Friday, August 18, 2023 – LOVELY SECRET GARDEN FOR 12 NEIGHBORS TO ENJOY

By admin

FROM THE ARCHIVES

FRIDAY,  AUGUST 18,  2023

ISSUE#  1064

A SECRET GARDEN

BEHIND 12 EAST SIDE

TOWNHOUSES

EPHEMERAL NEW YORK

A secret garden behind 12 East Side townhouses

Ephemeral New York

New York has its very lovely public green spaces, playgrounds, and private parks.

But some lucky residents have their own secret interior garden—a lush sanctuary of trees, flowers, and fountains hidden from the street between rows of brownstones and accessible only through the back doors of adjacent neighbors.

One of these magnificent gardens, Jones Wood Garden, lies between Lexington and Third Avenues and 65th and 66th Streets (above) on the same block as St. Vincent Ferrer Church.

The original Jones Wood was a 150-acre tract of high forested land that roughly spanned today’s 65th to 76th Streets from Third Avenue to the East River.

Named for a 19th century tavern owner and owned by prominent families, Jones Wood became a popular picnic and amusement spot. It was even in the running in the early 1850s to be the city’s first major public park.

In the post–Civil War years after Central Park edged out Jones Wood, builders cut down the forests and put up blocks of brownstone residences in this Lenox Hill neighborhood, as thy did all over Manhattan.

Demand for these private homes soured by the turn of the century, then picked up again after World War I. That’s when Jones Wood Garden got its start.

With well-to-do tenants in mind, developers purchased 12 brownstones (six on the north side of 65th Street, and six on the south side of 66th), then remodeled them by getting rid of their tall stoops and updating the amenities. They also designed a 100 by 108 feet sunken interior garden.

“This will be paved with special paving brick and flagging, and will have a fountain with a pool,” explained a New York Times article from 1919.

“Back of each house there will be a small and more intimate garden about 20 feet deep, upon which the dining room will open.” Shutters and trellises would be added to the back of each of these homes as well.

Unless you live there or know someone who does, Jones Wood Garden is pretty much off-limits to most New Yorkers.

You can catch a glimpse of a few trees from the street, as I did below. But the garden sanctuary is very private, just as it was intended.

Occasionally recent photos appear, particularly when one of the homes is up for sale.

In 2015, the house at 160 East 66th Street hit the market for $12 million. Curbed has the photos, including one with the open dining room leading to the garden, as described in the 1919 Times piece.

But to get a sense of the beauty and lushness of Jones Wood Garden, we have to rely on old images, such as these black and white photos from The Garden Magazine in 1922.

There’s also a series of color slides from the Library of Congress, dated 1921. One shows a child playing by the fountain and a woman in white (his mom? a nurse?) enjoying the peace and serenity.

[Second, third, fifth, and sixth photos: LOC; fifth photo: The Garden Magazine. Hat tip to A for sending me the LOC photos!

FRIDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY

WELCOME BACK SILVERCUP SIGN

THE SIGN HAS BEEN DARK FOR A FEW WEEKS
AND TONIGHT IT IS LIT AGAIN

WHAT WAS THE ORIGINAL PURPOSE OF THE SIGN?
SEND YOUR SUBMISSION TO:
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THURSDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY

ONCE IN A WHILE WE COME UP WITH AN
IDEA FOR MERCHANDISE TO SELL IN THE KIOSK. THIS IS ONE IDEA THAT WAS NEVER USED!
SUGGESTIONS FOR OTHER MERCHANDISE ACCEPTED.

Text by Judith Berdy
Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS

EPHEMERAL NEW YORK
JUDITH BERDY

Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website
Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff

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