Wednesday, June 21, 2023 -ANOTHER MASTERPIECE AWAITING A NEW FUNCTION

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FROM THE ARCHIVES

HIDDEN GUASTAVINO VAULT

BELOW THE

GOULD MEMORIAL LIBRARY
 

UNTAPPED NEW YORK

The Gould Memorial Library is considered one of Standford White‘s masterpieces. Located on the historic  Bronx Community College Campus, the library is encircled by another White-designed structure, the Hall of Fame of Great Americans. In addition to White, another famous name is associated with these buildings: Guastavino. The father-son engineering duo known for their innovative tile arch system is responsible for the grand dome that tops the library rotunda and the arched ceiling that curves along the Hall of Great Americans. This week, Untapped New York Insiders got to explore this site with White’s great-grandson, Samuel White. While walking through the lower level of the library, we uncovered another hidden example of Guastavino tile!.

The Guastavino Company was founded by Spanish immigrant and engineer Rafael Guastavino, Sr. (1842-1908) and was eventually run by his son, Rafael Jr. The Guastavinos were famous for their innovative “Tile Arch System” devised to create impressive vaulted arches. These arches were extra secure and stable thanks to layers of terra cotta tiles arranged in a zig-zag, usually herringbone, pattern and secured with special cement. The pattern of the tiles allowed for Guastavino domes to be self-supporting. This method was also fireproof, an important perk.

Image Courtesy of Bronx Community CollegeAt the Gould Memorial Library, the main Guastavino attraction is the domed ceiling of the rotunda which served as a reading room. On the Untapped New York Insiders tour, Samuel White explained that what you see is a decorative plaster dome that sits in front of the structural dome underneath. The design, White explained, was inspired by the ceiling of a chapel at the Château d’Anet in France. Behind the rosette-covered plaster ceiling, you would find the signature Guastavino tile pattern.

That’s what Insiders saw when they ventured down below the rotunda. Beneath the rotunda reading room is the library’s auditorium. This space is still used for lectures and events and was getting ready to host a graduation ceremony after our Insiders tour. In a service hallway that leads off of the auditorium, Insiders were treated to a view of exposed Guastavino tile work on the ceiling. Just like in the rotunda above, glass skylights here have been sealed and replaced by electric lights.

FOR THESE IMAGES GO TO:
https://untappedcities.com/2023/06/16/hidden-guastavino-gould-library/

The auditorium at Gould Memorial Library

After a pass through the hallway, which isn’t usually on the normal tour route, Insiders headed to the Hall of Fame of Great Americans to see more of White and Guastvino’s architecture. This was the first hall of fame to be created. It features 98 busts of figures like Clara Burton, Abraham Lincoln, and the Wright Brothers. Looking up, visitors will see Guastavino’s herringbone tiling along the whole length of the 630-foot open-air monument’s curved ceiling.

The Hall of Fame of Great Americans

Even if you’ve never been to the Gould Memorial Library, you’ve likely walked under a Guastavino ceiling. Examples of Guastavino’s work can be found in over 200 historical buildings in New York City. Here at Untapped New York, it’s a thrill every time we find a new one, especially when they are hidden. His recognizable tile pattern can be seen in multiple places throughout at Grand Central Terminal, at the Municipal Building in Lower Manhattan, and at the Boathouse in Prospect Park among other notable places.

You can watch a recording of the Gould Memorial Library Untapped New York Insiders tour led by Samuel White in our on-demand video archive! The archive boasts over 200 webinar recordings and virtual tours. The archive can be accessed by all Untapped New York Insiders. Not an Insider yet? Become a member today and get your first month free with code JOINUS.

WEDNESDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
SEND YOUR RESPONSE TO:
ROOSEVELTISLANDHISTORY@GMAIL.COM
 

TUESDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY

INTERIOR OF SMALLPOX HOSPITAL
THOM HEYER, ARON EISENPREISS, GLORIA HERMAN,
JINNY EWALD, VICKI FEINMEL
FROM JAY JACOBSON:

Might this be an interior view looking skyward from the “preserved ruin” smallpox Hospital en route to the FDR Memorial? I remember looking around  the smallpox ruin in the 1970s when our family first moved to RI. In clambering over the ruin, I discovered a goodly number of bricks bearing the initials JJJ.  My paternal grandfather, after whom I am named, was in the business of internal construction, and, among other things, remodeled churches in Brooklyn neighborhoods into Synagogues for the immigrant Jewish communities that were moving out of the lower East Side tenements in which they were first housed.  Working with no information at all, I decided to suggest to children, siblings, and cousins that the JJJ bricks were “probably” manufactured for my deceased grandfather who would have had bricks he ordered from Hudson Valley brick makers identified so that other builders, offering higher prices to the brick makers, would not be able to claim that the bricks were their bricks. 

Only a conversation with JB of RIHS disabused me of the rumor I had circulated with shameless disregard of the truth.

TOMORROW: MORE ABOUT JJJ BRICKS

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

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JUDITH BERDY
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THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.

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