We Islanders know that the East River is not a river, that it’s a salt water tidal estuary that connects the Atlantic Ocean in Long Island Sound with the ocean in Upper New York Bay. We know that the East River is 16 miles long and that the tide changes direction 4 times a day. We know that our F train travels under the river at one of its deepest points.
So what’s new? Hang on.
First, the Good
The construction we see on the Manhattan side of the river, north of the Queensboro Bridge, will be the East Midtown Greenway and this looks to be really good. The East Midtown Greenway is part of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenaway project to build a 32.5-mile waterfront path running continuously around the entire island. The Greenway will total more than 1,000 acres—a space larger than Central Park. Joggers, walkers, cyclists, and everyone else from every neighborhood should have access to the Greenway. The project inched closer to reality in April when Mayor de Blasio announced the city would spend $723 million to complete the project by 2029.
What we see from our island will fill a major gap in the Greenway along the East River between East 38th and East 61st Streets, providing waterfront access and open space for the East Midtown community and the public at large.
What we see from our island will fill a major gap in the Greenway along the East River between East 38th and East 61st Streets, providing waterfront access and open space for the East Midtown community and the public at large.
Here are several renderings of the East Midtown Greenway extension. Good.
NYC Economic Development Corporation https://urbanize.city/nyc/post/see-new-renderings-100m-east-midtown-greenway-extension
THE BAD
The Bad. OK, I admit I’ve tricked you a bit. Unless you speak German. I meant “Bad” (Bath) or more accurately “Schwimmbad”. And this would not be bad at all, if it actually happens.
The East River today is clean enough to swim in. On most days, the levels of bacteria meet federal safety guidelines, according to state and local officials. Even when the bacteria levels in the water are high, it’s unlikely that swimmers will get sick. If they do get sick, the severity will probably be more along the lines of eating bad takeout than setting off a cholera outbreak. But who wants to swim in the East River? So the City has approved plans for a floating pool in the East River that would also filter large amounts of river water – which should (note, New York City definition of “should”) be completed in a couple of years. Jessica Cherner writes in Architectural Digest that the idea originated with a group that has pushed for building giant plus sign–shaped floating pool just north of the Manhattan Bridge. Without any chemicals and additives, the pool would filter more than 600,000 gallons of East River water that floats through the pool’s barriers every day. Archie Lee Coates IV and Jeff Franklin of the design firm PlayLab, and Dong-Ping Wong and Oana Stanescu of the architecture firm Family, originally conceived of the idea for + POOL back in 2010, but like anything worth doing, it took a while to actually become a reality. After all, the group had to (and continues to) raise funds, develop working filtration systems, and test them for accuracy and efficiency. And after years of research and testing, the four friends have managed to prove that + POOL’s tech actually works.
And now that the city has allowed + POOL to officially drop anchor in a specific location, the real challenge begins: raising between $20 million and $25 million to give New Yorkers the Olympic-size warm weather haven they’ve been dreaming of for years. Much like the projects of other inventive entrepreneurs who had to hit pause on their brilliant ideas at the start of 2020, + POOL is finally starting to pick up steam again. Now that + POOL has an official home in the East River, eager New Yorkers may be one step closer to fearlessly diving into the salty water, but it’s still a little ways off, considering construction could take up to two years.
Renderings courtesy of + POOL
Renderings courtesy of + POOL
And now, the Ugly.
Not necessarily ugly. But bizarre ideas for the East River have been bruited about.
The first is a new plan to drain the East River.
In 2017 New York Magazine asked several leading architects to speculate on visionary projects for the future of New York City. One, Mark Foster Gage, proposed draining the East River to create a new “East River Valley” which would include 15,000 acres of new gardens, farms and parks in the very center the City.
Their proposal says “New York City is structured by two rivers, which is very selfish for a city—as it is common knowledge that a city can get by on one. To be even more accurate—one of them, the ‘East River,’ in question, isn’t even actually a river at all – it’s a tidal estuary. Geologists also refer to this condition as a flooded valley. That is to say that under that flood prone pseudo-river cutting thorough our fair city, there is a beautiful and fertile valley awaiting rescue. And so, we propose to drain the East ‘River’- for multiple reasons. The first is that storm surges at a scale of Hurricane Harvey, if occurring at the location of the East river, could annihilate vast sections of city upwards of 15,000 acres across the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan — an area nearly 20 times as large as Central Park. One solution being proposed to combat this is the construction of levees such as the Lower Manhattan ‘Big U’ that aim to deflect water from particular areas of the city—yet leaving others to flood entirely unprotected. In fact, if you wanted to protect the aforementioned boroughs from a Hurricane Harvey-sized storm surge, you would need to build over 40 miles of new seawall along the river’s entire coast.
We propose to, instead, build three strategically placed new dams, totaling less than 1 mile in length. In this process, New York City gains a new ‘East River Valley’ that includes 15,000 acres of new gardens, farms and parks in the very center of our urban fabric. Catastrophe prevention is always better when it includes fresh produce. This new, infrastructure-free, deep land found in this now accessible valley offers an unparalleled opportunity for the city to engage in the construction of massive, next-generation, geothermal wells to power the next century of New York City’s energy needs. Air-conditioned subway stops, occasional water ferries and recycled Metro cards are not sufficient to either save our city or propel it into the new millennium. For both we need to consider larger, bolder ideas that use foresight as fuel and potential risks as unique opportunities that can power a new generation of sustainable and urban scale innovations. The alternative is to await the rising waters of our proverbial winter, and watch the coming floods wash away our city, our future, and hopefully all evidence of our shortsighted complacency.”
And finally, on the East River and on Roosevelt Island, we present the Mandragore Building.
Proposed by the French architecture firm Rescubika, this would be a 2,418-foot tower on Roosevelt Island (to its tip, the Empire State is 1,454 feet high). With wood construction materials, 36 wind turbines, 8,300 shrubs, 1,600 trees, 83,000 square feet of plant walls, and nearly 23,000 square feet of solar panels, it would be the world’s tallest “carbon sink” tower–one that absorbs more CO2 than it releases.
renderings via Rescubika Studio
The tree-studded, 160-story futuristic proposal is planned to loosely resemble a mandrake plant — an anthropomorphic, human-like form. – with a base like a cruise ship morphing into a gleaming twisty tower a la Salvador Dali. “The symbolism of the body confronts us with our own destiny, the one that reminds us that we must preserve our environment in order to live in symbiosis with nature,” the architects say. And no, it isn’t clear what would happen to Cornell Tech. But it’s only a dream though it might be fun to see it on our island.
A little summer reading. Lots of imagination on the East River, but one thing for sure. It’ll be great when the Manhattan Waterfront Greenaway project finishes up.
This is Mr. Romeo, a resident of the WILDLIFE FREEDOM FOUNDATION SANCTUARY IN SOUTHPOINT PARK.
OOPS! MY COMPUTER ATE ALL THE RESPONSES TO TODAY’S TO THE FELINE IDENTIFICATION.
Thanks to all our subscribers for the wonderful comments about our new FDR HOPE MEMORIAL. Please take the opportunity to visit the park and experience this new landmark.
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
FUNDING PROVIDED BY ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE GRANTS CITY COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE BEN KALLOS DISCRETIONARY FUNDING THRU DYCD
Yesterday, July 17th, 2021 was the day to finally reveal and dedicate the FDR HOPE MEMORIAL.
Located on the west side of Soutpoint Park, just midway between the park entrance and the FDR Four Freedoms Park, this special memorial is located in a cul-de-sac.
Located gracefully on gently sloping hill the area has the trees and lawn above to the east and the area looks out over the East River.
The cul-de-sac is framed by the serpentine stone wall that gives the area dimension and reminds of that this wall was part of the City Hospital construction and made from Fordham Gneiss stone quarried on the island.
Today, after the ceremonies were over and the area was cleared, we watched our first visitors discover the Memorial
CLARA BARTON PHOTOS
I observed that people were tempted to come into the Memorial and slowly read the historical texts as them strolled in.
There is a grooved area to the left as you walk or us an assisted devise to find your way. It is made so a visually impaired person can be guided to the sculptures.
There is a slight barrier in the front of the sculptures and a grooved area so a person can safely feel the sculptors.
The little girl will be the recipient of many handshakes and high-5’s
I am sure that this is one of thousands of kids that will climb up on FDR’s knee..
The sculpture looks out over the East River and the City beyond
ON THIS IMPORTANT DAY, DOZENS OF NEW TREES ARE PLANTED ON THE PROMENADES
(COURTESY OF AN ANONYMOUS DONOR AND MATERIAL FOR THE ARTS)
Two of the thirteen Kwansan cherry trees that were planted yesterday between the lower west promenade and the entry to Southpoint Park
One of the eighteen trees planted between the firehouse and the road to the Octagon. This area has had few trees and was in need of many more blooms.
OPINION
Yesterday , as we celebrated the work of “Uncle” Jim Bates,Nancy Brown, the Roosevelt Island Disabled Association , the wonderful sculpture of Meredith Bergmann, Marc Diamond and all the persons who brought this day to fruition, I had a feeling RIDA needs a new name.
Our organization (RIDA) is not “disabled”. The volunteers and members are fully able and I suggest we change the name to
THE ROOSEVELT ISLAND ENABLED ASSOCIATION.
IN MEMORIUM
This week we learned of the passing of neighbors, past and present.
Mel Rosen husband of Maureen and father of Brenda and Michael passed away at his home in Astoria.
Dick FitzPatrick, husband of Verna and father of two, grandfather of five.
Dr. Daniela S. Gerhard, daughter of Eva Gerhard and long time islander passed away in June. She was a well known researcher and worked at the NIH in Bethesda.
Our heartfelt sympathies to our friends and neighbors.
ONE OF THE DECORATED PICNIC TABLES AT GOOD SHEPHERD PLAZA. JAY JACOBSON, GLORIA HERMAN, NINA LUBLIN, ALEXIS VILLEFANE AND NINA LUBLIN GOT IT RIGHT!!
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Deborah Dorff All image are copyrighted (c)
JUDITH BERDY
FUNDING PROVIDED BY ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE GRANTS CITY COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE BEN KALLOS DISCRETIONARY FUNDING THRU DYCD
THRU AN ANONYMOUS DONATION THE ROOSEVELT ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY, IS RECEIVING APPROXIMATELY 30 KWANZAN CHERRY TREES TODAY. THIS WONDERFUL ADDITION TO OUR ISLAND IS BEING DONATED THRU MATERIAL FOR THE ARTS. THE DONATION INCLUDES PLANTING THE TREES, TODAY SATURDAY, JULY 17th.
WORKING WITH MATTHEW KIBBY OF RIOC’S DIRECTOR OF HORTICULTURE AND GROUNDS, SITES HAVE BEEN SELECTED ON THE EAST AND WEST PROMENADES AND A FEW OTHER LOCATIONS. THESE TREES WILL FILL IN WHERE TREES HAVE BEEN REMOVED AND WILL ENHANCE THE SPRINGTIME BEAUTY OF OUR PROMENADES.
OUT THANKS TO MATERIAL FOR THE ARTS WHO REACHED OUT TO THE R.I.H.S. TO BE A RECIPIENT OF THIS WONDERFUL GIFT.
JUDITH BERDY, PRESIDENT
JULY 17-18, 2021
OUR 419TH EDITION
Hart Island’s Last Stand
After years of study, the city has declared an emergency to bulldoze most of the buildings on the city’s potter’s field, without following the usual environmental review process.
THE NEW YORK TIMES, JULY 16, 2021 (C)
By John Freeman Gill July 16, 2021Updated 11:02 a.m. ETFor more than 150 years, Hart Island, half a mile east of City Island in the Bronx, has been a depository of the marginalized, an isolated outpost to which the city has variously shipped the poor and unclaimed dead, the imprisoned, the sick and the troubled.Best known as the city’s potter’s field, where more than a million New Yorkers have been buried in common graves since the 1860s, the one-mile-long strip of land has also been home to facilities for the insane, the diseased, the addicted and the homeless — as well as for a segregated regiment of African-American Union Army troops during the Civil War.
A Catholic chapel, shown here in 2004, was built on Hart Island in the 1930s. In 2016, New York State designated the entire island, including the chapel, as eligible for listing on the State and National Registers of Historic Places. But the city plans to spend $52 million to raze all of the island’s old buildings under an emergency demolition order.Credit…Melinda Hunt Courtesy of The Hart Island Project
Enough remnants of this layered institutional history survive on Hart Island, both above and below the ground, that in 2016, New York State formally designated the entire island as eligible for listing on both the State and National Registers of Historic Places. Among the 19 or so abandoned old structures still standing to tell the island’s tale — and the city’s — are several that the state identified as “notable buildings,” among them an 1885 women’s insane asylum, a 1930s Catholic chapel and a 1912 “Dynamo Room,” with its arched openings and prominent smokestack.
Yet even as control of Hart Island passed on July 1 from the city’s Department of Correction to the Parks Department, as mandated by a 2019 law, city agencies had already been working for months on a $52 million plan to demolish every one of the island’s old buildings.
On June 5, the Department of Buildings, citing public safety, issued an emergency order for the “immediate demolition” of 18 institutional, residential and service buildings constructed on Hart Island between the late 1800s and the mid 1900s.
Preservationists called for a more deliberate and transparent decision-making process with a full environmental review, including public hearings and formal consideration of potential damage to historic resources before the buildings are destroyed.
But if the city comptroller, Scott M. Stringer, gives final approval for the emergency declaration, the Department of Design and Construction will be authorized to raze the 18 structures for the Parks Department. “
The comptroller’s office has been working with the city to resolve questions and concerns regarding the proposed demolition,” said Hazel Crampton-Hays, the comptroller’s press secretary. “In response to our requests, the Department of Design and Construction has agreed to communicate with the state historic preservation and environmental authorities about any necessary reviews or adjustments, and agreed to amend the emergency request to procure a construction manager to determine the timeline, scope, and pricing of the proposed project and use that information to then seek approval from our office for the demolition itself.”
“Given these modifications and approval from the Law Department,” she continued, “we have now approved the amended emergency request.”
Under city rules, before receiving approval from the comptroller’s office to proceed with an emergency demolition, a city agency must demonstrate the existence of an emergency condition that poses “an unforeseen danger” to life, safety, property or a necessary service. The agency must also show that the condition creates an immediate need for such action that cannot be procured using normal procedures.
The city’s emergency order stated that “excluding the current field offices for island operations, a war memorial and two decommissioned Nike missile silos, there are 18 remnant and unsafe one-, two-, three- and four-story buildings” on Hart Island. “All were observed to be in advanced stages of collapse, either fully or mostly so.” The buildings, the order said, “are an immediate danger to the public and the island staff.”
As emergencies go, this has been a slow-developing one, according to internal city agency reports obtained by The New York Times. Most of the buildings on the island have been vacant and deteriorating ever since Phoenix House, a substance-abuse rehabilitation center, left the island in 1976.
In 2015, an internal draft report by the Department of Buildings called for the demolition of 13 Hart Island buildings but recommended “immediate repair” of the century-old Record Storage Building and a pumping station; it also said that no action was required for a third building, a small pump house. The report further recommended that the chimney adjacent to the Dynamo Room, a power-generating facility built around 1912, be lowered — not demolished — and that the Catholic chapel and the three-story Victorian-era Women’s Asylum, also known as the Pavilion, each be fenced as a “possible ruin site.”
The Pavilion, shown here in 2004, was built in 1885 as a women’s insane asylum. The facility closed in 1895 and the building was later used as a mess hall and workhouse for young men incarcerated on the island. It is now partially collapsed.Credit…Melinda Hunt Courtesy of The Hart Island Project.
In March 2020, after a new survey, another internal Buildings Department draft report again recommended the red-brick Record Storage Building “for immediate repair” and noted that “eight-foot-high chain-link fences with lockable gates are viable options for 16 vacant, open and unguarded buildings” — but the report nonetheless recommended that those 16 structures be razed.
Not for another 15 months, however, did the agency issue the emergency demolition order, yet again increasing the number of buildings to be leveled, this time to 18. Among the 18 edifices slated for emergency demolition was the Record Storage Building, which the same agency had described just a year earlier as “suitable to renovate” and “not complicated to repair.”
Under state law, the City Environmental Quality Review process, is triggered whenever a city agency directly undertakes a discretionary action or when a project needs city funding. According to the manual for the city’s review process, city agencies are required “to assess, disclose and mitigate to the greatest extent practicable the significant environmental consequences of their decisions to fund, directly undertake or approve a project.” The effects on historic and cultural resources are among the impacts that must be reviewed. The purpose of the law is to ensure that decision makers formally incorporate consideration of environmental impacts, including damage to historic structures, into their policy decisions.
But a spokesman for Mayor Bill de Blasio said, in an emailed message, “The emergency demolition work is not subject to environmental review” and that all necessary permits and approvals would be obtained before the work began.
“Clearly this is all a pretext for environmental-law evasion,” said Jack L. Lester, a lawyer who specializes in New York environmental review law. “There’s no emergency, but that’s something they can hang their hat on to avoid any kind of public scrutiny. It’s not rational — it’s pretextual, it’s arbitrary and it violates the law.”
Under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, emergency actions exempt from environmental review are defined as those “that are immediately necessary on a limited and temporary basis for the protection or preservation of life, health, property or natural resources.” The actions must also be tailored to deal with the emergency while causing the least possible change or disturbance to the environment.
Mr. Lester said that the passage of time between the Buildings Department’s surveys of Hart Island and its emergency order undermined any claim that the demolitions are “immediately necessary.” “How do you have an emergency if it’s been going on for five years and their own reports show that less drastic means can be taken short of demolition?” he asked.
The Pavilion today, as seen from above the roof of the Catholic chapel. In designating Hart Island eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, New York State described both structures as “notable buildings.” They are now among the 18 old edifices slated for “immediate demolition” by the city.Credit…Alon Sicherman & Sean Vegezzi courtesy The Hart Island Project
On July 12, officials from the mayor’s office and the city Landmarks Preservation Commission held “an initial discussion” with the State Historic Preservation Office about the Hart Island project, according to a spokesman for the New York State Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
“City officials indicated that project work is not imminent in 2021, and that specific funding sources — a potential trigger for project review by the State Historic Preservation Office — have not been identified,” the state spokesman said. He added that state preservation officials “raised preliminary concerns about grave and archaeological resource protection, and advised the city to consider retaining an on-site archaeological monitor.”
In justifying the city’s emergency demolition order, the mayor’s spokesman said in an email that “city employees and city contractors are authorized” to be on Hart Island “for work associated with ongoing burial operations and island administration work throughout the island, in close proximity to these unsafe buildings.”
Amid the pandemic, the number of dead buried on the island last year more than doubled to 2,666 from the previous year, according to a public statement by Dina Maniotis, chief of staff of the city’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner.
In addition, the mayor’s spokesman said, unauthorized visitors travel to the island by boat, placing themselves at risk from severely deteriorated buildings. “In the interest of public safety,” he said, “the buildings must be fully demolished, and brought down to grade, with foundations removed.”
The 2020 internal Buildings Department draft report painted a more nuanced and somewhat less dire picture of the condition of Hart Island’s buildings and described how they might be made safe by fencing them off. But, noting that “no plans exist for the restoration or refurbishment of the remnant structures on the island,” the report recommended that the 16 dilapidated buildings be demolished for safety reasons.
The report also observed, however, that some of the island’s old buildings were not irrevocably deteriorated.
The red-brick Records Storage Building, constructed around 1910 facing a U-shaped young men’s reformatory that also still stands, “is suitable for repair and can be put into service,” the report observed. “With a footprint of approximately 35 feet by 35 feet, the building is not complicated to repair.”
The report recommended that the building, which has a shallow pyramidal roof with high clerestory windows, be made safe by fencing it rather than razing it, and city engineers rated its “ease of restoration” as “moderate to good.” But the structure is now slated to be leveled.
The 2020 report also described a one-story red-brick pumping station, dating to around the 1920s, as “viable for storage,” but it recommended demolition anyway.
The red-brick-and-stone Catholic Chapel, built by the Catholic Charities around 1935, “still stands in surprisingly good condition” despite the removal of its bell and stained-glass windows, noted a guidebook published in 2018 by the Historic Districts Council, a citywide preservation group. By 2020, Buildings Department engineers described the church’s “ease of restoration” as “moderate,” but they nonetheless recommended that it be razed.
The cornerstone for the chapel, at the time of its construction the only separate prison building in the United States set aside for Catholic services, was laid in 1931 by the rector of St. Patrick’s Cathedral at a ceremony attended by Protestant and Jewish clergymen, prominent citizens and about 1,000 prisoners. The house of worship replaced wooden chapels that had been built on the island by Catholic, Episcopal and Hebrew organizations, and it was used by all faiths.
In the 1950s, the chapel served homeless men living in a Hart Island rehabilitation center, but the religious building was abandoned in 1966, after the island’s workhouse closed. Under the city’s current emergency order, the chapel will be bulldozed.
The 1885 Pavilion was built as a 300-patient women’s asylum.
“Some of the buildings used as dormitories for the insane” on Hart Island, an 1890 grand jury concluded, “are a disgrace to civilization.”
“The water supply on this island is obtained from cisterns and driven wells,”the grand jury continued. “When it is known that 75,000 bodies lie buried” very close “to these cisterns, one can readily imagine what the character of the water must necessarily be.”
The asylum closed in 1895 and was later used as a workhouse for incarcerated young men. The 2020 report described the Pavilion as unsafe.
The mayor’s spokesman said that Buildings Department engineers were most recently on Hart Island in February and found that the 18 buildings now planned for demolition had continued to deteriorate and were in danger of further collapse.
A peace monument made of reinforced concrete, shown here in 2004, was erected by prisoners in 1948 on the former site of Civil War-era barracks. Under the city’s plan, it will be fenced and secured.Credit…Melinda Hunt Courtesy of The Hart Island Project
Not included in the demolition order are the modern field offices for Hart Island operations, two decommissioned Cold War-era Nike missile silos and a peace monument built by prisoners in the 1940s, which will be fenced and secured.
Notwithstanding the state’s determination that Hart Island contains notable archaeological and architectural resources, the city landmarks commission concluded in 2012, after surveying the island, that the buildings were in too advanced a state of disrepair to be viable for designation either as individual city landmarks or as a historic district.
At the commission’s recommendation, archaeologists will monitor for artifacts during subsurface work performed as part of the planned demolition project. A Historic American Buildings Survey of the 18 doomed buildings will also be prepared, documenting the structures before their destruction.
Simeon Bankoff, executive director of the Historic Districts Council, said that the planned demolition “of 18 recognized, publicly owned historic structures by the City of New York” should be aired in public hearings under the city’s environmental quality review process.
“What we don’t want is a rush to action by government without a clearly defined plan and without an opportunity for public stakeholders to weigh in and opine on that plan,” he said. “This is a huge public project with implications for all of New York, because it has implications for anyone who has relatives or loved ones buried on the island, as well as for how Hart Island is going to be utilized and accessed moving forward into the future.”
Mr. Lester, the environmental lawyer, said that the issue of knocking down Hart Island’s buildings without an environmental review was larger than the fate of the specific buildings.
“What’s at stake is the rule of law, and it affects everyone’s life because it affects how the city considers the environment or doesn’t consider the environment,” he said. By declaring an emergency and forgoing the customary environmental review, he said, “they avoid oversight, they avoid having to come up with alternatives, they avoid having public comment, they avoid having to consider mitigating actions and they circumvent democracy.”
Melinda Hunt, president of the Hart Island Project, a nonprofit group that advocates for the restoration of the island as a natural burial ground and wilderness site, said that she wholeheartedly supported the mayor’s demolition plan and that preserving the burial process on the island was far more important than preserving buildings.
“City Cemetery is a historic site for marginalized people whose histories have long been overlooked,” she said. “The buildings are offensive to thousands of low-income families whose relatives are buried in close proximity to former prison facilities.” She added that the buildings should be removed “to honor and provide access to the gravesites of low-income people of color.”
Herbert Sweat Jr., whose infant daughter was buried on Hart Island along with many of his forebears, said he was in favor of preserving all buildings that could help give perspective on the island’s many transfigurations. “From my travels over there,” he said, “I have seen with my own eyes, brick and mortar where you can tell the bricks were reused” from Civil War-era buildings and survive as part of extant structures.
Mr. Sweat, 72, former chairman of Black Veterans for Social Justice, said he wanted the island transferred to the National Park Service and that a memorial should be erected for the 31st Regiment of the United States Colored Troops, an African-American regiment that was organized and trained on Hart Island during the Civil War. The regiment fought several battles, pursued Commander Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army to Appomattox and was on hand for the Confederate surrender in 1865.
But Mr. Sweat said that he had never been taught any of that history in Brooklyn public schools and that demolishing Hart Island’s buildings would similarly deprive New Yorkers of a tangible connection with their past.
“That’s how the taking away of history from the people is done — they take it out of our sight,” he said. “That’s so deep, because how do you destroy that type of history? How many thousands of people have been transformed in those buildings that held them and ministered to them before they either went into the ground or went back into the city? As quiet as it’s kept, they hide what went on with the people there.”
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ISLAND HOUSE GARDEN TO THE WEST OF THE 555 ENTRANCE.
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Deborah Dorff Roosevelt Island Historical Society
THE NEW YORK TIMES (C)
FUNDING PROVIDED BY ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE GRANTS
CITY COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE BEN KALLOS DISCRETIONARY FUNDING THRU DYCD
This Saturday, July 17th, Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) and the Roosevelt Island Disabled Association (RIDA) plan to celebrate the 31st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with the unveiling of the FDR Hope Memorial, an immersive work of art commemorating the progressive former U.S. president and disability advocate, Franklin D. Roosevelt. Join us at Southpoint Park for the celebratory ribbon-cutting. Attendees able to utilize grass areas surrounding the memorial will be asked to do so. Special accommodations can be made upon request for those who require them.
The inspiration for the sculpture by Meredith Bergmann was this image of FDR with a young girl.
IRT POWERHOUSE WEWST END AVENUE AND 58 STREET AND SPARBERG, ED LITCHER, ARON EISENPREISS, GLORIA HERMAN AND LAURA HUSSEY GOT IT RIGHT!
IRT Powerhouse
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The IRT Powerhouse, also known as the Interborough Rapid Transit Company Powerhouse, is a former power station of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), which operated part of the modern New York City Subway. The building fills a block bounded by 58th Street, 59th Street, Eleventh Avenue, and Twelfth Avenue in the Hell’s Kitchen and Riverside South neighborhoods of Manhattan.
The IRT Powerhouse was designed in the Renaissance Revival style by Stanford White, an architect working with the firm McKim, Mead & White, and was intended to serve as an aboveground focal point for the IRT. The facade is made of granite, brick, and terracotta, incorporating extensive ornamentation. The interiors were designed by engineers John van Vleck, Lewis B. Stillwell, and S. L. F. Deyo. The powerhouse was constructed to supply power to the New York City Subway’s first line, which was operated by the IRT. At its peak, it could generate more than 100,000 horsepower (75,000 kW).
The land was acquired in late 1901, and the structure was constructed from 1902 to 1905. Several changes were made to the facility throughout the early and mid-20th century, and an annex to the west was completed in 1950. The New York City Board of Transportation took over operation of the powerhouse when it acquired the IRT in 1940 and continued to operate it until 1959, when Consolidated Edison repurposed the building as part of the New York City steam system. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the powerhouse as a city landmark in 2017, after several decades of attempts to grant landmark status to the building.
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff All image are copyrighted (c)
ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION ROOSEVELT ISLAND DISABLED ASSOCIATION FDR LIBRARY NATIONAL ARCHIVES COLLECTION
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
FUNDING PROVIDED BY ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE GRANTS CITY COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE BEN KALLOS DISCRETIONARY FUNDING THRU DYCD
The Newtown Creek Nature Walk, located in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, is a public esplanade that wraps the waterfront edge of the city’s largest wastewater resource recovery facility. Artist George Trakas was commissioned through the City’s Percent for Art Program to create a site-specific artwork as a part of the comprehensive upgrade of the wastewater facility in the late 1990s. The first phase was completed by DEP in 2007, and now the eagerly anticipated new expansion is open to the public.
Beyond providing much needed public open space, the Nature Walk delves deeply into the history of Greenpoint, Newtown Creek, and the centrality of water to all life on earth. The artist imbued these themes into the design of the public amenities, from the seating elements to the planting and even the trash receptacles.
Courtesy of Jean Schwarzwalder.
The Newtown Creek Nature Walk is planted with native trees, shrubs and other flora, to revive a long-inaccessible industrial shoreline for public use as a waterfront promenade. The walk features a 170-foot-long “Vessel” passage to the waterfront evoking the angled timber construction of ships once built along the East River. The walk also features nine 12-inch-thick granite slab steps that ascend out of Newtown Creek, each with scientific names etched on them to trace the evolution of the Earth through geologic and biologic eras that include forms of life native to Newtown Creek and Greenpoint. While there, check out seven stone circles, etched at various angles with local, native place names used by the Lenape help visitors visualize the places they identify. Another noteworthy feature is a 1,400-pound granite table in the shape of a shipping bollard, the cylindrical posts used to secure ships in port. The table also features an etching of Newtown Creek’s original watershed.
On July 22, join the NYC Department of Environmental Protection’s Alicia West and George Trakas on a virtual walking tour of the newly expanded Newtown Creek Nature Walk. Learn directly from Trakas about the inspiration and construction of the City’s largest Percent for Art commission. See the transformation of the Newtown Creek waterfront since the 1990s. Discover the details of the Nature Walk in preparation for your own in-person visit and attend a live Q&A with the artist following the virtual tour. The event is free for Untapped New York Insiders (and get your first month free with code JOINUS).
Newtown Creek itself has quite a fascinating but troubling history. The three-and-a-half-mile-long estuary used to be one of the most heavily used — and most polluted — waterways in the country. The creek is the site of one of the largest oil spills in U.S history — the culmination of decades of oil leakage. The creek has been undergoing cleanup efforts after it received a Superfund from the Environmental Protection Agency in 2010.
DEP host Alicia West with artist George Trakas.Courtesy of Jean Schwarzwalder.
Newtown Creek is also the site of numerous combined-sewage overflow sites (CSOs). There have been dozens of sites along the creek where sewage was and still is dumped whenever the rainwater system becomes overwhelmed during storms. One of the most notorious stenches that permeated the neighborhood in 1855 originated from the Peter Van Iderstine plant, which turned the entrails of butchered animals (including at least one ten-ton circus elephant) into animal feed, fertilizer, and glue. Recently, 216 small, tightly-wrapped, plastic bags containing a mystery substance were found floating together in the creek. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company also owned a site at Newtown Creek. To add insult to injury, on October 5th, 1950, an explosion rocked Greenpoint, ripping a 10-foot-wide hole out of the pavement at the junction of Manhattan Avenue and Huron. It sent concrete shrapnel flying, blew 25 manhole covers up to three stories high and shattered windows in over 500 buildings.
On July 22, join the NYC Department of Environmental Protection’s Alicia West and George Trakas on a virtual walking tour of the newly expanded Newtown Creek Nature Walk. Learn directly from Trakas about the inspiration and construction of the City’s largest Percent for Art commission. See the transformation of the Newtown Creek waterfront since the 1990s. Discover the details of the Nature Walk in preparation for your own in-person visit and attend a live Q&A with the artist following the virtual tour. The event is free for Untapped New York Insiders (and get your first month free with code JOINUS).
The consulate’s mission is to provide protection and administrative services to French citizens living or traveling in the district. Under the authority of the French Embassy in the United States, its consular district extends across three states (New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey), as well as the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda.
Currently housing the consulate general of France, 934 Fifth Avenue was the residence of Charles E. Mitchell, President of the National City Bank (now Citibank). Anne-Claire Legendre has been the consul general since August 2016.
While residing at 934 Fifth Avenue, from 1925 to 1933, Mitchell served as informal advisor to American Presidents Warren G. Harding and Herbert Hoover. But the prestige of this address owed in great part to his wife, Elizabeth Mitchell, who hosted numerous musical evenings at the house. Musicians such as George Gershwin, Fritz Kreisler, Rudolph Ganz, Ignay Padrewski, or José Iturbi regularly gave recitals in the “Pink Room” at 934 Fifth Avenue.
In the early 1930s, following the stock exchange crash and investigations on his financial activities, Charles E. Mitchell lost most of his fortune and had to give up his residence. Number 934 is the only survivor of the seven townhouses that formerly lined this block. Within 50 years, the first houses built in the 1880s were replaced by equally luxurious large apartment buildings. The Charles E. Mitchell House was preserved thanks to the decision of the French government, which acquired it in 1942 and made it the official consulate general building.
Before the consulate
As historic partners, France and the United States have maintained ties of friendship and cooperation since the first days of the American nation. The first French consular representation was established in Philadelphia in 1778. As soon as 1783, a French consulate was founded in New York, the first consulate to be established in this city. Saint John de Crèvecoeur became the first consul. However, very little information is available on the buildings that housed the consulate over the 18th centuries.
During the First World War, the French consulate general in New York City was located at 8 Bridge Street, Manhattan.[1]
From 1933 to 1942, the consulate general of France was located at Rockefeller Center, at 640 Fifth Avenue. As prestigious as this address was, it was decided, in 1941, to acquire another building that could house the offices and residence of the consul. In 1942, 934 Fifth Avenue became French property. But it wasn’t until 1943, after Franco-American relationships were reestablished (following an interruption under the Vichy regime), that consular affairs resumed with the French resistance representatives.
In keeping with the spirit of its founders, Charles E. Mitchell and his wife, who conceived the 934 as a place for culture, with an emphasis on literature and music, the consulate has perpetuated this tradition and welcomes, every year, numerous receptions involving the French community. The consulate hosts up to 150 events every year, including the monthly Conferences@934, which bring together French and American speakers.
HARA REISER, SUSAN RODESIS,ANDY SPARBERG
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Deborah Dorff All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
UNTAPPED NEW YORK
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The relationship between the United States and France was close since America’s infancy. French statesman and military commander Marquis de Lafayette traveled to the colonies to help train the revolutionary army, prompting General George Washington to appoint him Major General in 1777.
Lafayette was back in 1780, joining in battle to help defeat Lord Charles Cornwallis in 1781. His relationship with Washington went beyond military comrades and they became close friends who shared mutual respect.
When Lafayette returned to the United States as a member of the French Chamber of Deputies in 1824, Congress showed its esteem and appreciation by presenting him with a large estate and $200,000.
France became embroiled in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-71. The United States was still recovering from the Civil War and was unable to provide military aid to its ally. New York City did respond with aid for Paris, however, at the time of that city’s greatest need.
In response, the Cercle Francais de I’Harmonie, or French Fellowship Society, offered a gift to New York City in 1873: a bronze statue of Marquis de Lafayette. Sculptor Fredric-Auguste Bartholdi was selected to execute the figure. His name would become much more an American household word a decade later when he created a second French gift, the Statue of Liberty.
The statue arrived in New York on July 14, 1875, Bastille Day. Dedication would not take place for another year–partly because (like the Statue of Liberty) the gift came without a base. French-born New Yorkers poured in their donations to fund the granite pedestal, designed by H. W. DeStuckle.
LAFAYETTE STANDS PROUDLY IN UNION SQUARE PARK, NEW YORK
In reporting on the Lafayette statue, Schribner’s Monthly provided the likeness of Bartholdi in June 1877 (copyright expired)
The statue was originally intended for Central Park; but the location was changed to Union Square. Reportedly French-born citizens complained that the Park Commissioners were taking too long to pick a location. The dedication took place on Lafayette’s 119th birthday, September 6, 1876. And it was no small affair,
A massive parade of military units, fire department engines, French societies, bands and dignitaries marched from Fifth Avenue and 25th Street to 4th Street, then to Broadway and back up to Union Square. The platform near the American flag-draped statue was decorated with the French tricolor and the stars and stripes. Thousands of New Yorkers crammed the Square and the streets.
A French magazine published an etching of the ceremonies in 1876. To the right, in the intersection of what is now Park Avenue South and 14th Street, is the statue of George Washington. (copyright expired)
The following day The New York Times reported “Yesterday saw something of the amenities of two great republics. In the presence of an applauding multitude, the Lafayette statue in Union square was unveiled and presented, on behalf of the French Republic, to the commercial capital of a land bound to its old friend by the close kinship of sympathy and principle.”
After several speeches the statue was formally presented to the city by French consul-general Edmond Breuil, and unveiled by Bartholdi himself. The symbolism of the monument’s location, facing the equestrian statue of George Washington, did not go unrecognized. Speaker Frederic R. Coudert said in part:
If we could say to Lafayette, “Where do you wish your image to rest for ages, in order that our descendants may look upon it and love you?” would he not have chosen just the spot we have, and have said: “I wish to be near the man who called me son, and whom I loved as a father”?
The granite base was inscribed “In Remembrance Of Sympathy In Time Of Trial.” The editor of The New York Times pointed out that those shared trials reached further back than the recent war. “The legend refers to 1870-1, but…the tale is something like a century old, and trials have grown into triumphs since then, but the past has kindly, prompting ghosts that will not let the present become forgotten to its obligations.”
Bartholdi modeled his larger-than-life bronze figure in the act of taking a step forward. Scribner’s Monthly described it as if the sculptor had known that it would be facing the Washington statue. “Hence he has made him in the act of taking a step in the direction of the great general and sweeping toward him with his left hand a mute offer of his service. His right presses a sword to his breast with a gesture of devotion and as if making a vow.”
Lafayette stood on the bow of a ship, with waves breaking on either side. The critic of Scribner’s Monthly explained that it “commemorates his adventurous trip over the Atlantic.”
In early cabinet card photograph, sold to tourists, depicts men resting on benches near the statue. A sign warns pet owners to keep them on leashes: “No Dogs Allowed At Large.”
The statue was the focal point of annual celebrations of Memorial Day and what was known as Lafayette Day, September 6, Lafayette’s birthday. On those occasions the monument would be decorated with bunting and flowers. On May 30, 1900, for instance, the New-York Tribune reported on the Memorial Day ceremonies:
“A laurel wreath tied with violet ribbon, which will hold in place a huge bunch of violets, will be placed to-day by the Daughters of Lafayette Post on the Union Square statue of the hero whose name the organization bears. The post makes the decoration of the statue its especial care.”
September 6 took on even more meaning when the Battle of the Marne was fought on that day in 1914. The four-day skirmish resulted in the Allies turning back the German advance on Paris. Afterward, the Lafayette statue was the center of what was now called Lafayette-Marne Day.
The War Commission decorated the area around the statue in preparation for Memorial Day ceremonies in 1917. from the collection of the New York Public Library
The ceremonies were especially upbeat in 1918, with victory achieved. The Sun reported on September 6 that year “New York will celebrate Lafayette-Marne day to-day. The fraternal bonds joining the United States and France which have been strengthened by the war will be more finely tempered by the exercises arranged for this, the 161st anniversary of the birth of Lafayette and the fourth anniversary of the battle of the Marne.”
The article noted “French and American bluejackets and a detachment of soldiers from Governors Island will give the meeting a military touch. The Sons of the Revolution will accompany the color guard of that organization, carrying the flags of the days and battles in which the great French patriot participated when this country was fighting for her freedom.”
Assembled military units and civilians at the Lafayette-Marne Day ceremonies in September, 1918. The Sun (copyright expired)
A year earlier Robert Shackelton had published his The Book of New York, which guided tourists through the metropolis. His description of the Lafayette statue foreshadowed what was to come. He wrote that Lafayette bent forward towards Washington “as if to hasten to the great leader whom he so worshiped; as if, indeed, actually in the act of motion toward his chief.”
But then, with amazing prescience, he added “At least it is so as I write, though in this city of change, Lafayette may be made to face in some other direction, or Washington may be moved away, if it happens to be some commissioners’ whim or if it should be demanded by some matter of subway construction, in this burrow of Manhattan.”
The celebration of Lafayette-Marne Day continued at least through the 1920s. But in 1928, just as Schackelton had predicted, the entire park was excavated to create the subway concourse below ground. The statues in and around the park were removed and stored to await the reborn square.
On May 4, 1930 landscape architect J. V. Burgevin, working with the Parks Commission, unveiled the new layout. The Lincoln and Washington statues, which had sat on traffic islands on either side of the south end, would now be aligned in a straight line–Washington anchoring the center south end of the park, and Lincoln at the far north. On the western perimeter the James Fountain would be juxtaposed with the Lafayette statue, which would now face east.
Burgevin’s 1930 Plan placed Lafayette facing Park Avenue South, with Washington far to the south.
The result was that Lafayette’s outstretched hand, once appearing to offer aid and friendship to General Washington, now appeared to be asking for a loan from the Union Square Savings Bank.
By the 1970s Union Square and its immediate neighborhood had greatly deteriorated. The Square was the haunt of drug dealers and addicts, the lawns and shrubbery were overgrown, and its monuments were neglected.
Finally an $8 million restoration and revamping of the park was initiated in the early 1980s. In 1991 the Lafayette monument was conserved by the Adopt-A-Monument Program, a joint effort of the New York City Art Commission and the Municipal Art Society.
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Biography Loft with his wife c. 1922 He was born in New York City on February 6, 1865 to English immigrant William Loft (1828-1919),[2] 1860 founder of Loft, Inc. candymakers. Loft attended the public schools. He gained considerable wealth in the candy manufacturing business and expanded into retailing, banking, and real estate.
His first wife Elizabeth M. Loft died in 1910.[3] Loft remarried in 1911 to Julia McMahon whom he met when she was a salesclerk working at his store at 54 Barclay Street in New York. The couple made their home in Baldwin, New York on Long Island. On May 12, 1921, Julia Loft was appointed an honorary Deputy Police Commissioner for the City of New York and announced she would be active in her position and would fulfill her duties on a full-time basis.
A member of the United States House of Representatives from New York, Loft was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-third Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the 1906 death of Timothy D. Sullivan. He was reelected in 1914 to the Sixty-fourth Congress and served from November 4, 1913, to March 3, 1917. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1916.
In 1923, the City of New York honored him by naming one of its Staten Island Ferry boats the George W. Loft.
He formed George W. Loft Markets Inc. as a retail store operator and George W. Loft Realty Company to handle all real estate transactions, primarily for leasing retail space. In 1938 Loft sub-divided forty acres of his estate at Baldwin, Long Island, erecting twelve luxury homes.
In 1927 George Loft founded the Emerald National Bank & Trust Co. in a building he owned at Seventh Avenue and 33rd Street in Manhattan.[5][6] In 1929 he founded the South Shore Trust Co. in Rockville Centre, New York, and served as president until his death. Following his death, Frank W. Breitbach was elected to succeed George W. Loft as president of the South Shore Trust Company.
THE Q-102 BUS TOOK YOU TO WORK AT CANDY FACTORY
THE MYSTERIOUS YEARS IN THE 80’S WHEN THE BUILDING WAS A BOAT FACTORY FOR REV. MOON. I ONCE SPOTTED BOATS LEAVING THE BUILDING. THE FISHING FLEET BUSINESS FAILED AND THE BOATS ABANDONED AT AN ESTATE CHURCH OWNED.
THE BUILDING LATER WAS CONVERTED TO MOISHES MOVING AND STORAGE.
AFTER LOFT VACATE THE BUILDING REV. SUN YOUNG MOON MANUFACTURED FISHING BOATS IN THE BUILDING
MOON CHURCH TO MOVE BOATS FROM ITS ESTATE IN TARRYTOWN The village of Tarrytown has ordered the Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church to remove a fleet of fishing boats from the grounds of the church’s estate here by next week, and the church has agreed to do so, village officials said today. As many as 98 of the sport-fishing boats had been stored on the spacious church property, known as the Belvedere Estate, before village officials discovered them in June and notified the church that storing the boats was a violation of local zoning laws. Church spokesmen said the boats would be used in a new spiritual-training program for members. Thirty of the boats were removed from the estate property in June, village officials said today. That would mean 68 are still here. The church has refused to permit outsiders to inspect the boats, hidden within the property.
THIS IS NEW-STAND THAT IS AT 28TH STREET AND PARK AVENUE SOUTH. IT WAS SITTING IN A RESTAURANT AND WATCHING THE OWNER STOCK HIS WATER SUPPLY. THE STAINLESS STEEL KIOSK IS SPARKLING CLEAN WITH A REFRIGERATOR AND THE DISPLAY IS AN ARTWORK. THE MERCHANT IS SO PROUD AND METICULOUSLY DISPLAYS HIS WARES.
EDITORIAL
THIS IS THE VENDOR THAT RIOC HAS PERMITTED FRONT AND CENTER AT THE TRAM. TO SAY THE LEAST THIS CART IS AN EYESORE AND A POOR WELCOME TO THOSE EXITING THE TRAM. THERE ARE SO MANY VENDORS WHO ARE PROUD OF THEIR CARTS AND THIS IS NOT ONE OF THEM.
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff Sources
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
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In the last quarter of the 19th century, architects filled the rapidly developing Upper West Side with delightfully fanciful structures. Distinctly unlike any other part of the city, the streets in this section became a visual banquet of with turrets and towers, gargoyles and stained glass. French townhouses sat side-by-side with medieval manors. Here more than anywhere else in the city the architects exercised the freedom to experiment and test the latest styles. In 1889 a three-story beauty was completed at No. 233 West 100th Street, just steps from The Boulevard (later renamed Broadway). A city take on a suburban Queen Anne house, it boasted the capricious details that made the style so popular among Victorian homeowners—a bowed bay that morphed into a turret, half-moon windows filled with stained glass, creative brickwork, and decorative terra cotta panels. A brownstone stoop led to the parlor floor above the English basement. All that was missing from this urban version was a wrap-around porch with intricate woodwork. Two years after the house was completed, Clara Barton’s American National Red Cross Association founded the New-York Red Cross Hospital Association. According to President Mrs. Charles H. Raymond, “The work of the hospital is to train nurses for indoor and outdoor work, no regular price being asked.” An appeal for contributions for a hospital and training facility building went out and in 1894 enough money had been raised. That year, in April, The New York Times reported on the auction sale of the 25-foot wide house at No. 233 West 100th Street; the new Hospital and Training School for the Red Cross Sisters.
In 1896 the Annual Report of the State Board of Charities noted the extended work being done in the building. Along with the training of nurses, it listed as its objects “to treat disease on most scientifically based methods, in particular without alcoholic stimulants, and to cultivate anything in medicine or surgery which may be of public interest or advantage.” When the doors to the hospital first opened, Bettina Hofker was its sister-in-chief. Among the original staff was Dr. A. Monae Lesser, the surgeon-in-chief. Lesser was noted as “an advocate of surgery and the practice of medicine without the use of alcohol, and he has contributed articles to medical journals on these subjects,” said The Sun on August 8, 1897. The close working relationship between Sister Hofker and Dr. Lesser fostered a more personal attachment and on August 6, 1897 the pair was married in the hospital by Rev. Dr. McNichol of the Fourth Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church. Among those witnessing the ceremony were Clara Barton, and Stephen Barton and his wife. The New York Times noted that “The wedding ceremony was very simple and followed a meeting of the Board of Trustees. The President of the board, William T. Wardwell, gave away the bride, into whose purse the bridgegroom, following an old Manx custom, dropped a coin after the ceremony.” (William Wardwell was not only President of the Board, but Treasurer of the Standard Oil Company.) The newlyweds would soon take a trip to Cuba—but it was no honeymoon. Rumblings of war with Spain resulted in a build-up of troops in Cuba. In February 1898 Clara Barton sent Lesser and his wife there to vaccinate nurses and to prepare them “to be ready to start for the front on a moment’s notice.” The New York Times reported on March 6 “Should war be declared against Spain, it will find the nurses and graduates of the New York Red Cross Hospital and Training School at 233 West One Hundredth Street, prepared to start for the front, for they have been holding themselves in readiness for the last two weeks in anticipation of a hurry call for their services in Cuba.” Henry M. Flagler, who had been busy developing the coastal communities of Florida, gave land and $5,000 to the Red Cross to build a hospital in Miami, just north of his Royal Palm Hotel. Twenty-five nurses from New York were sent to Florida in July to staff the new hospital. Ironically, it was not battle wounds that the nurses were being primarily prepared to treat. On May 22, 1898 18 Cuban physicians and 12 American doctors held at meeting at the hospital on West 100th Street concerning a greater danger: yellow fever and malaria. Dr. Emiliano Nunez, former director of Our Mother of Mercy Hospital in Havana, told those present that “at the present time fully 75 per cent of all soldiers from foreign countries coming to Cuba were likely to be attacked by epidemic diseases.” The Sun quoted Dr. Juan D. Sollossa, in charge of the Red Cross in Cuba, as saying “As it is now of each 100 soldiers that go to Cuba twenty-five die from disease alone. But this percentage could be cut down materially if proper hygienic conditions were established, as could be easily done.” The Surgeon General requested that the Red Cross supply “immune nurses.” In response an announcement was placed in the morning newspapers on July 19 that “applicants wishing to become nurses should be at the Red Cross Hospital” that morning. Volunteers poured in from every walk of life. Miss Dilworth told The Sun “For the most part the women who apply are attractive, able-looking women and full of earnestness…One has only to look at our volunteer corps, as they sit here listening to lectures about the proposed work, to see that they are a band of typical American women, women who are well and appropriately dressed and thoroughly accustomed to the niceties of life.” One volunteer in particular was accustomed to the niceties of life. The Daily Oklahoma State Capital reported that “Miss Margaret Chanler, great-great granddaughter of the original John Jacob Astor, has renounced society to act as assistant nurse in a Red Cross hospital ward, a sublime act of renunciation.” The newspaper said “The suffering and dying to whom she will minister in Cuba will never know that one of the richest and bluest blooded New York heiresses is their attendant, for Miss Chanler desires to hide her identity when she dons the garb of the great order of mercy and the Red Cross sisters will respect her wishes.” Margaret Chanler attended the classes at No. 233 West 100th Street and witnessed surgeries. Others were not so resilient as the wealthy great-granddaughter of William B. Astor. During one operation “One of the society women fainted. Several were forced to leave the room. It was Miss Chanler alone who stood her ground and established herself in a distinctive niche for the admiration of the experienced nurses who witnesses her heroism.” Another socialite who donned the nurse’s uniform was Mrs. Thomas “a wealthy woman, who has signified her intention of going where she is told to go and doing what she is told to do,” said The Sun on April 28. Sister Bettina told the newspaper “I would like it distinctly understood that we shall accept no more applications for war service unless the volunteer is willing to go where she is ordered, whether for relief work or field service. A Red Cross nurse must be just as willing to obey orders without question, as a soldier.” The patriotic fever to help in the war effort crossed gender lines and New Yorkers were surprised when The Sun reported on May 3 that “About fifteen men, in response to a wish recently expressed by Dr. Lesser, applied to join the Red Cross as volunteers to go to Cuba.” The men’s entrance into the heretofore female-only field was gladly accepted. That afternoon Dr. Lesser “gave them many practical and valuable points that will be of great use to them in caring for themselves as well as the soldiers, if they are ordered to the field.” By the beginning of October 1898 all the nurses who had been sent to Cuba were back at No. 233 West 100th Street. But they would not be here for long. On October 2 The Sun reported that “The Red Cross Hospital at 233 West 100th street is removing to 259 West Ninety-third street, where there are larger accommodations. There will be thirty-five beds, which will be ready by Saturday.” The house-turned-hospital was sold at auction in May 1899. In February 1900 the title was transferred to the Nameoki Club—the Tammany Club of the 21st District. It was traditional for Tammany organizations to take Native American names and the Nameoki Club would offer a double-dose. It was casually known as the “little Wigwam.” The Nameoki Club was led by the powerful Matthew “Matt” Donohue. A plumber, he rose quickly in the ranks of Tammany Hall, becoming the youngest man to sit on the executive committee at the age of 28. By now the plumber had risen to the position of Superintendent of Sewers. Donohue’s firm hold on the district was aided by the wealthy men who were listed on the club’s membership roles. One was candy-manufacturer George William Loft. Broadcast Weekly said on February 11, 1904, “There is no more regular attendant at the Nameoki Club than George W. Loft, whose luscious candies have melted in the mouth of many a Democratic and Republican woman…He is one of the men who have done most to enable Leader Donohue to build up the big Democratic following in the district.” Loft had a lot of irons in the fire. Having amassed a considerable fortune in the confectionary business, he diversified into real estate, banking and retailing. He was a well-known breeder of thoroughbred racehorses and represented New York in the United States House of Representatives. The same year that Broadcast Weekly wrote about Loft, the Nameoki Club found a need to expand its headquarters. On January 5 the New-York Tribune reported that the club “is to be enlarged and remodeled at a cost of $5,000. The architect is Thomas W. Lamb.” Lamb was best known for his designing of theaters and it is possible that it was at this time that the basement and first floor levels were extended to the property line with a brownstone addition, and the entrance lowered to sidewalk level.
The election year of 1906 was marked by an especially bitter race between Donohue and Ross Williams. As the Nameoki Club prepared for its summer picnic on September 10, The Evening World predicted that the Williams followers would try to derail the festivities. “A report gained currency through the district that followers of Ross Williams, Mr. Donohue’s rival for the leadership, would attend the picnic with a couple of vans loaded with empty-bottles, pig-iron and lemons. Mr. Williams indignantly denied that any of his men would attend the Donohue outing so equipped.” The Evening World also predicted that the Nameoki Club members would come home with hangovers. “The leader of the band bears the suggestive name of Prof. R. E. Sause. Tomorrow morning a lot of the merry-makers are likely to be under the care of old Prof. R-E-Morse.” As it turned out, Donohue lost the election by eight votes after what The New York Times called “a long and tiring battle.” The Club remained in the house until January 1913. The building was purchased by Ennis & Sinnott, who quickly sold it within the month to Thomas Jefferson O’Rourke. The Sun noted that O’Rourke “will remodel the building for business purposes.” O’Rourke simultaneously purchased No. 232 West 101st Street which abutted the property to the rear. By August the renovations were completed and half of the building–the entire third floor and part of the second–were leased to A. W. Brown.
Female faces stare out from the three intricate terra cotta panels in the curved bay.
By the second half of the 20th century there were just two businesses in the building, which had been allowed to substantially degrade. Then in 1998 new owners John D. and Rosemary Kuhns completed a full renovation and restoration, resulting in a single family home. The Kuhns replaced the slate-covered turret cap with a handsome copper bell-shaped dome. Above it an eagle weather vane, while perhaps not architecturally appropriate, is an interesting curiosity. The 1904 interiors, designed by Thomas Lamb, have been lost.
While few interior details survive, the remarkable Queen Anne house endures along with its equally remarkable past.
The William and Anita Newman Library is the main library for the students and faculty of Baruch College, a constituent college of the City University of New York. It is located within the Information and Technology Building (also known as the Newman Library and Technology Center),[3] at 151 East 25th Street in Rose Hill, Manhattan, New York City.
The building was originally known as the Lexington Building or the 25th Street Power House. It was erected in 1895 as the main powerhouse for the Lexington Avenue cable car line, and was later used as an electrical substation when the line began operating streetcars.[2] The upper floors were used as office and manufacturing space. In the late 1980s and 1990s, the building was purchased by Baruch College as part of its new campus and renovated for library and academic use, opening in 1994.
I took some graduate classes in Baruch many years ago when the primary building was on 23rd and Lex, this was the annex and 25th street was a regular city street. When I went, Baruch was desperate for space and they had to rent space in nearby office buildings to hold graduate classes….Ed Litcher
JAY JACOBSON, ANDY SPARBERG, GLORIA HERMAN, LAURA HUSSEY, NINA LUBLIN
ALL GOT IT RIGHT
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Deborah Dorff All image are copyrighted (c)
DAYTONIAN IN MANHATTAN
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Josephine Joy, Irish Cottage, ca. 1935-1938, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the Newark Museum, 1966.31.8
This quaint Irish cottage was probably inspired by romantic illustrations of Ireland that appeared in American travel brochures and books. The lady playing a harp, however, is based on the symbol of the Society of United Irishmen, an organization formed in 1791 to rebel against British control. Their badge combined a harp (Ireland’s national icon), with the motto: “It is new strung and shall be heard.”
Josephine Hiett Joy was born near Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, in 1869 and soon thereafter her family moved to Peoria, Illinois. After an early marriage that ended in divorce, she went to Chicago and subsequently married Frank Joy. She became interested in painting after they moved to San Diego. A prolific worker, she became a WPA artist in the late 1930s, which led to her first solo exhibition at the Galerie St. Etienne in New York City in 1943. Joy died in Peoria in 1948.
Josephine Joy was born Sally Hiett, but changed her name when she was sixteen years old. As a young woman, she lived in Chicago and Denver before settling in San Diego, California, with her husband. It was there that she began to paint, creating images of flowers and landscapes, and she particularly enjoyed sketching animals at the San Diego Zoo. During the Great Depression, Joy worked with the California Art Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which helped bring national attention to her work. In the spring of 1943, she held her first one-woman show at the Galerie St. Etienne in New York, which received considerable praise from critics.
Josephine Joy, Magnolia Blossoms, ca. 1935-1941, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from General Services Administration, 1971.447.44
Josephine Joy grew up on an Illinois farm, where she loved to sketch birds, trees, and flowers. Circumstances prevented her from following her artistic calling until 1927, after her children were grown and her husband had died. Joy lived in California then, and the WPA’s California Art Project afforded her the opportunity to work gainfully as an artist. In the 1930s, “non-academic” painters were increasingly celebrated alongside their professional peers. By the early 1940s, Joy was a nationally acclaimed painter whose work had been featured in a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Josephine Joy, San Diego Mission, ca. 1935-1939, oil on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from General Services Administration, 1971.447.45
Josephine Joy’s paintings combine direct observation and imaginative design. This is especially evident in this painting of the Mission San Diego de Alcala, the first of California’s twenty-one missions. Founded in 1769, the building underwent renovations in 1931. Certain features of San Diego Mission are drawn from the renovation, while others appear much older. The newly built bell tower contrasts with the cracked and exposed brick and the aged building to the right. Joy painted San Diego Mission while working with the WPA’s Southern California Art Project in Los Angeles from 1936 to 1939.
“I love to paint in the open, sitting in some beautiful garden, hillside or remote place or in Balboa Park [in San Diego], where I had sketched many pictures … I paint from nature but occasionally I find myself designing.” The artist, quoted in Cat and a Ball on a Waterfall: 200 Years of California Folk Painting and Sculpture, 1986
Josephine Joy, Trysting at Evening, ca. 1935-1939, oil on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from General Services Administration, 1971.447.39
This painting may have been inspired by a sketch Josephine Joy made on one of her trips to the San Diego Zoo. The bench and railing in the image imply that this scene is a part of some man-made environment. The two peacocks in the foreground spread their trains to the fullest, displaying the bright colors of their plumage, and lift their chins in an attempt to attract a mate. The three birds perched on the railing and in the tree, however, ignore this elaborate show. In nature, the male peacocks are more brightly colored than female peahens, but here the artist shows them all to be more similarly colored.
Josephine Joy, Waterbirds Nesting, ca. 1935-1939, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from General Services Administration, 1971.447.42
Josephine Joy, Moufflon–Bobtailed Sheep, ca. 1935-1939, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from General Services Administration, 1971.447.40
Josephine Joy, Prisoner’s Plea, ca. 1935-1937, oil on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from General Services Administration, 1971.447.38
Josephine Joy, CCC Camp Balboa Park, ca. 1933-1937, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from General Services Administration, 1971.447.41
The Starrett–Lehigh Building at 601 West 26th Street, between Eleventh and Twelfth Avenues and between 26th and 27th Streets in Chelsea, Manhattan, New York City, is a full-block freight terminal, warehouse and office building. It was built in 1930–31 as a joint venture of the Starrett Corporation and the Lehigh Valley Railroad on a lot where the railroad had its previous freight terminal, and was designed by the firm of (Russell G.) Cory & (Walter M.) Cory, with Yasuo Matsui the associate architect and the firm of Purdy & Henderson the consulting, structural engineers. When William A. Starrett died in 1932, the Lehigh Valley Railroad bought the building outright, but by 1933 it was a losing proposition, with a net loss that year of $300,000. The Starrett–Lehigh Building was named a New York City landmark in 1986,[1] and is part of the West Chelsea Historic District, designated in 2008
NINA LUBLIN, ROBIN LYNN, ARON EISENPREISS, ANDY SPARBERG, ED LITCHER (WHO SENT THE HISTORY),
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Deborah Dorff Roosevelt Island Historical Society
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
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The Department of Docks photograph collection includes numerous large-format glass-plate negatives that depict the intense commercial activity along both the East and North (Hudson) River waterfronts. West Street, ca. 1922. Department of Docks Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
New York City is an archipelago of islands. Of the five Boroughs, only the Bronx is connected by land to the continental United States. When temperatures rise many New Yorkers naturally gravitate to the 520 miles of shoreline along the rivers, bays and ocean that surround the city. Or would, if they could.
In recent years, sections of the waterfront have been reclaimed for housing and recreation; Brooklyn Bridge Park and Hudson River Park are two notable examples. But from the days of the first Dutch colonial settlement in the 1600s, until the 1960s, most of the waterfront had been virtually inaccessible except to those involved in the commercial maritime activities that had been the basis of the city’s economy. And if not consumed by docks, piers, factories and other structures, transportation arteries – railways, parkways, and highways – girded many more miles of the waterfront, further impeding access.
The Municipal Archives collections includes extensive documentation of the City’s investment in its waterfront. The records date from the earliest years of the Department of Docks (1870– 1897); Docks and Ferries (1898 -1918); Department of Docks (1919-1942); Marine and Aviation (1942-1977); Ports and Terminals (1978-1985), through its final iteration, the Department of Ports and Trade (1986-1991). These series offer hundreds of cubic feet of maps, surveys, official correspondence and photographs.
Here are some of the more evocative images of New York’s working waterfront in its glory days.
Teams waiting at East 35th Street for the ferry to Brooklyn, November 1910. Department of Docks Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
Dozens of steamship lines brought hundreds of thousands of immigrants to the United States via New York City. Italian Line, West 34th Street, 1903. Department of Docks Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
Not every inch of the waterfront was devoted to commercial activities. In 1897, the Department of Docks built the first Recreation Pier at Corlear’s Hook in Manhattan; others were added on the East River at 112th Street, and the Hudson River at Christopher Street and 50th Street. Designed in the French Renaissance style they featured seating for 500 on the second floor and typically offered musical entertainments and food concessions. Recreation Pier Rendering, undated. Department of Docks Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
Recreation Pier. The sign over the entry doors reads: “Dancing on this Pier for Children from 3 to 5 p.m. Daily Except Sunday.” Recreation Pier, undated. Department of Docks Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
The Cty began building the East River Drive in 1929 and the West Side Highway in 1931. By the time master builder Robert Moses finished construction in the 1950s, multi-lane arterial highways would line the waterfronts of four of the five Boroughs. Elevated Public Highway, looking south from Duane Street, June 23, 1937. Borough President Manhattan Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
Completed in 1910, the Chelsea Piers along the Hudson River between Little West 12th Street and West 23rd Street were built to accommodate the new Titanic-class of ocean liners coming from Europe. Warren & Wetmore, architects of Grand Central Terminal, designed the pier sheds. Pier 56, Chelsea Piers Elevation, Department of Ports and Trade Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
In the 1930s, W.P.A. Federal Writers’ Project staff photographed dockworkers loading and unloading cargo on piers throughout the city. By the 1960s, containerization would eliminate thousands of these jobs. Unloading coffee from Brazil at the Gowanus Bay Pier, Brooklyn, ca. 1937. WPA-Federal Writers’ Project Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
The fishing industry persevered in lower Manhattan until 2005 when it relocated to the Hunts Point Market in The Bronx. Fulton Fish Market, April 14, 1952. Department of Marine and Aviation Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
By the mid-20th century, New York was one of the worlds’ greatest port cities. At its peak this vast infrastructure extended well beyond lower Manhattan and included miles of Brooklyn’s waterfront. Aerial view of the Brooklyn waterfront near Atlantic Avenue, September 19, 1956. Department of Marine and Aviation Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
The Department of Marine and Aviation collection includes large format color transparencies. Aerial view, East River, Manhattan, November 5, 1953. Department of Marine and Aviation Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
Until the advent of jet air service in the 1960s, luxury ocean liners dominated the trans-Atlantic market. The S.S. United States and the S.S. America, New York harbor, April 7, 1963. Department of Marine and Aviation Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
In the 1960s the commercial cargo industry defected to the Port of Newark in New Jersey which had space to accommodate the mechanized equipment needed to load and unload the containerized shipments. Many of the City’s plans to improve its waterfront infrastructure during that time period went no further than the drawing board. East River, Manhattan, Pier Improvements, Rendering. Department of Marine and Aviation Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
Perhaps Department of Marine and Aviation Commissioner Edward F. Cavanagh was mourning the end of an era as he watched the arrival of the Queen Mary in New York harbor on February 6, 1953. (Negative damaged.) Department of Marine and Aviation Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
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Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff All image are copyrighted (c)
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