Stephen Catullo’s dedication as CEO of Coler for 40 months has left an indelible mark.
Arriving during the pandemic’s end, he and his staff tirelessly worked to engage residents in planning and implementing facility improvements. Projects included new bed curtains, overbed tables, nightstands, and more, directly benefiting residents.
Coler has specialties including short term rehabilitation, memory care units, nursing home and palliative care.
Hallways were transformed with fresh paint and lighting, bringing vibrant colors to previously drab walls. Every project involved collaboration between residents and staff, enhancing patient care and inspiring new ideas.
The wall display proudly lists numerous achievements, including vital infrastructure upgrades to meet current safety standards.
Stephen Catullo will be missed, but his legacy of continuous improvement will help Coler maintain its 5-star CMA Nursing Home status.
Mr. Catullo hosted a thank you for staff today, recognizing that all achievements could not be made without team efforts and management support.
An award went to departments, leaders, and individuals for making ‘Coler is the Place to be.’ The Therapeutic Recreation Department staff has provided exceptional programs, activities, and entertainment for all resident units.
Jovemay Santos, Director of Therapeutic Recreation and Judith Berdy stand before a wall of achievements.
COLER WANTS YOU!
Coler is always in need of volunteers. Two areas are the Auxiliary, the fund raising organization who raises money to support activivities that the hospital cannot pay for such special events, providing holiday gits and tours and amenities. The Community Advisory Board meets monthly with Administration and Department heads to discuss issues and the operation of the facility.
A while back Coler and the community were shown images of a 10 foot wall and berm that was planned to surround Coler to protect it from future flooding. After an outcry from Coler residents and islanders the project went to back to the drawing board. To date no revised plan has been disclosed. Is that good or bad news?
UPPER LEVEL AS I WAS ENTRANCED BY THE IRONWORK
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As Memorial Day approaches, we are looking back at a 1923 plan for a never-built war memorial in Central Park. In November 1918, at the close of the First World War, Mayor John H. Hylan created the Committee on Permanent War Memorial, which was tasked with producing a plan for an appropriate monument. In 1923, a design from landscape architect Thomas Hastings of the firm Carrère and Hastings was accepted by the Committee and presented in a report to the Mayor and the Board of Estimate. A copy of this publication (see below) is housed in the Municipal Library.
The plan, which was approved by the Department of Plants and Structures, the Art Commission, and the Department of Parks, called for a permanent memorial in Central Park between 79th and 86th Streets on the 37-acre site of the lower reservoir of the Old Croton system, which had been superseded by the Catskill Water System (see map below).
The Report of the Mayor’s Committee on Permanent War Memorial, Plate I: General Map of the Central Park, New York City. NYC Municipal Library.
Along with removing the reservoir walls, the plan called for a long lagoon bordered by trees on either side, “similar to the one in the Mall in Washington, which leads to the new Lincoln Memorial.” The monument itself would be reflected in the water approach and feature statues representing allegorical or historical features of the “Great War,” along with war relics and inscriptions (see below).
The Report of the Mayor’s Committee on Permanent War Memorial, Plate VI: Perspective of Lagoon and Memorial. NYC Municipal Library.
Though $300,000 was initially allocated by the Board of Estimate under Mayor Hylan, the project met with a storm of protest from civic groups opposed to any encroachment of public park space. By 1927, the new Mayor, Jimmy Walker, rescinded the former allotment in a cost-cutting measure, and the plan stalled completely. The space that had been designated for the war memorial is now occupied by the Great Lawn and Turtle Pond.
Lauren Gilbert is Director of the Municipal Library.
THE VIEW FROM THE TINTED ROOF OF A TESLA WHILE STUCK IN TRAFFIC ON THE 59th ST. BRIDGE
UPPER LEVEL AS I WAS ENTRANCED BY THE IRONWORK
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All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
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Saluting the Women of W.A.V.E.S.
NEW YORK HISTORICAL BLOG Friday-Monday May 23-26, 2025 ISSUE #1456
Women’s Work: W.A.V.E.S. Officer’s Uniform on display, July 2023
Happy Women’s History Month! Today, the Center for Women’s History marks the occasion by honoring the women who have served this country as members of the armed services.
This W.A.V.E.S. uniform, which was featured in our past exhibition Women’s Work, was worn by Naval Ensign Mary Jane Natto, who was among the 75,000 women who joined the US war effort during World War II. W.A.V.E.S., or “Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services,” was created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the war as women were barred from enlisting in the Navy. As was the case in previous armed conflicts, World War II opened doors for women to join professions not previously accessible to them. W.A.V.E.S. officers worked stateside in jobs including clerical work, mechanics, computer programing, engineering, and air traffic control, replacing men stationed ashore who were now able to join the war effort overseas. But not everyone was welcomed.
Like the rest of the armed forces, the Navy was racially segregated at the onset of World War II. Black women who tried to enlist as volunteers for W.A.V.E.S. were denied. However, in 1944, mounting pressure from the NAACP, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and government officials resulted in the acceptance of two African Americans enlistees, Harriet Pickens and Frances Wills. Pickens and Wills were fully integrated into the service, unlike their male counterparts who remained segregated in the Navy until after the war.
Naval Photographic Center. “Lt.(jg.) Harriet Ida Pickens and Ens. Frances Wills, first Negro Waves to be commissioned. They were members of the final graduating class at Naval Reserve Midshipmen’s School (WR) Northampton, MA.” 1944. Courtesy of the National Archives
When W.A.V.E.S. was first established, enlisted women needed both summer and winter uniforms. In 1942, Josphine Ogden Forrestal, a Vogue editor and wife of the Navy undersecretary, suggested that the Chicago-born Mainbocher (Main Rousseau Bocher, 1891–1976) design the uniforms. Mainboucher had become well-known some years earlier for designing the dress worn by American socialite Wallis Simpson at her 1937 wedding to the Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII of England. (The event generated extraordinary levels of press interest because Edward had chosen to abdicate the throne the year prior, in order to marry Simpson.) Mainbocher’s design was so famous that its specific shade of blue—chosen by Mainbocher to match Simpson’s eye color—became widely known as “Wallis Blue.”
Mainbocher closed his couture salon in Paris and moved to New York before the United States entered the war effort. He charged the Navy one dollar for his work designing the W.A.V.E.S. uniforms, including this lightweight cotton summer version. It incorporates nautical influences, like the white and navy stripes, but overall, the design of the dress is simple, reflecting Mainbocher’s American sensibility of understated elegance and practicality.
Mainbocher for the U.S. Navy. W.A.V.E.S. Officer’s jacket and purse, 1942–46. Cotton, plastic, leather, synthetic fabric, metal. The New York Historical, Gift of Miss Mary Jane Natto, 1946.58b, d.
The uniforms garnered excited media attention and highlighted the significant contribution of women to the war effort. They also offered ordinary Americans the chance to be dressed by a world-renowned designer. (Of course, Mainbocher was not the only American designer to use his talent for the war effort: in 1942, his contemporary Claire McCardell designed the uniform for the women’s Civilian Defense Organization, also housed in our permanent collection. You can read more about her in an earlier post.)
W.A.V.E.S. was disbanded in 1948 when the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act allowed women to serve in the Navy and the other armed services. In a 2023 ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the Act, then-Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III remarked that if the US wanted to remain the best fighting force in the world, “The only way to make that happen is by drawing on the talents of all of our people, and not just men.”
A LETTER FROM JAY JACOBSON “GOOD NIIGHT AND GOOD LUCK”
We took out a new mortgage on our Rcrx home, and bought two tickets for last night’s performance of Good Night, and Good Luck! It was an extraordinary evening. I’m not exactly a novice at going to the theater, but this is the first (!!) time in my life that I didn’t have a paper ticket in my pocket. The ticket was on my phone. Pat will confirm that I was fidgety beyond belief as I prepared for the evening. Would I be able to locate the squiggly CR drawings, or would they evanesce as so many other items on my laughingly ancient phone have done? If, in fact, squiggly drawings materialized on my phone, would they be accepted by the theater staff? We arrived at the Winter Garden theater a few minutes after 6:00 pm for a 7:00 pm curtain. There was a line, of course, but as we were panting after the three block walk from the subway, one of the theater security people took immediate pity on the elderly and put us in a second “you’re not really a VIP line”. After catching my breath from our three block hike, I brought up the squiggly stuff on my phone, but I still wasn’t sure that they’d let us in. Finally, I screwed my courage up to ask one of the theater people managing the growing line if the squiggly stuff on my phone was a ticket for last night’s performance. He said, “Yes”. My sigh of relief startled Pat.
Oh, sure! You want to know about the play! We entered the enormous Winter Garden theater, negotiated a hearing device, and were directed to Aisle 4 and our seats. We found our way down towards the front of the theater. Way down to the front of the theater! We were four rows off the stage and at the absolute extreme end of the row! Absolute End of the Row! The good news is that my feet could stick out in aisle 4. The bad news is that we had only a partial view of the stage! We were so early, we sat alone in our row of seats for about thirty minutes.
During that waiting time, Pat began to recall how, in her days working for Chet Bowles as Under Secretary of State, she had several times met and worked with Edward R. Murrow. She remembered that Murrow’s voice was one with which she had become familiar during his broadcasts from London during WW II, and then on CBS Radio during the Eisenhower years. A nugget which she recalled was that Murrow’s aide was Tom Sorensen, brother to JFK’s aide Ted Sorensen. While Murrow was well-known and there was some White House concern that he would be a showboat in the State Department, Pat recalled that he was effective, diligent, and very much a team player. I began to wonder if we could use those memories to score a chance to go backstage after the performance, but decided not even to try.
The play was terrific. Clooney had never before done Broadway theater, but the audience (many of whom were senior citizens) was familiar with him. More than a few of the play’s lines sound like they are being uttered on daily newscasts today. The story is eerily current; the parallel between Joe McCarthy, always the “junior” senator from Wisconsin, and current administration is too clear to ignore.
We understand that Good Night, and Good Luck is being televised on CNN on the night of June 7th. We’re going to watch it again!
Regards, Jay Jacobson
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NEW-YORK HISTORICAL BLOG Keren Ben-Horin is The New York Historical’s Curatorial Scholar in Women’s History
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Covered barges were once heavily employed in the New York port areas to lighter (i.e., load, transport, and offload) various non-bulk, perishable cargoes from and to ship or shore.
There is uncertainty regarding the evolution covered barges, but similar to other barge types by the late nineteenth century the covered lighter barge was predominantly scow hulled (flat-bottomed, with raking ends. Using either a stanchion or bulkhead hull system, the barge featured a one-story structure or shed covering most of the deck, with all cargo carried on deck.
Often barn sided, two large sliding doors opened port and starboard when cargo was handled over the gangway. A hatch at the margin of the roof allowed for vertical hoisting of goods when possible.
Vents positioned at each end of the shed (attached to large ice bins) provided refrigeration for perishable items. Filled with ice through hatches in the roof, the vents circulated cool air top and bottom. When necessary, a stove, installed in the center of the shed, circulated warm, dry air.
Some companies preferred centered penthouse cabins over the usual stern counterpart. The higher elevation permitted a 360-degree view of surroundings and, perhaps more importantly, wasted no cargo space.
Some covered barges featured hoisting gear. A single mast with booms rose above the center of the deck house. Part of the rooftop cabin accommodated a steam-, or later, oil-or gasoline-powered winch.
Many captains lived on board with their families; the size of the cabin varied from a shed to a family’s permanent residence. Besides providing extra security, night-time operations (towing, moving, loading, etc.) required the captain’s presence.
Of 208 un-rigged boats owned by one company in 1918, 89 housed families with children ages one through 10, 71 had captains and their wives, and 48 had captains living alone on the boat.
Living conditions on board no doubt varied, but general descriptions mention crowded, damp, foul-smelling rooms. “The general impression given is that of dirt and disorder,” one observer reported in 1918.
Some companies tried to accommodate their employees if possible, providing stoves, furniture, etc., while others provided nothing at all. One company (200 un-rigged boats) provided nothing for its employees.
As a vessel type, the wooden-hulled, covered barge is well documented; numerous plans exist, several examples along waterfronts have been extensively recorded.
Replaced in time by steel covered barges, the last wooden-hulled covered barges were built in the 1950s.
A barge variation, the A-frame crane barge was most likely adapted from mid-to late nineteenth-century shore-based lifting equipment such as the stiff leg. These towed cranes were employed in ship salvage, dock and pier construction, and repair and cargo transfers. The cranes and hoisting machinery are situated atop scow hulls.
Builders also developed several types of scows capable of dumping garbage and dredge spoil at sea, or depositing breakwater/shoreline extension fill. Of the types that were developed, including the hopper barge, the side-dumping scow, and the hinged scow, the hopper barge was the most common, possibly due to its functional design.
Plans of a 1927 six-pocket (hopper) dump scow (a hopper barge) show that instead of a raked bow and stern seen on a typical scow, the hopper barge has curved ends forming one-quarter or a circle from the keel to deck.
Another dump scow type was the side-dump scow. Similar in hull configuration to the basic scow, it had bulkheads similar to those of a rock scow. It differed from both in that its deck was not level, but rather sloped downward 45 degrees on either side of the longitudinal centerline between the end bulkheads.
This sloped deck was divided into sections by additional transverse bulkheads, with the “cargo” held in place and later released by bay doors at the base of the sloped deck.
The Derrick or Stick Lighter
Open-decked derrick lighters were employed in New York port areas to lighter (i.e., load, transport, and offload) various cargoes from and to ship or shore. Early stick lighters, as they became popularly known, likely because of prominent timber masts and cargo booms, had boat-shaped hulls, pointed bows, and elliptical sterns.
There is uncertainty regarding an association between this configuration and lighters or sailing craft, but by the late nineteenth century the derrick lighters were predominantly scow hulled.
We do know that the advent of the steam tow was a significant impetus in the use, acceptance, and profusion of this vessel type, the combination of the steam tow and barges making the sailing lighter uneconomical and thus contributing to its demise.
The employment of the scow hull for this vessel type, as seen on so many of the later barges and work platforms, may have been associated with the economic practicality in building this type of hull (i.e., less boat-building craftsmanship, fewer curved timbers), as well as its proven functional aspects.
The derrick lighter had a single sturdy timber mast stepped in one of two locations, either in the center of the deck or at the stern just in front of a small crew cabin. If the mast rested aft, only one cargo boom pointed forward. In the former case, there would be two cargo booms, one pointing forward and one pointing aft.
The cargo booms were usually rigged like a sailing ship’s fixed gaff in the central mast configuration. Fitted with wooden jaws to allow lateral swinging, and held at a constant angle by fixed wire topping lifts, they would be positioned about three-quarters of the way up the mast.
The masts measured around 50 feet in height. In the central mast arrangement, the boat had two lighter masts at the bow and stern just forward of the cabin. Three masts around 20 feet high had sheaves mounted near their tops for lines used in hoisting the ends of a tarpaulin used in the protection of cargo.
In 1985, Norman Brouwer recorded the intact derrick lighter L.V.R.R. No. 462, grounded at Edgewater, New Jersey. The boat, built at Mariner’s Harbor, Staten Island in 1926, measured 104.5 feet in length, 32 feet in breadth, 7.8 feet depth of hull.
A large winch house stood on deck aft, with mast and boom positioned directly in front of the house. The largest openings in the deck, small rectangular hatches, provided access and ventilation.
A system of longitudinal bulkheads and timber pillars linked by crossed diagonal timber braces supported the deck. The derrick barge had more diagonal braces at the side rather than natural knees. A continuous row of windows spanned the front of the deck house.
The cabin measured 6 feet 2 inches across the windows, 14 feet 9 inches at the side of the deckhouse ande featured tongue-and-groove details.
Later derrick lighters were fitted with steel A-frames and steel booms in place of their wooden counterparts. The wooden scow hull was eventually replaced with a steel barge hull, retaining its steel A-fame.
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Historical styles dominated 19th-century architecture in the United States. American architecture, like the country itself, was young and wanted to connect to European historical styles that brought sophistication and cultural status to the new edifices of the United States. American vernacular architecture was made of wood—and to many, American architecture was anything but cosmopolitan. Among the most popular styles was the Classical revival which reinterpreted the forms of Greek and Roman architecture. The adaptation of Egyptian architecture, especially obelisks, as funerary markers and memorials was also widespread. Americans were used to seeing banks and financial buildings modeled on the ancient Parthenon, libraries that recalled the Pantheon, or an obelisk celebrating the legacy of a president, like George Washington.
There was also a limited revival of the architecture of the ancient Near East, which many scholars today call ancient Western Asia. In late 19th-century and early 20th-century New York City, the use of historical styles was often about finding a way to stand out from the crowd, to distinguish one’s building, business, or restaurant. These styles were exotic and different. The reception—the reinterpretation and adaptation—of ancient Assyria and ancient Western Asia enjoyed a brief moment of popularity in New York City, as we can see in four such buildings.
In the early 20th century, newly minted millionaires flocked to expensive, late-night establishments known as Lobster Palaces, where lobster and champagne were served after the theater. These restaurants competed with each other for deep-pocketed clients by creating over-the-top interiors.
One of these Lobster Palaces known as Café de l’Opéra (at Broadway and Forty-Second Street) was remodeled in 1909. Its new décor reinterpreted and combined designs, art, and architecture from Assyria, Babylon, and Achaemenid Persian in one large mash-up of motifs from ancient Western Asia. According to The Architects’ and Builders’ Magazine, “Khorsbad (sic) or Perseopolis (sic) or an ancient Persian Tomb” inspired the main dining room which had three stories of seating around a central court with a fountain, whose central feature was a Mesopotamian ziggurat topped with an illuminated orb, tucked inside a pavilion supported by black marble columns. The capitals of these columns, rather than being decorated with Assyrian motifs, were actually replicas of the Achaemenid Persian bull capitals from the audience hall (apadana) of the palace of Darius I at Susa.
Postcard of the Grand Staircase, Café de l’Opéra (photo: author)
Painted lions, a central motif in the palaces of ancient Iraq and Iran, adorned the balcony landing. The monumental staircase was carpeted and flanked by pairs of gilded lions and colossal lamassuthat rose to the balconies and upper floors, which TheNew York Times reported “was modeled after the famous staircase in the Temple of Persepolis.” A reproduction of the 1891 painting The Fall of Babylon by the French painter Georges Rochegrosse covered the lofty side wall of the main dining room. There was little interest in archaeological accuracy—rather the appeal of these exotic motifs was that they were historical and melodramatic. These design choices were also full of implied debauchery, which was very appropriate considering that Lobster Palaces were often establishments where men took their mistresses while their wives were tucked up at home on Long Island or the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
These interiors played directly into many of the American and European stereotypical views of the Middle East or Western Asia as exotic, sensual, and sexualized. They embodied the inaccurate but powerful Oriental fantasies that Americans and Europeans created in their art and literature starting in the 19th century. While these motifs were highly original, the service at Café de l’Opéra was subpar (the food often arrived cold) and the dress was too formal. It soon went out of business despite its unique décor.
The ziggurat, the stepped pyramid of ancient Western Asia, was a natural inspiration for New York’s skyscrapers. In his 1929 book The Metropolis of Tomorrow, the delineator and architectural illustrator Hugh Ferris noted the ziggurat (which he identified as Assyrian) embodied the New York zoning law of 1916. This law required that buildings have setbacks to allow light and air to circulate and reach the ground level. As a result, skyscrapers built in a step-pyramid style were incredibly popular. Ferris’s confusion suggests that archaeological accuracy and knowledge was not as important as in other receptions of ancient Assyrian art and architecture. That said, modern ziggurats dotted New York City’s skyline
130 West 30th Street (1927–28)
Setbacks and ziggurat shape at 130 West 30th Street, New York (photo: author)
Between 1927 and 1928, Cass Gilbert was hired to design a loft building at 130 West 30th Street. While commercial lofts were designed with utility in mind, their exterior aesthetics could help distinguish them from other buildings. Hiring Cass Gilbert, who had designed the famous Woolworth Building and countless other masterpieces, was another way for the developer to attract tenants in the competitive landscape of Manhattan’s garment district. One Hundred Thirty West 30th Street had architectural setbacks, as required by the 1916 zoning law, which gave the building a ziggurat-like appearance. Glazed terracotta friezes with mythical Neo-Hittite griffins and Syro-Hittite sphinxes decorated the building’s six setbacks. Lamashtu, a fearsome demon in ancient Mesopotamia, stood guard at some of the corners. These polychrome tiles and the setbacks differentiated the top of this building from its surroundings.
Main Entrance, 130 West 30th Street, New York (photo: author)
Over both the front and service entrances was the same terracotta relief of a hunting scene, with two male figures in a chariot shooting arrows at deer. The source for this relief is not those from the North-West palace of Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud, but rather, they are based on Neo-Hittite reliefs. The Louvre has a nearly identical scene from the kingdom of Milid (Malatya) in southeastern Anatolia and northern Syria dating from 1200 B.C.E. The ziggurat setbacks and Neo-Hittite sphinxes and griffins were unique in New York’s architectural landscape. The abstract aesthetic of the two-toned terracotta tiles and the building’s clean lines reflect the aesthetics of Art Deco, the artistic style that was emerging in the 1920s. Western Asian, Egyptian, and Minoan styles were already influencing Art Deco motifs and designs. The building feels undeniably more modern than skyscrapers that used historical styles.
Fred French Building (1927)
Ancient Assyrian art was used to decorate two other prominent New York City buildings: the Fred French Building and the Pythian Temple. Again, Assyrian motifs were intended to distinguish these buildings rather than to be archaeologically accurate. Between 1925 and 1927, the property developer Fred French erected his headquarters at 45th Street and Fifth Avenue. The diverse artistic traditions of ancient Western Asia inspired the Fred French building’s interesting top and setbacks, as well as bright polychrome terracottas and the decoration of the two lobbies and street-level façades.
Fred French’s in-house architect, H. Douglas Ives, worked with the firm Sloan & Robertson on the skyscraper. They adapted “Assyrian or Chaldean forms of ornament” for the flat surfaces of the building. For his design, Ives referenced the polychrome Tower of the Seven Planets, another name for the Tower of Babel, and observed that setbacks would permit planted terraces, like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Ives called the style “Mesopotamian,” although this seems to have been a catch-all for the use of architectural and artistic forms from ancient West Asia.
Faience reliefs and setbacks, Fred F. French Building, New York (photo: Tony Hisgett, CC-BY-2.0)
Colored tiles, which always had an important place in the architecture of ancient Western Asia, figured prominently here. On the north and south façades of the building’s top, there are identical polychrome faience reliefs that center on rising suns, which symbolize progress, flanked by winged griffins, symbolizing watchfulness and integrity. Separated from the sun and griffins by two Corinthian columns are two golden beehives, each surrounded by five bees, which have symbolized thrift and industry since antiquity. The reliefs, with their glossy and polychrome finish, helped the Fred French building to stand out in New York’s Midtown skyline during the day. At night, the building’s crown was illuminated, adding to its prominence in the cityscape. The head of Mercury, the Roman god of commerce, appears on the building’s eastern and western sides.
The 5th Avenue Entrance, Fred F. French Building, New York (photo: Chris Sampson, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
The building’s two lobbies and decorated façades are unique. The Fifth Avenue entrance featured lamassus and Pegasus (here mixing ancient Western Asian and Greek forms), as well as victory-like figures in the spandrels, that framed the door. The gilt-bronze doors are decorated with winged griffins, while Assyrian palmettes, lotus flowers, lions, chevron bands, merlons, winged bulls, and volutes adorned the Fifth Avenue lobby.Scaled-down double bull capitals inspired by the palace of Darius the Great in Susa were also included, as was a polychrome ceiling. The lobby and main entrance on 45th Street were similarly decorated.
The Pythian Temple (1927)
Designed by Thomas W. Lamb, the Pythian Temple (at 135 West 70th Street between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues) is one of New York’s most original buildings and combines the artistic and architectural traditions of ancient Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt. Completed in 1927, the Pythian temple served as a lodge for the Knights of Pythias, a fraternal organization.
The main entrance is embellished with a golden inscription set against a black tile background and framed by two crowned asps, each with an ankh and two Egyptian-style vultures. Above the inscription there are polychrome terracotta tiles, evocative of Babylonian brickwork, and Egyptianizing plant motifs, where open and closed lotus leaves alternate. At the top, there was the inverted triangular, multi-color symbol of the Pythian Knights, flanked by two muscular griffins.
Entrance of the Pythian Temple, 135 West 70th Street, New York (photo: author)
Four massive columns flank the main entrance on each side. The capitals are composed of two bearded, male heads with headdresses that derive from male figures in ancient Assyrian sculptural reliefs. At the east and west ends of the building, there are pairs of lamassus. The building was converted into condominium apartments in 1982, the middle section of the building was completely remodeled and most of the details were removed. The upper third is divided into three levels with setbacks and draws heavily on Egyptian architectural and sculptural traditions. It includes four seated, polychrome statues of pharaohs based on the statues from the famous site of Abu Simbel, which Ramesses II erected in the mid-13th century B.C.E.
Architecture inspired by ancient Assyria and ancient Western Asia did not become wide-spread in New York or the United States. Rather in the first three decades of the 20th century, architects and patrons used exotic Assyrianizing and Neo-Hittite motifs and architecture strategically to help their skyscraper, restaurant, lodge, and a loft to stand out in New York’s competitive urban landscape.
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Lincoln Center Unveils Renderings for Western Side of Campus
I LOVE THE UPPER WEST SIDE
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
ISSUE #1453
Aerial view from Amsterdam Avenue looking east; visible is a new streetscape, gardens, and theater. Rendering by Brooklyn Digital Foundry.
It was about two years ago that Lincoln Center launched an initiative to make the Amsterdam Avenue side of its campus a bit more welcoming, and to “break down barriers, physical and otherwise, between Lincoln Center and local community and audiences.”
In March 2024, the performing arts organization announced it had hired designers for the job–Hood Design Studio, WEISS/MANFREDI, and Moody Nolan–who would soon “deliver a major revitalization, providing open space for New Yorkers and state-of-the-art performance areas for artists from across the globe.”
Now, Lincoln Center has released initial renderings of the campus in its future form, with construction set to begin next year.
One of the biggest changes will be the removal of the wall along Damrosch Park, which will be replaced by a series of open entrances to better connect the campus with its neighbors to the west. Sidewalk improvements and increased greenery will accompany these entrances, along with more benches and lighting.
View from Amsterdam Avenue looking into Damrosch Park; visible is new streetscape. Rendering by Brooklyn Digital Foundry.
“The new design eliminates the visual and physical barrier wall at Damrosch Park to create a more welcoming edge to the campus, to better serve close neighbors including residents of New York City Housing Authority campuses at Amsterdam Houses and Addition, students of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, and the five high schools at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Educational Complex,” a press release states.
View of SE corner of Amsterdam Avenue and 65th Street looking at New York Public Library for the Performing Arts with seating area and mirror façade. Rendering by Brooklyn Digital Foundry.
Plans also include new park space and a new outdoor theater. The park will feature a lawn, tree groves, and a water feature. The space will be open for everyday use and will also equipped to host events and performances.
View from within Damrosch Park looking west; visible is new water feature, lawn, and trees. Rendering by Brooklyn Digital Foundry.
The new outdoor theater will have room to fit up to 2,000 people, will be surrounded by new landscaping, and will feature a bar and a shaded overlook with tiered seating. The design of the permanent structure will “bring audiences closer to performances and to allow for use of the park during shows,” the press release states.
View of amphitheater and audience area during performance looking southeast towards 62nd Street. Rendering by Brooklyn Digital Foundry.Aerial view of amphitheater and audience area during performance, looking east. Rendering by Brooklyn Digital Foundry.View of plaza area in front of amphitheater, looking northeast towards Josie Robertson Plaza. Rendering by Brooklyn Digital Foundry
The cost of this project will be about $335 million. About 65% of that funding is already in place, with major support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation ($75 million), The Starr Foundation, and a $10 million contribution from New York State.
Lincoln Center says the project builds on recent efforts to make its campus more inclusive and accessible—like the renovation of David Geffen Hall and programming such as Summer for the City. They’re also planning a new NYCHA Neighbor Summer Pass to offer free performances to residents of nearby public housing.
The project is being developed alongside NYC Parks and the Department of Transportation. While Damrosch Park will stay a performance space, it’ll also gain new community features like shaded seating and misting areas for hot days.
More details are expected soon, including plans for lighting and art along the walkway that leads from Amsterdam Avenue to the 1 train.
Construction is slated to begin during spring 2026 and be complete by spring 2028.
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THE PART OF LINCOLN CENTER TO BE REINVENTED
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I LOVE THE UPPER WEST SIDE
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Looking south from the Great Lawn in Central Park, one can appreciate New York City’s transforming skyline: pencil-thin supertall skyscrapers, the product of creative air rights transfers and complex real estate negotiations. But despite all the change, there is one building that is still a prominent member of the skyline, albeit only 450 feet tall, Barbizon Plaza.
One of New York’s art deco gems, the Barbizon boasts an iconic gold top, crowned with what looks like the pipes of an organ shining against a backdrop of contemporary glass towers. But the tower’s current crown, a decent post-modern design, isn’t original and pales in comparison to its initial form.
Constructed between 1928 to 1930, the Barbizon Plaza featured a one-of-a-kind four-story glass atrium top, consisting of both structural glass tiles and hollow glass blocks. It was the first glass-pinnacled skyscraper, and the first building in the country to use glass blocks as a wall material. But it wasn’t just the glass that made it iconic but the lighting. Other extraordinary tops in town were illuminated by external floodlights but not the Barbizon. In this case, the light came from within – floodlights reflecting against glass mirrors that could change color. Indoors, the top was a fitness center and a solarium. Sun rays would filter in through the glass blocks during the day but at night the internal floodlight would filter out making the top a true, full-blown lantern that glowed like the moon.
“The Barbizon Plaza’s rooftop was evocative of a jewel-like garden folly set atop the New York City skyline. At a time when many architects built skyscrapers along Central Park with whimsical rooftops above the Park’s treetops, the Barbizon Plaza’s shimmering glass lantern stood out amongst the others. ” — Elizabeth Fagan,
Designed by Laurence Emmons, the Barbizon Plaza’s crowned top highlighted a building for New Yorkers meant for the spotlight. It was a hotel catered to artists and musicians. The building had soundproof rooms, auditoriums, art studios, and all the amenities they would need during their residencies. With Steinway HQ just a few steps away and Carnegie Hall up the street, this was the place to be. Throughout the years it also became a gathering point for homophile associations such as the Mattachine Society and today is part of the LGBTQ+ historic places of the city. But as Midtown Manhattan changed, so did the Barbizon. It lost its top in the 80s when Donald Trump bought the hotel and the building next door to develop condos. Initially, the plan was to demolish the whole thing and build a new tower facing the park but eventually, he realized it was more cost-effective to keep the current structure and renovate it. Trump put in charge his trusted architect Frank William who widened the windows and covered the iconic top in gold.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
SATURDAY, MAY 17TH WAS THE 48TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE OPENING OF THE RI TRAM
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NYC URBANISM LLC, 2024
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Together with her husband Rem Koolhaas, Vriesendorp began working on a series of illustrations depicting New York City’s defining structures in the early 1970s. Vriesendorp described her creations as an “in-depth analysis of the possibilities provided by architecture, and accordingly mark the moment when the rigid corset of modernism seemed to be entirely exhausted.”
“Flagrant Delit“, arguably the most iconic of these ones, is a representation of post-coital Empire State and Chrysler Buildings caught in bed by the Rockefeller Building, representing “one of the most beguiling attempts to depict the unconscious double-life of modern architecture
Flagrant Delit (Caught in the Act),Madelon Vriesendorp, 1975.
Her work was vastly used for book and magazine covers, notably on the cover of Delirious New York in 1978 by Rem Koolhaas. “The World of Madelon Vriesendorp: Paintings/Postcards/Objects/Games” a 40-year retrospective of the artist’s career first premiered in London in 2008. Madelon Vriesendorp founded Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) with Koolhaas in the early 70s.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
FESTIVAL CAFE AND BAR 1155 SECOND AVENUE A FUN PLACE FOR A LIGHT LUNCH, BRUNCH AND MORE. JUST ONE BLOCK FROM THE TRAM. A GREAT PLACE TO ENJOY THE FOOD AND ART!
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NYC URBANISM LLC, 2024
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
More than 1,000 people attended Sophie Irene Simon Loeb’s funeral in 1929. Her untimely death at 52 was an abrupt end to a life dedicated to social change. Loeb is the subject of this stunning pastel portrait in The New York Historical’s collection, and in this post, the Center for Women’s History dives into her life story.
Penrhyn Stanley Adamson (1877–1957), artist. Sophie Irene Simon Loeb (1876–1929), 1923. Pastel on paper, canvas. The New York Historical, Gift of Dr. Warren Smadbeck, 1942.486
Sophie Simon was born on July 4, 1876, in Russia, and immigrated to Pennsylvania with her parents in 1882, when she was six. Before her father died ten years later, five more siblings were born. While still attending high school, she helped sustain the family by working part-time in a local store. At age twenty, she married Anselm Loeb, the owner of the store, but the marriage didn’t last long.
In 1909, newly divorced and energized, Loeb moved to New York and found a job as an investigative journalist at The Evening World, Joseph Pulizer’s newspaper. Like photographer Jacob Riis, Loeb reported on the lives of impoverished New Yorkers living in the Lower East Side. While doing this work, she became passionate about child welfare. Her own life experience as an adolescent orphan ignited her advocacy for child welfare and led her to focus on conditions in the institutions where the city’s poor children were sent when they lost one or both parents.
For The Evening World, Loeb interviewed widowed mothers whose children were taken and placed in orphanages. At the time, poor mothers were seen as unfit to care for their children and many of the social safety-nets that are in place today did not exist. Loeb researched the conditions and finances behind the city’s orphan asylums and found that the city would actually save money if it paid mothers directly instead of separating children from their families and placing them in rundown orphanages.
Loeb’s professional status helped to advance her volunteer work and advocacy, leading to sweeping social changes that still resonate today. Loeb took advantage of her platform and reputation as a journalist to push for major improvements to the lives of New York City residents. Like other reformers and activists of the time, she demanded that the government address issues of poverty. Loeb founded the Child Welfare Committee of America, served as the president of the Child Welfare Committee of New York for seven years, and participated in the first International Child Congress in 1926. Her advocacy led to the 1915 passage of the Widow’s Pension Law, which prevented the separation of families after the loss of a breadwinning parent, a law that is still in place. In 1920, she published Everyman’s Child, a book that promoted ideas about government responsibility to provide food and education for every child regardless of their means.
Though Loeb never remarried or had children of her own, she devoted herself to New York City’s children. When she died of cancer on January 18, 1929, thousands mourned her passing. Her obituary in the New York Times marked her wide-ranging influence on the betterment of city life: “Though her interest centered in the child, it extended, as did Jacob Riis’s, to the building of better tenements, to the cleaning up of the slums generally, to providing of school lunches and public playgrounds, to protecting of poor tenants and to a score of other matters of community welfare.”
Frederick Roth (1872–1944), sculptor. Loeb Memorial Fountain, 1935–36. Granite. Photos by Jeanne Gutierrez
Seven years after Loeb’s death, the philanthropist August Heckscher, who worked alongside her to campaign for the addition of city playgrounds, donated a drinking fountain in her name. The fountain, carved from 25 tons of pink granite by Parks Department sculptor Frederick Roth, features 13 characters from Alice in Wonderland and was unveiled in 1936 as part of the refurbishment of the Heckscher Playground, the first playground to be built in Central Park. In 1986, the fountain was relocated from its original location at Central Park South and Seventh Avenue to Central Park at East 77th Street—across the park from The New York Historical, where Loeb’s portrait was recently featured in the exhibition Women’s Work.
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COLER AUXILIARY MEMBERS MEET TO PLAN EVENTS
FROM LEFT: MARIE MARIE, MORIKO BETZ, ALEIDA TORRES, DARLENE TORRES, TERI GENDRON, THERESA CHAMBERLAIN, SHIRLEY THOMAS, JUDITH BERDY
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NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY BLOG CollectionsKeren Ben-Horin is a Curatorial Scholar in Women’s History
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
