park Boathouse Designed in 1905 by Frank J. Helmle and Ulrich Huberty of the Helmle, Huberty & Hudswell architecture firm, the structure replaced the park’s original boathouse, a rambling wooden building erected in 1876. Enveloped in immaculate white terra cotta and lined with a succession of arched French doors, the duo’s creation was inspired by the Library of St. Mark (aka Biblioteca Marciana) in Venice.
Though the exterior, with its stepped terrace cascading down to the water and string of handsome globe lights, cuts an elegant image across the pastoral scenery, the Boathouse’s interior is the true scene-stealer!
-
Image Credit: Brklyn View Photography, Courtesy of Prospect Park Boathouse Featuring a dazzling vaulted ceiling covered in Guastavino tiles in varying shades of green, a dramatic double staircase leading steeply up to the second level, a channel of arched openings and a hand-painted mural lining one wall, the Prospect Park Boathouse is easily one of New York’s most beautiful structures!
Incredibly, the grand space was almost lost to the wrecking ball in the 1960s following its deactivation as a boathouse and years of subsequent neglect in which it fell into disrepair. A 1964 New York Times article detailed, “The columns of the two‐story structure are peeling, and crabgrass grows out of the ledges. Its windows are smashed and its archways defaced. Outside the building, only eight of 17 white domelights are intact, and vandals have destroyed some of the stanchions on which the lights were mounted.”
-
Image Credit: Nadya Furnari, Courtesy of Prospect Park Boathouse Fortunately, area preservationists stepped in and saved the structure, ultimately having it declared it a historic landmark. After a lengthy renovation, the site reopened in 1974 as both a visitor’s center and a headquarters for park rangers. Following another significant overhaul in 1999, the Boathouse was reimagined yet again as the Prospect Park Audubon Center, the first of its kind in the U.S. to be situated in a major metropolitan area. According to the book “The Best Things to Do in New York,” “One of the reasons that Prospect Park was chosen as the site was its position along the Atlantic Flyway, a major route for bird migration.” The Center is open to the public most Thursdays through Sundays from April to November.
The Boathouse also currently operates as a special events venue, available in the spring, summer and fall months for soirees hosting up to 225 guests and, as depicted on “Uncoupled,” has become an extremely popular wedding location.
-
Image Credit: Netflix -
Image Credit: Anne Claire Brun, Courtesy of Prospect Park Boathouse In the show’s season one finale, “Chapter 8,” Michael heads to the Boathouse to attend the Jonathans’ wedding, an event he is not especially looking forward to since his ex-partner is set to be there, likely with his new plus-one. Things end happily, though, with Michael and his group of BFFs dancing the night away under the gorgeously tiled ceiling.
-
Image Credit: Netflix -
Image Credit: Di Bezi Photography, Courtesy of Prospect Park Boathouse The episode makes stunning use of the property and its exquisite architecture, gloriously showcasing its beauty as a wedding venue.
-
Image Credit: Sony Pictures Interestingly, “Uncoupled” is not the first time Neil Patrick Harris has filmed at the Prospect Park Boathouse! He also shot scenes there while portraying marketing whiz Patrick Winslow in the 2011 live-action/computer-animated movie “The Smurfs.”
-
Image Credit: Columbia Pictures Other productions lensed on the premises include the 1993 drama “The Age of Innocence,” in which the lawn next to the Boathouse masquerades as the Boston park where Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis) meets with Ellen Olenska (Michelle Pfeiffer).
-
Image Credit: Warner Bros. Ava Monroe (Michelle Trachtenberg) gets married there at the end of the 2010 comedy “Cop Out.”
-
Image Credit: Netflix And the structure plays the tearoom of The Drayton Hotel, where Irene (Tessa Thompson) encounters her old friend Clare (Ruth Negga) at the beginning of the 2021 Netflix drama “Passing.”
With such versatility and gorgeous detailing, it is no wonder the Prospect Park Boathouse has become an onscreen favorite.