The City has issued paperwork to demolish the steam plant. Not used since 2013, the original building opened in 1939 and an addition added in 1954. The plant provided steam to Goldwater Hospital, isalnd insttuions and all the up the east side to Coler Hospital.
The steam plant is in a complicated location and any demolition will be a massive exercise. Some of the complications include: A building contaminated with asbestos, fuels, lead. Tunnels leading to the east side tunnel along the river Two smokestacks that are in dangerous locations, including one by the Tram Station Being located directly adjoining the Tram Station and under the Queensboro Bridge Being located adjacent to a subway tunnel (E line) A large area containing underground fuel storage to the south of the building. Being located on the only southbound access street to the south end.
The original building designed by Starrett & Van Vleck Architects
A smokestack next to the Tram
I visited the interior of the plant in 2012-2014 while it was still staffed by Goldwater engineers.
The building was used for movie shoots and then closed down due to asbestos concerns.
Whatever actions are taken, this will be a massive project due to the buildings location, condition and all the structures and roads that it is surrounded by, A Special Job
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
At the start of the 1880s, Barcelona was an expanding city of about 350,000 people. Its medieval walls had been knocked down only twenty-five years earlier. Capital of the autonomous community of Catalonia, city and region developed into Spain’s economic dynamo. Prosperity mushroomed. A self-confident territory strove to re-establish its identity by invigorating local traditions, culture and language. Barcelona became an engine of change and modernity.
The embellishment of the city was ambitious. Having been selected to host the 1888 World Exhibition, the authorities were willing to consider unconventional views of young architects and designers. The event not only prompted urban upgrades, including a new sewage and water system, but the period from 1880 onward also witnessed the flowering of La Renaixença (the Catalan Renaissance). Identified by a flair for innovation, it was driven by a passion to make Barcelona distinct and different from Madrid in every conceivable manner.
Catalan modernism was a coalition across the artistic spectrum, but primarily associated with architecture. Nowhere else in Europe did Art Nouveau leave and equally strong legacy. The movement was pushed forward by Lluis Domenech i Montaner, the inspirational Director of the Barcelona School of Architecture (Antoni Gaudi was one of his pupils).
His essay “In Search of a National Architecture” (1878) is a seminal text in the history of Catalan modernism. The challenge was to create a peculiar style that would set Barcelona apart from other world cities. Its architecture came to be characterized by a preference for the curve over the straight line, a disregard of symmetry, a passion for botanical shapes and motifs, as well as a return to Arabic patterns and decorations. Traditional methods and local skills were valued.
Modernism was an extension of, not a break with the past. It merged new technologies with established building crafts. Colorful and glamorous, Catalan modernism stood in sharp contrast to the minimalism of modernist construction in northern Europe. It left an impact on New York’s cityscape.
Master Builder
Rafael Guastavino y Moreno was born in 1842 in Valencia. In 1861, he moved to Barcelona to study at the School of Master Builders (Escola Especial de Mestres d’Obres). The course was arduous and took him eleven years to complete. Guastavino was bestowed the title mestre d’obres (master builder). He aspired to qualify as an architect and took additional courses (studying alongside Antoni Gaudi), but never achieved that goal as the number of commissions mounted.
He soon made a name for himself, completing notable works such as the Batlló Textile Mill in Barcelona’s La Bordeta neighborhood in which he blended traditional tile vaulting with industrial innovations, as well as the charming La Massa Theater in the Catalan village of Vilassar de Dalt. Domènech i Montaner and other pioneers of modernism acknowledged his talent.
Reviving a traditional Catalan masonry technique of layering thin terra cotta tiles bonded in herringbone patterns with Portland cement to produce lightweight and fireproof arches would define his future. The method was possibly a regional variation of Roman arches or may have been introduced by Muslim invaders into Spain during the eighth century.
Rafael’s focus on vaulting technology and fireproof factory design attracted international interest which motivated him to submit some designs to the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia for which he gained a medal of merit. With America’s Industrial Revolution in full swing and a keen interest amongst investors in safe technologies, new business opportunities opened up for him. It may have prompted his abrupt move to the United States in 1881.
The reasons for this move have never been entirely clear. There are suggestions that he left a turbulent and chaotic personal life behind him. His marriage had failed and his wife had run off to Argentina with her daughters, whilst he took his nine year old son Rafael to the city of New York; there were also rumors of a financial scandal.
Could there have been an element of creative rivalry too? Competing with Antoni Gaudi and a number of highly talented architects in a relatively tight domain of creative activity may have persuaded him to take up the fresh challenge that America offered.
Boston Public Library
Once settled and in spite of financial problems and language barriers, he succeeded in establishing The Guastavino Fireproof Construction Company in Manhattan in July 1881 (renamed R. Guastavino Company in 1897). New York was in the midst of a construction boom at the time with the development of Manhattan’s Upper West Side underway.
Having patented his “Tile Arch System” in 1885, he was commissioned that same year by real estate broker and French immigrant Bernard S. Levy to design a row of townhouses (“Bernard Levy Houses”) stretching from no. 121 through to 131 West 78th Street, between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues.
It was New York City’s first encounter with Catalan modernist thinking. Moorish inspiration was brought to the streets of Manhattan.
The project made his name. His building technique drew attention in a country obsessed with fire resistance construction following the devastating blazes that had shocked Chicago (1871) and Boston (1872). In 1887, the prestigious New York firm of McKim, Mead & White was chosen to design a much enlarged new home for Boston’s Public Library (BPL).
Established in 1848 with the passing of an act by the General Court of Massachusetts, it was the first free municipal library in the United States. As its holdings included many rare Americana and Shakespeareana as well as the papers of John Adams, the architects were very much alert to fire risks. In 1889, Rafael was awarded the contract for the building’s vaulted ceilings.
Between the 1880s and late 1950s, the Guastavino Fireproof Construction Company was involved in the construction of over 1,000 buildings in thirty-two states. At the height of its expansion, the firm maintained offices in New York, Boston, Providence, Chicago and Milwaukee, and ran a tile manufacturing plant in Woburn, Massachusetts (by 1903, the facility was firing over 200,000 tiles annually). The company eventually received twenty-four patents.
Rafael Guastavino y Esposito worked for his father until the latter’s death in 1908 and then assumed control of the company. Under his leadership some of the firm’s most ambitious projects were completed including the massive dome of New York City’s Cathedral, St John the Divine, and the tiled ceiling of the Registry Room (known as the “Great Hall”) at Ellis Island where five thousand immigrants a day were medically examined and registered. The massive vaulted ceiling and large arched windows accentuated the intimidating enormity of the space.
Architect of New York
An obituary in the New York Times described Guastavino as the “architect of New York.” Today, the city takes pride in more than two hundred existing buildings with vaults of his design, including the Metropolitan Museum, the arcade under the approach to Queensboro Bridge’s fruit and vegetable market, Carnegie Hall, Grant’s Tomb, the Elephant House at Bronx Zoo, the art galleries at “Kykuit,” the Rockefeller property at Tarrytown, NY, or the dome of St Paul’s Chapel at Columbia University.
Aware of it or not, wherever New Yorkers move they are confronted with Catalan-inspired designs.
A telling example of Guastavino’s masterful skill is City Hall Station, the southern terminus of Manhattan’s first underground transit line. Opened in October 1904, it was the subway’s “crown jewel.” Designed by the firm of Heins & LaFarge, the city’s most prominent architects at the time, the station was outfitted with Romanesque arches and vaulted ceilings.
Each arch displayed Guastavino terra cotta tiles in green, pale brown and cream which were placed in an alternating herringbone pattern. Large brass chandeliers and skylights lit up the platform.
At the time, the concept of an underground railway was revolutionary and, to many travelers, an unnatural and frightening prospect. The station was designed and decorated in a manner to ease discomfort. The effect was dramatic. The grand space below the city was hailed as a cathedral of modern life and praised as the “Mona Lisa of subway stations.”
Closed down in 1945 for technical reasons, the station remains well-preserved, giving testimony to Guastavino’s exceptional technique and use of durable materials.
At 12:01 am on Sunday February 2, 1913, the Grand Central Terminal was presented to the public. That day, more than 150,000 people pushed their way inside to admire the architectural wonder of the largest train station in the world. To the utter delight of oyster-obsessed New Yorkers, the 440-seat Grand Central Oyster Bar opened its doors three weeks later.
The space featured arched and vaulted ceilings covered in terra cotta tiles designed by Guastavino. For three decades the Oyster Bar was run by the legendary chef Viktor Yesensky (who had made his name for running a similar bar at the Knickerbocker Hotel) and from the outset the establishment was one of the city’s most crowded counters, offering commuters a place to slurp oysters or enjoy oyster pan roasts or stews before heading home.
One of its “secrets” was the large vault at the entrance of the Oyster Bar, known as the corner-to- corner “Whispering Gallery.” The perfection of the arches caused an acoustic oddity whereby every whispered phrase could be heard on the other side, even over the din of crowds, as the words followed the curvature of the ceiling. It was here that locals learned to whisper.
Hispanic Presence
Since the late sixteenth-century Protestant Europe had depicted Catholic Spain as a backward nation that was characterized by despotic rule, cruel persecution and brutal repression. It was a country that had lost touch with the American continent and the rest of Europe. This perception of Spain as an inferior “other” was exported from the Low Countries and Britain to the United States and would stick for a considerable period of time.
By the beginning of the nineteenth century that negative image started to recede. French Romantic writers and poets were intrigued by the perceived exoticism of the region and they put Andalusia on the literary map. During the era, nomadic painters and artists began to add Spain to their European tours to capture the country’s scenic charms and customs.
A number of American artists traveled to the country to absorb local subjects and styles into their own work. There were collectors too. Archer Milton Huntington, heir to a railroad fortune, amassed the largest collection of Spanish art in the United States. In 1904, he built a private museum on 3741 Broadway, known as The Hispanic Society of America.
There were traces of Andalusian architecture in Manhattan. Officially completed in 1873, Bethesda Terrace in the heart of Central Park was designed by London-born architect Calvert Vaux. His assistant, Kent-born Jacob Wrey Mould, was responsible for the carvings on its architectural features.
The latter had spent two years in Granada studying the Alhambra and Moorish influences are evident from the Terrace’s intricate engravings and the tiles on the arcade’s ceiling. Washington Irving, New York City’s most prominent writer and a Hispanist (author of Alhambra in 1832), had been a significant member of the Park’s advisory committee.
When Rafael Guastavino arrived in Manhattan in 1881, the city counted relatively few inhabitants of Catalan descent. A lack of reliable census makes it impossible to be specific, but the number was nevertheless large enough for a monthly magazine to be published there. Between November 1874 and May 1881 seventy-three issues of La Llumanera de Nova York highlighted the Catalan presence in the metropolis and promoted its activities.
It made the achievement of the Guastavino Company even more remarkable. Father and son pushed the boundaries of American architecture and design. Their legacy endures to this day. The high survival rate of the firm’s work is testament to the quality of design and craftsmanship of the artisans who executed it. The traditional Catalan tiled vault technique left an indelible mark on New York’s cityscape.
THE RIHS VISITOR CENTER KIOSK
probably has the smallest Guastavino Ceiling
Our kiosk, part of the 1909 Queensboro Bridge has Quastavino tiled celing in perfect condition after a century.,
The ceiling is highlighted with the original copper windows.
A Special Job
PHOTO OF THE DAY
The Oyster Bar in Grand Central
has the most extravagant display of Guastavino tiles
CREDITS
Illustrations, from above: Andalusian architecture at Bethesda Terrace in Central Park; Della Robbia Bar in New York City’s former Vanderbilt Hotel; Guastavino’s row of Bernard Levy Houses on the West Side, 1885-6; Domes of the market under the Queensboro Bridge; The Oyster Bar at Grand Central Station; and the long-closed City Hall subway station.
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
AFTER TWO YEARS, IT WAS TIME TO SEE WHAT HAS DEVELOPED IN THE FORMER POST OFFICE, TURNED AMTRAK STATION AND MALL. &
A VIEW OF WHAT META DID WITH THE ART IN THEIR SPACE For Meta’s New York Office, Artists Created their Largest Works Yet. See Them Here.
JUDITH BERDY
WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 2025
ISSUE #1442
Meta—the company formerly known as Facebook—has inaugurated its newest home in the landmarked James A. Farley building in midtown Manhattan with five site-specific commissions.A roster of five New York-based artists have created large-scale artworks, from joyful murals to free-hanging organic forms and to fiber and textiles murals that call to mind New York’s patchwork of people. The artists include Baseera Khan, who has created two installations inspired by the handmade silk rugs of Kashmir, and Matthew Kirk, whose panel paintings are an homage to Navajo artistic tradition.The centerpiece commission is Timur Si-Qin’s Sacred Footprint, a 50-foot-tall stainless steel and aluminum tree sculpture, suspended from the four-story skylight of Meta’s central commission.Si-Qin is an artist of German and Mongolian-Chinese descent, who grew up in Berlin, Beijing, and in a Native American community in the American Southwest, and his works speak to the ecological responsibility that unites disparate culture. With a tech-centered practice (He created the sculpture using 3D scans of trees), Si-Qin a good fit for the company’s dedicated art program, Meta Open Arts.The installations “respond to the history of the iconic Beaux Arts building, pay tribute to the natural landscapes and Indigenous communities that inhabited the space long before the structure was built, and celebrate its future as an epicenter for connection and creativity in the heart of New York City,” Meta said in a statement.See the installations below:
Photo : Bradford Devins/OWLEY Matthew Kirk created two paintings for the Farley South Lobby: A Shadow of a Shadow and Distant Lie.
2025 Installation complete.
Photo : Timur Si-Qin Timur Si-Qin’s Sacred Footprint (2022) under construction.
Photo : Bradford Devins/OWLEY Esteban Cabeza de Baca and Heidi Howard’s in process largest-scale collaboration, ‘Nature Remembers Love’.
Photo : Bradford Devins/OWLEYTodayNature Remembers Love (2022) in the main lobby.
Photo : Bradford Devins/OWLEY One half of Baseera Khan’s two-part installation, a hollowed-out column form wrapped in handmade silk rugs.
Photo : Bradford Devins/OWLEY One half of Baseera Khan’s two-part installation, a hollowed-out column form wrapped in handmade silk rugs.
THE TERMINAL IS A GRAND OPEN SPACE FOR AMTRAK AND PUBLIC
The massive train hall leading down to the lower boarding area.
THE SYMBOLIC CLOCK HANGS PROUDLY IN THE HALL
The Food seems to be a neighborhood favorite. Promptly at noon the lines formed for the variety of dining spots from Pastrami, Middle Eastern, Fried Chicken, Pizza, Bagels, French desserts and much more. There are plenty of high stool tables and regular seating. Everything is well space so those with luggage are not crowded into small spaces.
A Special Job
PHOTO OF THE DAY
I ENJOYED LUNCH SITTING WITH THESE BUSINESS ASSOCIATES FROM JAPAN
CREDITS
META
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Behind the Curtain Wall w/ NYC Architect Richard Roth Jr: The Palace Hotel
Discover what made The Palace Hotel such a divisive project, and how the architect overcame each obstacle!
Joe Holmes
Tuesday, May 6, 2025 Untapped New York ISSUE #1442
Every month this year, Untapped New York will release a new essay from Jo Holmes about the life and work of the late architect Richard Roth, Jr. of Emery Roth & Sons. Each essay explores a different building or developer from Richard’s career, intertwined with stories of his personal life and snippets of exclusive interviews conducted by Holmes and Untapped New York’s Justin Rivers (which can be viewed in our on-demand video archive). Check out the whole series here!
A Rare Opportunity
The Palace Hotel was a divisive project. Developers Harry and Leona Helmsley hit the headlines regularly in the late 20th century, for all the wrong reasons. Despite this, architect Richard Roth, Jr. of the family firm Emery Roth & Sons took on the challenge of designing a hotel tower for the Helmsleys, and by 1980, a 55-story dark bronze glass and aluminum building rose above the existing Gilded Age Villard Houses on the site.
The building has undergone several interior renovations since it was completed and is now known as The Lotte New York Palace Hotel. It has been described as ‘one of Manhattan’s most historically significant and luxurious hotels’ and ‘a unique merging of a 19th-century landmark mansion with a 20th-century high-rise tower.’Achieving that fusion successfully took careful handling on Richard’s part, both of the architecture and the clients.
A Historic Foundation In the 1880s, railway magnate Henry Villard commissioned the illustrious architecture firm of McKim, Mead & White to design an unusual building between 50th and 51st streets on Madison Avenue. Modeled on the Palazzo della Cancelleria in Rome, the complex comprised six residences arranged in a U-shape around a courtyard. It was completed in 1884, just as Richard’s grandfather, Emery, arrived in the United States aged 13.
By 1974, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York had gradually acquired all the residences. At that point, the Archdiocese sold the air rights to developer Harry Helmsley and granted him a 99-year lease on the houses.
“Our first designs were for offices. But the banks said there were too many and they were too empty,” explained Richard. It was a generally tough time for developers and architects in New York. (Richard was traveling the world regularly to drum up business elsewhere.) Helmsley couldn’t raise the finance for his next idea of making half the building a hotel and the other half offices either, so he opted to just build a hotel.
Many people were, understandably, worried about the implications for the much-loved Villard Houses. “The project took longer than we had expected because we wound up before the Board of Estimate, before the City Council, before the Landmarks Preservation Commission, before every agency in the City of New York. And there was a group of people from the local community board who absolutely hated Harry Helmsley. Why, I don’t know,” explained Richard. “I had over 100 meetings with them!” said Richard.
All these negotiations had the positive impact of getting Helmsley to make greater efforts to preserve the Villard Houses. But ultimately, the community board couldn’t prevent a new development altogether, which they seemed to want to do. “At one meeting, the City Council members asked the community board members point blank: ‘If it was up to you and this was the most beautiful building in the world…would you still be against it?’ And they said, ‘Yes, we’d be against anything Harry Helmsley did,’” described Richard. “I turned to our lawyer, and I said, we just won…”
There was a point when the community board tried to sue everyone involved because the plans specified a 50-story building, but there was a sign on the site suggesting the building would be 55 floors (the discrepancy related to ‘mechanical’ floors without accommodation). “They even sued the guy who did the sign!” explained Richard. “That was a first!”
For Richard, incorporating the Villard Houses held great opportunities. The Archdiocese had used the Gold Room (originally a music room) in the main residence for religious services. “It was really something–very spectacular. The original idea was to tear it apart and make a dining room out of it. But I said: ‘This is the perfect lounge.’ I mean, what a great place for cocktails! It had a balcony, and I said you could put a string quartet up there and it would just be wonderful. So, we really turned the Archdiocese into a bar,” laughed Richard.
A Party at the Palace Hotel in the Gold Room, circa 1981, Courtesy of Robyn Roth-Moise
It’s illegal to serve hard liquor within a certain distance of the entrance to a church or a school. “We were on top of St Patrick’s Cathedral,” said Richard. “So, we had to measure the distance from the entrance of the hotel to the entrance of the cathedral. The Lady Chapel door at the back was nearest. We made it by three feet!”
St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the tower Richard Designed for the Palace Hotel
A Tricky Client
Harry Helmsley put Leona in charge of the project. She already had a reputation for being demanding and unpleasant, but Richard found he could ‘manage’ her.
“She liked the look of the Park Lane Hotel and wanted to use columns on the façade in the same way. We did the drawings and she loved it–we hated it. It was absolutely the wrong design,” said Richard. So, he got ‘the other side’ involved. He encouraged architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable to lobby to have the plans thrown out. “Leona never knew it and Harry never knew it…but one had to do things like that at times.”
Not long after the hotel opened in 1981, Richard went to a party in Harry Helmsley’s honor. “Leona beckoned me over and said: ‘I have three problems with the Palace Hotel.’” She explained the first two issues, which related to air conditioning and elevators. Richard told her he knew about these concerns, and they’d be resolved within a month.
Then it came to problem number three. “Leona said, ‘People are falling off the toilets…’ It took everything in me not to laugh!” remarked Richard. It so happened he had a friend who was staying there. “I called her and said, ‘Lizzie, can I come over and sit on your toilet?’ She said, ‘Sure, come on over.’ So, I went, and I sat on the toilet and the toilet seats were the cheapest piece of nonsense I’d ever seen. They were just terrible.” He checked his original specifications. “We’d spec’d the best toilet seats—made by a company called Church. I called Leona. Now, she had a deep resentment and hatred for Carl Morse who was head of Diesel Construction, who did all of Helmsley’s construction. Harry had a wonderful relationship with Carl—he trusted Carl.” Richard called Leona and explained it appeared Carl Morse had bought cheap toilets, not following the specifications. “There was this smile I could see through the telephone because she had something she could pin on Carl.”
Somewhat surprisingly, given the financial irregularities that would land Leona in jail, Richard said the Helmsleys always paid their bills on time. “Even though Leona had a notorious reputation for being difficult in all other ways, she was very good about paying her bills. We never had a problem with payment from Harry Helmsley ever, on anything.”
An Abrupt Ending Richard had some later encounters with Leona. “She owned the Holiday Inn on Longboat Key near Sarasota, Florida. After she got out of jail, she called me and said, ‘Richard, these architects down here are driving me crazy. You are the only architect I know who I respect and who will tell me the truth.’”
She wanted to add a floor to create an apartment for herself. Despite some health issues—Richard had had cancer a couple of years prior and was just recovering from a case of Legionnaires’ disease—he went down to see her, taking an engineer and an interior designer. Having investigated, Richard had to tell Leona it wouldn’t be possible to build her apartment without closing the hotel, which she couldn’t afford to do. This is likely what others had said, but she took it from Richard: “She trusted me.” But that wasn’t to last.
“About six months later, I’m getting ready to retire and move to the Bahamas. Leona calls me and says, ‘I bought the top floor of a building under construction, and I’ve dealt with five architects and none of them know what I want. I need you.’”
Richard decided it was a project his son, who was based in Miami, could manage once he himself had done the initial design. “I’d been living in the Bahamas for probably two months when I get a call from her lawyer. He says: ‘Richard, I have some very bad news for you: Leona wants me to fire you.’ I said, ‘That’s the best news I’ve had in years!’”
The job had proved frustrating. Richard asked the lawyer how long he’d worked for Leona. “He said, ‘Two months.’ I said, ‘That’s good because you got about three to go.’ There was dead silence, then he said, ‘Are you telling me she’s gonna fire me?’ I said, ‘No lawyer’s ever worked for her for more than six months.’ So, that was the end of my conversation with the lawyer and the end of my conversations with Leona.”
A Special Job While some may dislike the exterior of the hotel tower, many are happy that the historic houses survive to the extent they do. “It’s difficult to hide a 50-story building, so the looks of the building really took a simplistic form in trying to match the colour of the Villard Houses as best as possible,” said Richard. “But you can’t hide an elephant!”
It was built in an era when scandals swirled around real estate, but Richard felt he was able to maintain his integrity despite working with ‘the Queen of Mean.’ He enjoyed working with Harry and loved the Palace Hotel. For him, there was never any intention to overshadow, detract, or distract from the Villard Houses. “You couldn’t have designed a better entry than having this wonderful garden in front and these huge arches that led you into the hotel. I mean it was an architect’s dream…it really made this something very special.”
PHOTO OF THE DAY
THE NEW Maker LAB
was officially opened on Friday. A space innovation, creation and designing
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
From Horse Stables to Police Station, the Evolution of one of the Oldest Buildings in Central Park
Monday, May 5 2025 Ephemeral New York ISSUE #1441
One of the marvels of Central Park is that so many of the early buildings within its 843 acres, completed during or just after the park’s opening in the 1850s, have been repurposed over time.
The Dairy, where children could get safe, fresh milk, is now a visitors center. The Sheepfold, where the park’s 200 resident sheep sheltered, became Tavern on the Green in 1934. The Arsenal, which predates the park and served as the first menagerie, houses park administrative space. Then there’s this low, long storybook confection of stone, slate, and dormer windows (above photo). The Victorian-style building and a cottage next door sit on the south side of the 86th Street transverse—brick and mortar dwellings interrupting the lush greenery along this winding sunken thoroughfare.
Like the Dairy and Sheepfold, they were put up with specific functions in mind. The long building served as a stable for cart horses, which likely pulled carts and wagons for park employees tasked with construction and maintenance.
The designer behind the stable and cottage was Jacob Wrey Mould. This British-born architect doesn’t get as much credit as he should for his aesthetic contributions to Central Park.
Working with Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux to bring their Greenward Plan to life, Mould designed Belvedere Castle, the nature-inspired carvings on Bethesda Terrace, the Sheepfold, and many of the bridge
In 1870, Mould (below left) was made head architect for the Department of Public Works. A year later, his stables and cottage were completed (above photo).
Though not as ornate as the sheepfold, the stable “bears the mark of architectural distinction” thanks to the “loping rhythm of the dormers, and high level of craftsmanship,” noted Francis R, Kowsky, co-author with Lucille Gordon of Jacob Wrey Mould and the Artful Beauty of Central Park.
Inside was room for 26 horses as well as repair shops and storage areas, wrote Kowsky. The stable shared the site with a structure—perhaps the cottage—built for park keepers, an early incarnation of the park police, per the Central Park Conservatory.
Office space for the Central Park Board of Commissioners was planned.
“The new offices would have included ‘engineering, architectural, and gardening apartments,’” and “a separate building to house blacksmiths, carpenters, and other craftspeople,” according to a 2023 post by Cynthia Brenwall at the NYC Department of Records & Information Services.
Also on the site was a house built for the reservoir keeper, whose job was to keep an eye on the two reservoirs flanking the transverse, one pre-existing the park and one built by Olmsted and Vaux.
What was the reservoir keeper looking out for? Think maintenance issues and suicide victims, per a 2002 New York Times article by Christopher Gray.
Into the early 20th century, the stable, cottage, and reservoir keeper’s house remained part of the parkscape. But when the pre-existing reservoir was decommissioned in 1929 and replaced by the Great Lawn in 1936 (with landfill from the digging out of Rockefeller Center), the keeper’s house was demolished.
Meanwhile, the stable and cottage were about to undergo a transformation. The park keepers who had patrolled the park in its early years had transitioned into a New York Police Department precinct, with the Arsenal serving as its precinct house, per the Central Park Conservatory.
In 1936, the cart horses were cleared out of the stable and the precinct took over. Renovated in the early 2000s, the Central Park Precinct house—a lovely survivor of the park’s early years in the late 19th century—is the oldest NYPD station in New York City.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
THE NEW Maker LAB
was officially opened on Friday. A space innovation, creation and designing
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Macy’s Flower Show turns 50 with surrealist gardens and thousands of blooms in Herald Square
Friday, May 2, 2025 6sqft ISSUE #1440
The 50th annual Macy’s Flower Show opened in Herald Square on Sunday, transforming the iconic department store into a breathtaking garden filled with thousands of lush plants and flowers. In honor of its semicentennial, this year’s event has been extended to three weeks of festivities, running through May 18. The show also features a partnership with YSL Beauty, offering an immersive experience that encourages guests to embrace freedom and celebrate the transformative power of nature.
For five decades, the cherished event has given visitors a chance to witness thousands of vibrant flowers blooming together across the store’s famed window displays, balconies, and main floor.
The show debuted in California in 1946 to promote fragrances in the cosmetics department before coming to Herald Square in 1975 and quickly becoming a beloved yearly tradition, as 6sqft previously reported.
Hours of careful work go into producing the spectacle, which features 8,000 plants and 50,000 stems that blend together in banana-yellow blooms, pink swirls, and purple necklaces, according to the New York Times. Each night, watering the display takes approximately six to nine hours, as workers carefully climb ladders to reach plants tucked into high and hard-to-access corners of the department store. The installation is designed to conform to the building’s unique interior—”defined generations ago” by architects and engineers—with each pillar encased in “column surrounds” that are first wrapped in cloud-printed blue vinyl and then adorned with layers of vibrant flowers, according to Will Coss, the Macy’s executive who oversees events like the Flower Show, in an interview with Times.
This year’s show features an immersive installation from YSL Beauty, “Beauty Art of Flowers.” The exhibition invites visitors into a world where natural beauty reigns and challenges the norm. The experience begins outside, where guests are greeted by colorful floral decorations adorning Macy’s 34th Street facade.
Inside, the journey continues with a bold landscape showcasing the main olfactive notes in YSL Beauty’s new Libre L’eau Nue line—the brand’s first alcohol-free citrus floral scent. According to a press release, the scent uses unique oil-in-water “fragrance proprietary technology.”
Guests then move through an engaging blue space inspired by Y, where fresh sage and stunning blue geranium flowers surround and excite onlookers. The journey culminates in a pop-up boutique, where guests can try YSL’s new Loveshine Plumping Lip Oil Gloss.
Visitors will also receive gifted lily-filled bouquets, couture personalization exclusive to Macy’s Flower Show, on-site bottle engraving and watercolor art, and limited-edition flower charms.
“YSL Beauty US is thrilled to be partnering with Macy’s for their 2025 Flower Show, a true retail statement from an iconic retailer. Flowers, in their daring and raw beauty, are at the heart of our products, but also our brand—and have served as a constant source of inspiration for M. Saint Laurent,” Juliette Ferret, U.S. general manager at YSL Beauty, said.
“They represent the vulnerability, beauty, and possibility in our world, which we try to always amplify. The YSL Beauty Art of Flowers experience epitomizes the spirit and vision of the brand and we’re honored to bring this to life
Other exciting partnerships for this year’s show include Lego Bloom and Beyond, an intricate, floral-themed display, a mosaic wall, and flower carts showcasing Lego Botanicals. Visitors can also participate in a “brick in hand” build experience called “Build-a-Bloom” on select days.
Additionally, Holland American Line will celebrate over 150 years of its history with a wave-inspired tulip garden that flows throughout the store, inspired by vibrant spring tulip fields.
This year’s event also includes a dedicated Macy’s Flower Show and Surrealist Garden product collection, celebrating the vibrant color experiences featured throughout the display. The collection offers exclusive items such as home goods, jewelry, and sleepwear, along with special collaborations with brands like Kendra Scott, MarieBelle, and Lovery.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
Flags flying at the Kiosk!!!!
CREDITS
JUDITH BERDY
6sqft
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
This memo came out today announcing repairs to Main Street, Though, they are temporary it will be an improvement especially to the crosswallks. See the memo below:
Dear Roosevelt Island Community,
Starting Monday, May 5, RIOC will begin performing necessary maintenance work on Main Street between 510 Main Street and 580 Main Street. This work will temporarily impact traffic and parking in the area, and is expected to last through Wednesday, May 14.
What to Know
RIOC will be addressing persistent problem areas along Main Street where the road surface has become uneven and hazardous. We will be removing sections of z-brick and replacing them with a new asphalt surface that is safer for both motorists and pedestrians.
Although this work is not part of the major Roadways Project currently underway, it is an important interim step needed to improve traffic safety.
Work hours: Weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Impacts to Parking
There will be NO PARKING for ANY vehicles, including those with placards, between 501 Main Street and 571 Main Street, from Monday, May 5 through Wednesday, May 14.
This restriction allows for the creation of two temporary lanes in the southbound lane to accommodate traffic during construction. Motorists who typically park in this area are encouraged to use Motorgate Garage during this period.
Impacts to Traffic
During construction, the northbound lane of Main Street between 510 and 580 Main Street will be closed. The southbound lane will be temporarily converted into two-way traffic using the cleared parking lane.
Flaggers and Public Safety Department (PSD) officers will be on-site to monitor and assist with traffic and pedestrian safety.
Impacts to Pedestrians
As part of this work, the crosswalk at Good Shepherd Chapel will be replaced. The current z-brick crosswalk will be removed and replaced with a level asphalt surface for improved safety.
During this time, the crosswalk will be periodically closed to pedestrians. However, the sidewalks along the work route will remain open and accessible.
If the full scope of work is completed ahead of schedule, RIOC will reopen the northbound lane and restore parking as soon as possible.
Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.
– RIOC Maintenance
*RIOC agrees to permit visitors and residents to use bathrooms in Sportspark. SInce Sportspark re-opened a few years ago, the staff there would not permit non members to use their bathrooms.
At the Visitor Center we repeaetedly asked RIOC to change the rules. It is not fair to have facilities in a public building that are limited to members only.
At last night’s Operations Meeting, Mary Cunneen, RIOC’s Chief Operating Officer agreed to change the rules, that visitors use the bathrooms and the signs advising otherwise would be removed.
We now have signage on the kiosk doors advising of the availabilty. See below:
Thanks, Mary!!
PUBLIC BATHROOMS
ARE AVAILABLE
AT
SPORTSPARK
250 MAIN STREET
WALK UNDER BRIDGE,
BUILDING ON THE LEFT
THANK YOU
And finally, a push to have precast concrete toilets installed at Firefighters’ Field. This need was presented to the RIOC Operations Committee and hopefully this need will become a reality. Below is a link to a company that can provide attractive units to the island ball field.
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
E lizabeth I’s reign in 1558, a desire was expressed that the role and position of the Church of England should be explained. As a consequence, a stream of devotional and exegetical publications designed for Protestant edification flooded the market. Printers gained a prominent place in the process.
From the outset women were active participants in the trade. They looked after the well-being of young apprentices in the shop and worked alongside men as printer’s devils and compositors. They managed the distribution of printed matter, the sale of stationery and kept the books.
A small number of them ran an entire printing shop by themselves. They were mostly widows who continued business after the death of their partners. Although women were restricted from partaking in business (from buying and selling or interacting with local government), widows were exempt from these repressive “coverture” regulations.
The same conditions would apply in New England. It was a widowed Puritan immigrant who initiated the foundation of Harvard University Press.
Press & Pulpit
In 1562 John Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury, published Apologia Ecclesiae Anglicanae (The Apology of the Church of England) in response to the demand for clarification. Crucially, an English version was made widely available in translation of the learned Lady Anne Bacon (her father Anthony Cooke had been tutor to King Edward VI).
The author supplied a vindication of the establishment of the English Church by exposing the failings of Roman Catholicism. The document embodied the deep divisions of a polemical age in which politics and religion were inextricably entwined.
Increasingly, English Protestants started to use the printing press in order to disseminate their message and ideology. Printers supplanted preachers; the press replaced the pulpit.
Printing proved to be a double-edged sword. Soon Puritans, separatists, non-conformists and other dissidents also resorted to the press to advance their brands of Protestantism. Their onslaught against the “half” reformed Church of England and its representatives may have been relentless, but it was met with brutal counterattacks.
Authors, printers and booksellers were imprisoned, physically mutilated or worse. Once strict censorship made printing and publishing too dangerous, Puritan radicals turned to presses in the Protestant Netherlands and continued their crusade by smuggling clandestine literature into the country. The same applied to Catholic authors and printers who organized their “mission” from the university town of Louvain in (Catholic) Flemish Brabant.
For Puritans, printing became a major instrument of religious education and reform. Once the “Great Migration” had started in 1620 with the establishment of the Plymouth Plantation, they transported their skills, practices and regulations from England to Massachusetts.
Diatribe of Distrust
Pre-Revolutionary printing in the British colonies was an urban undertaking and largely confined to the seats of local government. The number of printing establishments was therefore never great and the shops were relatively small (one to three presses).
Compared to London which supplied the whole British Empire with printed matter, the output was small. London not only remained the source for most of the books read in America, but it was also a focus for its authors. First generation Puritan ministers such as John Cotton or Thomas Hooker published their writings almost entirely in the capital.
Early printers produced mainly what could be more conveniently produced at home rather than being shipped from England such as local laws, ephemera, pamphlets or almanacs. Large or lengthy works (including novels) were more economical to import. Before 1740, law books were almost the only folios printed in the colonies.
The first colonial press was established in 1639. The “Cambridge Press,” like the William Brewster’s “Pilgrim Press” at Leiden in the Netherlands (between 1617 and 1619), began the publication of religious works without interference from London. But practitioners had other obstacles to overcome. They were dependent on government contracts and their output was regulated by the ruling oligarchy.
Control was strict as the authorities were prone to take offense at any “disagreeable” publication (William Bradford was persecuted in 1692). They distrusted the printed word and feared it would breed schism and sedition – England had set a precedent.
William Berkeley, Charles II’s Royal Governor of Virginia in 1671, attacked both public education and printing, arguing that learning had brought “heresy and sects into the world and printing [had] divulged them.” Berkeley’s diatribe summarized Puritan unease about the free flow of ideas.
Up until the eighteenth century little changed in the actual technology of the printing process. The slow evolution of the press gave way to rapid expansion in the 1720s and 30s.
The rise of the newspaper altered the socio-economic position of colonial printers as commercial demand for printed matter increased. It was only then that the city of New York manifested itself as a future printing powerhouse.
The Widow Franklin
Early colonial printers were mainly male immigrants from England. The Franklin brothers may have been American-born, but they received their training in English printing shops. The role of immigrant women in general and in the trade in particular has been persistently underestimated.
In 1721, Benjamin Franklin’s elder brother James became the Boston-based printer of the New England Courant, one of the first independent American newspapers. In 1727, he and his wife Ann Smith-James moved to Newport, Rhode Island, and opened the colony’s first print shop.
Ann was fully engaged in the undertaking, she knew how to set type and operate the press. In 1732, the couple started the Rhode-Island Gazette, James acting as its editor and Ann taking on the role of assistant printer.
James died in February 1735. With her know-how of the printing process and her extensive experience of running the firm, Ann was more than capable of continuing the business.
As Franklin’s widow, she was granted the legal right of forming and dissolving partnerships, pursuing contracts and expanding the firm’s commitments. Within a year of her husband’s death, Ann secured the lucrative position of “Colony Printer.”
Working for the Rhode Island Assembly, she was tasked with producing all legislative and official documents (she printed the Colony’s Charter granted by Charles II). Her publications carried the standard imprint “Newport, Printed by the Widow Franklin.”
In addition to printing pamphlets and sermons, she also published a newspaper titled The Newport Mercury. In 1748, her son Jemmy became a partner in his mother’s printing house. After Ann’s death in 1763, the company continued to produce books, almanacs, pamphlets and legal documents.
The Franklin succession was a common phenomenon in the trade. It occurred continuously in Europe and was likewise repeated in the American Colonies where female professionals stood in the vanguard of the trade.
It was Mary Katherine Goddard (1738-1816) in Baltimore who printed the first signed edition of the Declaration of Independence. America’s first printing house was also run by a widowed woman.
The Glovers
In 1624 Reverend Joseph Glover took on the position as Rector of St Nicholas Church, Sutton (about fifteen miles south of London), where he arrived with his young wife Sarah Owfield who brought with her a generous dowry. The clergyman came from a prosperous family too and the couple lived in stylish comfort until Sarah’s early death.
In 1630 Glover remarried Elizabeth Harris, daughter of the Reverend Nathaniel Harris, a prominent figure in ecclesiastical circles. During the first six years of their marriage, Joseph continued to serve the Sutton rectory. Elizabeth cared for three stepchildren and had two children herself with Joseph.
Gradually, Glover began questioning his religious loyalty, whilst his interest in Puritan thinking deepened. As a consequence, in 1636 the family had to leave Sutton and began planning a move to New England with the ambition of starting a printing press.
With financial support from friends, Joseph purchased a press, font and other supplies needed to establish a business. In June 1638, he hired Sutton-born locksmith Stephen Daye and three workers to run and maintain the press. Part of that contract included the Glovers financing the journey to New England of Daye and his family.
In the summer that year the John of London, captained by Master George Lamberton, sailed from Hull to Boston. She was one of eight to twelve ships organized by the Reverend Ezekiel Rogers to transport about sixty families from the Yorkshire village of Rowley to New England (they would eventually settle in Rowley, Massachusetts). Colonization of the region was to a large extent determined by the arrival of family groups.
Among the passengers were the Glovers, the Daye family and three assistants. Stowed away in the ship’s hold were a printing press, type, reams of paper, ink and maintenance tools.
During the voyage Joseph died of an illness, probably smallpox, and was buried at sea. Elizabeth was now the sole owner of the printing press and Stephen Daye’s indenture. The ship arrived a few weeks later on the coast of New England.
Crooked Street
When Elizabeth and her children arrived in Cambridge in the fall of 1638, she decided to settle near the town’s college and acquired a large house built by John Haynes (former governor of Massachusetts and the first governor of Connecticut). Once settled, Elizabeth gained approval from local magistrates and elders to establish a printing house.
She purchased a property for Stephen Daye and his family in Crooked Street (later: Holyoke Street) where the printing press was installed in one of the lower rooms. Elizabeth was in charge of the “Cambridge Press,” Stephen Daye acted as manager, while his son Matthew did much of the laborious tasks.
Within the first year of settlement, Stephen and Matthew printed a broadside entitled “The Freeman’s Oath,” the first tract published in North America. Written by John Winthrop, the Oath was taken by every man over the age of twenty who had been a householder for at least six months, making him a freeman of the Corporation and legal citizen of the Massachusetts Bay Company. Apart from the original text penned by Winthrop himself, no copy of this document exists today. The only surviving work is a reprint.
Elizabeth Glover also produced The Whole Booke of Psalmes Faithfully Translated into English Metre, commonly called the “Bay Psalm Book.” It was the first book printed in the Colonies. Although a versatile craftsman, Stephen Daye was not a trained printer; his workers were inexperienced; and his types were poor.
The result of his labors was a crudely printed quarto of 148 leaves. Typographical errors and curiosities of spacing exist throughout the book. Out of the 1,700 copies printed, only eleven are known to have survived, many of them in poor condition.
Harvard: College & Press
Henry Dunster was born in 1609 near Bury, Lancashire. After graduating from Magdalene College, Cambridge, in 1634, he became Curate of Bury Parish Church and was appointed (the third) Master of Bury School. Like many fellow Puritans, he condemned the “corruptions” of both state and church. In the summer of 1640, he left Lancashire for New England.
Dunster had lived for only three weeks in Massachusetts when he was appointed President of Harvard College (later Harvard University). His selection remains somewhat of a mystery. He was barely known to the authorities; there was no evidence of his qualities as a teacher or administrator; he held a master’s degree, but had never published. In spite of initial uncertainties, he was later credited with rescuing the fledgling institution from collapse and laying the groundwork for its future development.
Elizabeth Glover and Henry Dunster met and shortly after were married (June 1641). He became co-owner of her printing press. She died two years later, leaving in his care five stepchildren and the ownership of a publishing house.
He removed the press to the newly erected President’s residence in Harvard Yard. Here the Laws and Liberties of Massachusetts were printed in 1648, followed a year later by the Cambridge Platform (a standard for Massachusetts Bay’s religion until the time of the American Revolution).
Henry dismissed Stephen Daye and put his son in charge of the Press, but the output declined sharply. With the premature death of Matthew Daye in 1649, Dunster appointed Samuel Green and, in 1651, commissioned a reprint the Bay Psalm Book as this text remained in demand throughout the seventeenth century.
When Henry Dunster died in 1654, the printing press was gifted to Harvard College. Harvard University Press as we know it today was founded in January 1913.
Is there a justifiable case for Britain to claim back stewardship of Harvard University in order to safeguard its academic independence?
PHOTO OF THE DAY
STILL A WONDERFUL SITE- DRIVING OVER THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE
CREDITS
NEW YORK ALMANACK
Illustrations, from above: U.S. stamp commemorating the 300th anniversary of printing in colonial America; The New-England Courant, August 7, 1721, published in Boston by James and Ann Franklin; Acts and Laws … of Rhode Island; Newport, Printed by the Widow Franklin, 1745; Title page of the first book printed in North America The Whole Booke of Psalmes, 1640 (The Rosenbach Museum and Library, Philadelphia); and Harvard University Press logo, 1925.
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the American Academy of Pediatrics all recommend drinking only pasteurized milk and eating dairy products made with pasteurized milk. Even organic milk is only safe to drink if it was pasteurized.
The safety of drinking unpasteurized milk and dairy products made from unpasteurized milk is in the news because Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert Kennedy Jr. advocates drinking raw milk and is critical of federal regulations.
Current federal law prevents the sale of raw or unpasteurized milk across state lines. Because of budget and workforce cuts by the Trump administration and its Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) the Food and Drug Administration was forced to suspend its quality control program for testing milk and other dairy products.
Concerns about ingesting adulterated or untreated milk has been a major medical and political issue since the middle of the 19th century when food poisoning was a major cause of illness and death. In May 1858, the New York Times and Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper exposed the dangers of the unregulated production of milk.
Cows stabled in the metropolitan area, especially in the independent city of Brooklyn, were fed swill, the residual mash created during the distillation of whiskey, producing a bluish adulterated milk. To sell the milk produced by these cows to unsuspecting consumers, it was colored with Plaster of Paris and thickened with food starch and rotten eggs.
Studies by the New York Academy of Medicine found that milk from cows fed the whiskey swill contributed to an increase in infant mortality in the city. The Times estimated that as many as 8,000 infants a year died from the poisoned milk.
The Frank Leslie’s exposé reported that the dairies feeding cows the whiskey swill were also filthy and overcrowded with diseased cows standing in their own manure. Many of these cows had interior ulcers and sores producing pus that visible in their udders.
A New York Times editorial titled “How We Poison Our Children” accused the city’s Inspector’s Department and Health Wardens of being a sham with no power to prevent abuses. Not surprisingly, Tammany Hall defended the production and sale of the tainted milk and one of the most notorious defenders of the practice was put in charge of a Board of Health investigation.
At hearings, the Tammany representatives protected the dairies, savaged their critics, and claimed the swill milk was actually healthier for children to drink than unadulterated milk. After the Board of Health exonerated the distillers and dairies, public outcry led to an 1862 milk regulation law. However, a federal Pure Food and Drug Act was not passed until 1906.
Other diseases that impact people can be spread through untreated milk and unregulated production. People can be infected with M. bovis tuberculosis by ingesting contaminated dairy products. Pasteurization, however, destroys disease-causing organisms rapidly heating followed by cooling milk.
Drinking unpasteurized milk can also cause Salmonella, Campylobacter, E. coli, Listeriosis, and Brucellosis infections. Symptoms of these infections include vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and fever. The “bird flu” virus has been found in raw milk from cows infected with avian influenza.
Most at risk of illness are young children, pregnant women, older people, and people with weakened immune systems. In severe cases the infections can cause kidney disease, miscarriages, and be life threatening.
Between 1998 through 2018, there were over two hundred outbreaks of infection in the United States caused by people drinking raw milk. There were reported 2,645 illnesses and 228 hospitalizations.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
LAST REMINDER ON MANHATTAN AVENUE, BROOKLYN HAS BEEN CLOSED FOR 20 YEARS STILL THE SIGN REMAINS
CREDITS
NEW YORK ALMANACK
JUDITH BERDY
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Dr. Thomas Rainey (1824-1910), a resident of Ravenswood, Queens, spent 25 years of his life and most of his fortune advancing the construction of a bridge across the East River between Manhattan and Long Island City. The area that now accommodates Rainey Park was to be the Queens anchor for the “Blackwell Island Bridge,” a project backed by leading citizens of Long Island City after the American Civil War. In 1871, they incorporated the “New York and Queens County Bridge Company.” The bridge, planned with one ramp south to Brooklyn and another out to Long Island, was promoted as a catalyst for developing growth in Queens and as a railroad link to Long Island. To the community’s disadvantage, the effort fell apart during the financial Panic of 1873.
Dr. Thomas Rainey (1824-1910), a resident of Ravenswood, Queens, spent 25 years of his life and most of his fortune advancing the construction of a bridge across the East River between Manhattan and Long Island City. The area that now accommodates Rainey Park was to be the Queens anchor for the “Blackwell Island Bridge,” a project backed by leading citizens of Long Island City after the American Civil War. In 1871, they incorporated the “New York and Queens County Bridge Company.” The bridge, planned with one ramp south to Brooklyn and another out to Long Island, was promoted as a catalyst for developing growth in Queens and as a railroad link to Long Island. To the community’s disadvantage, the effort fell apart during the financial Panic of 1873.
Rainey had been one of the earliest and staunchest supporters of the project, and the burden of organizing and refinancing the company fell on him, first as treasurer in 1874, then as president in 1877. Dr. Rainey lobbied around the country to get financial backing and a bridge franchise. However, the War Department, concerned that a bridge could interfere with the defense of New York and access to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, withheld approval. Most interest in the region was for another bridge between Brooklyn and Manhattan. The sparse population in Queens at the time raised further concerns of need and profitability, and the project had once again lost steam by 1892.
A group from the community called the Committee of Forty kept the effort alive. After the consolidation of New York City in 1898, the project gained new momentum and the bridge was finally built at Queens Plaza, a few blocks south of the proposed location. On opening day in 1909, Dr. Rainey realized his dream as he crossed the new bridge with Governor Charles Evans Hughes. The Queensboro Bridge fulfilled its promise by tying the Borough of Queens into Greater New York and Rainey received a gold medal inscribed “The Father of the Bridge.” On that day Rainey told the New York Times, “This is my bridge. At least it is the child of my thought, of my long years of arduous toil and sacrifice. Just over there, are the old towers of my bridge, which I began to build many years ago. I spent all I owned on the project . . . It is a grand bridge, much greater than the one I had in mind. It will be in service to thousands in the years to come, when Dr. Rainey and his bridge projects will long have been gathered into the archives of the past.” Rainey’s pride in the structure was so great that, a year before his death at age 86, he reportedly attempted to walk the length of the bridge.
The structure was named the Queensboro Bridge, but Rainey’s contribution was not forgotten. On April 18, 1904, the City of New York acquired several acres of waterfront property through condemnation procedures. The concrete “sea wall,” built where the park meets the East River, was completed in 1912, by which time Rainey had passed away. To honor his public spirit, the city named the property Rainey Park. An exchange of properties with a local landowner in 1917 nearly 3 acres to the northern part of the park.
This park is the largest in Ravenswood, once an exclusive neighborhood with spacious plots of land along Vernon Boulevard. The area was industrialized in the 1870’s and has been so thoroughly transformed that Rainey Park has become something of an oasis among the factories that populate much the neighborhood. The riverside promenade and baseball fields makes Rainey Park a popular spot for picnicking and play. Oaks, London Planes, and Callery Pear trees shade adorn this public greensward that one former Parks commissioner called “one of the prettiest parks in the system.”
Under Eleanor’s Pier stands the concrete abutment that was built to support the never completed Queensboro Bridge.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
The Kwasan Cherry Tree in full bloom at the Tram Plaza
CREDITS
New-York Histotry Blog JUDITH BERDY
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
