Want to find out more about our neighborhood hotel? Above is the link to the Discover+ link to see the program on the Magnolia Network. Some interesting aspects of the artwork and design are featured. Enjoy the tour, without leaving home.
PHOTO OF THE DAY
THE MYSTERY PHOTO RETURNS TOMORROW
For the last 10 days, I was at sea in the warm climates south of New York.
As a single traveler, being on a cruise ship can be challenging with all those couples and families ignoring the singles. *NCL has come up with a great idea (at least on my cruise). The “solos” were invited to meet in a lounge the afternoon we boarded and met each other. The usual giggles and nervous introductions, sort of like a high school social. Some had traveled many times and others were novices.
We met that evening at a lounge and most of us gamely went to dinner with strangers. The solos soon had friends to dine, party and hang out with. There were about 30 solos ranging from 25 to 80 years old, all races, religions, genders, life-styles. Many from the New York area, some from Canada and two from Seattle.
Some new folks discovered our group and were welcomed. We had a family and we loved having them with us.
On two afternoons at sea we had a bead stringing class that I led at a table in the dining room. Other afternoons high takes ($3-) games of L-R-C.
Evenings, some group dinners and wherever one wanted to dine. Some members were dancing till 3 a.m. and others were up at the gym at 7 a.m.
I am so glad I chose this trip. It was the most fun and met such interesting folk. Talking to my fellow travelers, many who have or had the most interesting careers.
One great feature is that NCL does not charge for a solo traveler in a cabin. That saves lots of money and your are not stuck in a small single room or paying a surcharge.
The service was great and the ship is spotless. The food is pretty good and there is always something to enjoy, with 5 restaurants that are specialty and charge a supplement.
I came home cheerful and relaxed after being off the ship at 8 a.m. and on the island at 9 a.m.
The ship is the Norwegian Gem, sailing from New York’s Pier 88 at 48th Street . *Norwegian Caribbean Lines has many ships sailing from New York to Bermuda and south and others to Canada all year.
Judith Berdy
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
MAGNOLIA NETWORK JUDITH BERDY
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
MATERNITY HOSPITAL AT SOUTH END ADJOINING STRECKER LABORATORY
CENTER ENTRANCE TO SMALLPOX HOSPITAL WHEN IT WAS PART OF CITY HOSPITAL
FEMALE RESIDENTS OF THE CTY HOME /ALMSHOUSE
CITY HOME BLIND WARD
CHAPEL OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD
CITY HOME MEN’S WARD
STATION WAGON ARRIVES AT QUEENSBORO BRIDGE FOR ELEVATOR TO BRIDGE
Old NYC Cancer Institute: two 2-story buildings, dating from 1924.
Cancer patients outdoors near wooden ferry office, nurse watching. Beyond river are Manhattan apartment houses.
STUDENT NURSES RELAX OUTSIDE CITY HOSPITAL
BLACKWELL HOUSE WHEN NORTH WING WAS STILL IN PLACE
STRECKER MEMOIAL LABORATORY
PEDIATRIC PATIENTS OUTSIDE METROPOLITAN HOSPITAL
PHOTO OF THE DAY WILL RETURN SOON.
I JUST RETURNED TODAY FROM VACATION AND HAVE HEARD OF THE PASSING OF BARBARA LASKER. BARBARA WAS A MEMBER OF THE R.I.H.S. BOARD AND HAD GREAT INTEREST IN OUR ISLAND HISTORY. BARBARA WILL BE REMEMBERED FOR HER GREAT SENSE OF HUMOR AND CHEERFUL DISPOSITION. OUR SINCERE SYMPATHIES TO LARRY AND FAMILY.
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
MUNICIPAL ARCHIVES OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
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
UNTAPPED NEW YORK
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
On a recent trip to Staten Island, my car was stopped unexpectedly by, of all things, wild turkeys. A group of at least 15 turkeys the height of my waist decided to cross the four-lane road and stop in the middle of it, refusing to move. A few cars piled up behind, but the turkeys stayed put, gobbling with one another as cars approached from every direction. It took a local resident on his walk to shoo the turkeys away over the course of a few minutes. A few people from across the street at Staten Island University Hospital crowded around taking photos of these disruptive turkeys, but for many local residents, these turkeys are a decades-long problem that has caused countless headaches and frustration.
Over the years, there have been attempts to curb the turkey problem, such as sending them to a wildlife sanctuary or tracking them more closely. However, some residents say that little has changed — some even think Staten Island‘s wild turkey population has grown during the COVID-19 pandemic, as city and state officials put their attention elsewhere. The Staten Island Advance reported that these turkeys have been disastrous for many in the community, from damaging cars and halting traffic to disrupting peace and quiet. One resident I spoke to who lived by Mason and Seaview Avenues said these turkeys are aggressive and “extremely annoying.” They make it difficult to do daily tasks like pulling the car out of the driveway or keeping the front lawn clean without these turkeys finding a way in.
The turkeys were mainly concentrated around the hospital and in nearby neighborhoods like Ocean Breeze, Dongan Hills, and Arrochar. However, they expanded in all directions to other parts of the borough, walking around the streets like pedestrians. This all began in the mid-1990s, according to the Staten Island Advance archives that date the first wild turkey photographs to 1996. Few people in the community tried to prevent their rapid population growth, so the turkey population grew to the hundreds by the early 2010s. The Department of Environmental Conservation conservatively estimated the population at just 100 in 2011.
Residents feared that unless something was done to get these turkeys under control, it would cost the borough thousands of dollars and lead some residents to move away. Strangely, turkeys were not the borough’s first animal pest. Staten Island has also been fighting a growing deer population, which damages the island’s plentiful greenery and seedlings. The borough has undertaken a deer sterilization program that reduced the deer population by 15% from 2017 to 2019 from 2,053 to 1,737. Still, deer cause dozens of accidents on the island each year, prompting some residents to advocate for deer culling, or killing some less-than-desired deer.
There were attempts over a decade ago to relocate turkeys found at the South Beach Psychiatric Center near the hospital, where many would congregate; in 1999, a local resident freed her nine pet turkeys at the center. In 2014, an agreement was reached between the Staten Island University Hospital, the state Department of Environmental Conservation, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture that permitted the capture and relocation of wild turkeys found on hospital grounds. Many considered this a step in the right direction, as the turkeys would be relocated to an animal sanctuary in Greene County. In 2018, Mid-Island Councilman and Minority Leader Steven Matteo secured $100,000 in discretionary funds to capture and relocate as many of these birds as possible.
Many of these initiatives were fairly successful; the Staten Island Advance reported over 150 turkeys were taken to And-Hof Sanctuary in Catskill from 2014 to 2018. These 150 (and 200 by 2019) were only a dent in the likely hundreds more turkeys still on the island. The relocation was paused since the sanctuary did not have enough room for any additional birds. Some even tried to escape the property! Because the turkeys were identified as hybrids between domesticated and captive-bred turkeys, it has been difficult to find a fitting home for them.
As of early 2022, there were still no clear solutions to resolving the turkey problem, and residents have been encouraged to let the wildlife be. Some have proposed more long-term solutions like reducing turkey food sources instead of relocation. In April of this year, Spectrum News reported residents encountering turkeys in West Brighton in northeast Staten Island. Until more concrete solutions and programs are put in place, Staten Island’s residents may continue finding wild turkeys in unexpected areas, such as on Forest Hill Road, Victory Boulevard, and Silver Lake Park.
PHOTO OF THE DAY WILL RETURN SOON.
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
UNTAPPED NEW YORK
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
THE MODERN ART FOUNDRY, A JEWEL HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT IN THE STEINWAY MANSION CARRIAGE HOUSE
Steinway Mansion Carriage House in Astoria, Queens, now The Modern Art Foundry
Take a trip around New York City and you will be surrounded by art and history, nearly everywhere you go. But what if we told you that within our city lives the beating heart of the art of sculpting? The roots of some of the most recognizable works of art –from the Alice In Wonderland sculpture in Central Park to the Fiorello LaGuardia statue in LaGuardia Place – are actually hidden in plain sight in Astoria, Queens.
Located in the former carriage house of the famous Steinway Mansion in northern Astoria, the Modern Art Foundry is a truly fascinating mecca for sculptors. Inside this hidden gem, artistic visions become realized in metal by a passionate team of craftsmen led by third generation owner, Jeffrey Spring.
The Past
The Modern Art Foundry was established in 1932 by John Spring in an prior location at the end of Astoria Boulevard. In 1947, the Foundry moved to its current location, a carriage house which used to serve the Steinway Mansion. The original structure is largely intact and we got to see bits of the original doorway, the ceiling and some of the decorative moldings on the exterior of the structure.
Jeffrey Spring of The Modern Art Foundry explains the processes that go on in the foundry The foundry moved to this location after another owner had used it through the 1930s and 40s. Over the course of time, the foundry has been managed by its founder John Spring, Robert Spring, John’s son and, currently, by Jeffrey Spring & his sister Mary Jo, John’s grandchildren. The entire setup had the feel of a family legacy which continues to contribute to the art world every day.
Alice In Wonderland sculpture in Central Park – cast at The Modern Art Foundry
What Goes On In A Foundry?
The Modern Art Foundry is essentially a service provider, a conduit, if you will, between the artist’s vision and the end product which is the actual art piece. For those unfamiliar with the process of creating sculptures, artists are usually partnered by foundries where their artwork is cast into metal using a multi-staged process that requires patience, time and an incredibly diligent eye for detail. Artists often spend time in the foundry, working with the team to make fine adjustments and corrections to the work as it gets closer to the stage of actual metal casting. We were fortunate enough to get a first-person look at everything that goes into turning art from concept into creation.
A wax “Positive” of a sculpture waits for final touches before being cast into bronze.
Lost Wax Casting
An artist would typically produce a sculpture in clay or in drawing form. The foundry then takes this work and builds a rubber “negative” mold which takes the exact shape of the object. This shape is then cast in wax to create a “positive” sculpture which is used as the final model to check for any errors and to make fine corrections to shapes, lines and details.
It is often crucial for artists to be present at this stage to make sure that the wax model matches what they’re looking for. This model is then adorned with wax tubes that make it look almost tree-like with branches built around the sculpture. The entire wax structure is then covered in a silica based slurry that builds a cast around the world.
“That’s where the metal goes in” – A silica mold ready for baking to harden itself and melt the wax away
During the baking process, the wax melts away, leaving an exact shape of the intended sculpture in the silica mold. Finally, the metal of choice, usually bronze but sometimes aluminum, is poured into the mold to create the piece. Once poured and cooled, the silica cast is broken open to reveal the sculpture.
Brick ovens remain the method of choice for baking molds at The Modern Art Foundry.
Once it’s out, the branches are removed and the piece goes through a process of cleaning in an acid bath. Fine finishing then follows this process along with any modifications, usually related to the patina or shade of the metal work desired by the artist. The patina stage is yet another amazing step in the process where flames and chemicals are used to bring out the color in each of the works.
Using flames and chemicals, the sculpture being worked on will eventually share its color with the finished one in the foreground.
If all of this sounds painstaking and complicated, believe us, it is. It is in these many stages that the experience of the foundry staff and their care and attention that counts. Mr. Spring remarked that the process may last for up to a year depending on the size and complexity of the piece being created. Artists can often be quite demanding, something that forms a part of the daily challenge at the Modern Art Foundry.
The People
During our visit, we met with sculptor Anne Stanner who was working on an artwork that was being reduced in size for a client. Ms. Stanner herself was working on the wax copy of the sculpture, making fine corrections and adjustments. She has been working for several months on this project and is about halfway through. She commented on the process being laborious. Sculpting is certainly not for the faint-of-heart!
Jeffrey Spring & Anne Stanner discuss her artwork-in-progress
Further on in the tour, we met with Michael Bartolotta, a craftsman working with the foundry for nearly 40 years. We interrupted his process of polishing an aluminum artwork that had been cast in several different pieces. He told us that the process used in a foundry has been more or less the same for centuries and is a true classical art form. While finishing or polishing processes may have changed, foundry work remains a stepped process that takes time and passion.
Michale Bartolotta has worked for nearly 40 years at the foundry and calls himself a jack-of-all-trades
Mr. Bartolotta began working with the foundry “by accident” as he puts it. It was his first real job in his teenage years during a summer holiday and he has stuck with them in the many decades since. While speaking with him, we learned more and more that there are no short cuts in this process.
Tours, Education & The Future
The Modern Art Foundry does conduct tours, typically for clients of auction houses and art dealers such as Christie’s and Sotheby’s, essentially with the aim of educating customers about the rigors and challenges involved in sculpture making. Currently, a few students are working out of the foundry as a part of their studies. In an art form such as this, hands-on experience counts for a lot and Mr. Spring was keen to point out the benefits that students experience regularly visiting a facility such as his.
Hans Christian Andersen sculpture in Central Park – cast at The Modern Art Foundry
As with most traditional art forms, the future of sculpting is uncertain and Mr. Spring did not attempt to play oracle and predict where things will go. Along with producing new artwork, the foundry also provides restoration and cleaning services for existing sculptures, either in-house or on site. The advent of new technologies always challenges older methods, but in a field as individual and as complex as art, it would be hard to discount the possibility of the foundry going strong for three more generations and then some. For now, the focus remains on always improving and producing the most precise realization of an artist’s idea in metal form.
The former carriage house is now the production site for horse trophies used at the Breeder’s Cup
So the next time you walk past Hans Christian Andersen reading a book by a pond in Central Park or watch a race horse owner wave the bronze trophy at the Breeder’s Cup, remember that they have all come from a dedicated team in a quiet lane in Northern Astoria.
PHOTO OF THE DAY WILL RETURN SOON.
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
UNTAPPED NEW YORK
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Aside from its main role as a transit hub, the New York City subway system often serves as an unexpected repository for artifacts. From marine-themed terra cotta murals inside the Fulton Street Station to ornaments of demolished buildings at the Eastern Parkway-Brooklyn Museum stop, there are plenty of unlikely treasures embedded into station walls or presented along transit corridors. Yet, the come-and-go nature of the subway makes it difficult for commuters to take in what’s openly displayed to the public. The South Ferry station — serviced by the 1, R, N, W and 2 trains — is particularly noteworthy, as it harbors an 18th-century stone wall, one of four fragments discovered 10 feet below the eastern portion of Battery Park.
The four excavated segments — measuring roughly eight-feet thick, and varying in length and height — were uncovered in December 2005, when the Museum of the City of New York‘s archaeological team started excavating for the South Ferry Terminal Project, a $530 million endeavor to reconstruct the subway station and address “physical and operating deficiencies.” Those excavations have yielded tens of thousands of individual artifacts that provide insight into Colonial New York — from seeds, ceramic dishes and coin fragments to a wine bone of the Passenger Pigeon (a now-extinct species of bird), a medal bestowed to Admiral Boscawen by King George III, and a glass bottle seal belonging to Benjamin Fletcher who served as the British colonial governor of New York from 1692 to 1697.
Untapped Cities tour guide, Justin Rivers, shared this photo of the wall, seen with fossilized oyster shells
Widely reported to be the oldest man-made structure still in place in Manhattan, the Battery Wall was built as a fortification on the Southwestern tip of Manhattan around the 1740s and 1750s. Not only was it a defense against enemies, it also provided a barrier against the rough waves and relentless wind that slammed into New York Harbor. In the late 18th century, the wall became buried under landfill, and was subsequently lost when colonial fortifications were demolished and Battery Park was built in the early 19th century.
According to Robert Tierney, the chairman of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, the wall give rise to the park’s modern name. So, next time you head to the South Ferry Station, make sure to keep an eye out for this major segment of The Battery Wall, which is embedded into the tiled wall at the station’s entrance. Another L-shaped bastion segment is also on display at Castle Clinton in Battery Park.
PHOTO OF THE DAY WILL RETURN SOON.
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
UNTAPPED NEW YORK
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Steinway & Sons’ piano factory in Astoria, Queens is one of the city’s great hidden gems, where 250 workers are still meticulously handcrafting the world’s most acclaimed pianos since the 1870s. It is only one of two factories worldwide for Steinway, supplying all of the demand for the company’s pianos in the Western Hemisphere, following many of the innovations patented by the company over the centuries. Steinway is still regularly adding new innovations to the manufacturing process as well, necessary to maintain its place among the great instrument names in the musical world. Steinway is also innovating on the marketing end, with the opening of a secret vault that showcases its most exceptional pianos, including the limited edition John Lennon piano.
The Vault is so off-limits that it is opened by biometric fingerprint, and only four people in the company have access. We recently had the opportunity to go inside the vault with Anthony Gilroy, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications at Steinway & Sons. and once his fingerprint was approved, an automated female voice announced “Access granted. Welcome Mr. Gilroy” in a very James Bond-esque way. The vault door, hand wheel and all, is not visible from anywhere on the floor, but located behind another door. Inside, there is space for six pianos displayed to their most optimal conditions.
Each piano is presented as a “vignette” which is, fittingly, merchandised more as performance art than how it would be in a standard show room. The lighting, which can only be controlled by app by the four who have biometric access to The Vault, is custom-designed for each piano, all of which retail for at least $200,000. One rather unusual piano, inspired by Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition goes for $2.5 million. “You’re going to light a wood finished piano differently than you would light an ebony piano with silver accents,” explains Gilroy.
The John Lennon Imagine piano
The most famous of the pianos in the Vault may well be the John Lennon Imagine Limited Edition, launched in 2010 with the partnership of Yoko Ono on what would have been Lennon’s 70th Birthday. It features artwork by John Lennon on the music desk, of which there are seven different versions. The piano is modeled after the piano Lennon bought for Ono in 1971 that sits in the apartment they shared together in The Dakota where Ono still lives today. The piano has Lennon’s signature at the right end of the keyboard and the words “You may say I’m a dreamer” on the inside of the rim. A portion of the proceeds of this piano go to John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, a non-profit mobile recording studio. There are only a limited number of these pianos left.
Power to the People by John Lennon
The Lang Lang Black Diamond Limited Edition piano is signed by the pianist and designed in conjunction with the furniture designer Dakota Jackson who is a pianist himself. Like most of the pianos in The Vault, this piano comes with Spirio, the program that enables the piano to play on its own. The Lang Lang piano comes with Spirio R, which allows you to record, edit and play back what you’ve been playing. Following Chinese superstition surrounding the lucky number 8, there are only 88 pianos available of the Lang Lang piano in the Model B size, and 8 in the Model D size that is generally used in concert halls.
The Lang Lang Black Diamond Limited Edition piano
Another piano is made from of one single flitch (or plank) of Santos rosewood, an exotic wood from East India — making it a particularly rare piano both in terms of the material and construction. Another piano has a Macassar ebony exotic wood veneer, while another called the Onyx Duet has the Macassar ebony only on the underside of the rim and lid. When the piano is closed, it looks like a classic Steinway piano. And one piano which has recently moved out of The Vault but is sitting just outside it is the Heliconia Designed by Lalique piano created in partnership with the Hamburg Steinway factory featuring crystals and silver-colored inlays from the famous French glassmaker.
Last but not least is “Pictures at an Exhibition”, the multi-million dollar art case piano with cuckoo clock legs. There’s only one available and it took four years to make. It was painted by notable Steinway artist Paul Wyse who has painted members of Parliament in Canada, a portrait of Billy Joel that was hung at Steinway Hall, and other works. The piano shows works of art referenced or inspired in Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, a famous piece for the piano and was developed in conjunction with Steinway’s President who was looking for a piano that could meld art and music.
The Vault also has a soundproof lounge, with furniture designed by Christopher Guy and a mid-century Teague Steinway piano a design created for the 100th anniversary of the Steinway company. It too has Spirio, so if a VIP’s guests get bored of the testing of the pianos, they can sit in the lounge, peruse a copy of Christopher Payne’s incredible book Making Steinwaywhile listening to a pre-recorded piece. We are potentially planning a tour of the Steinway factory for our Untapped New York readers. If you’d like advance notice of this tour, sign up below!
PHOTO OF THE DAY WILL RETURN SOON.
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
UNTAPPED NEW YORK
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
With approximately 40 million annual visitors, Central Park stands as the most visited urban park in the United States. Navigating its long, winding paths across 843 acres can expectedly get quite tricky—even for the most seasoned New Yorkers. If you ever find yourself lost in a sea of green, there’s a way to reorient yourself without having to rely on dubious data networks or Google Maps: just head to one of Central Park’s 1,600 lamp posts, which serve as unlikely navigational devices.
Also known as “luminaires,” Central Park’s decorative lamp posts feature plaques with four numbers embossed onto them. The first two indicate the closest cross street, and the last two numbers indicate which side of the park the lamp is closer to: even numbers, in this case, mean the east side, and odd numbers mean west. The last two digits also indicate location, with the numbers increasing as you move closer to the center of the park.
Newer lamppost navigational devices in Central Park
A lamp post with the number “6202,” for instance, translates to a location on the east side aligned with 62nd Street.
“The last two digits increase as one moves toward the center of the park,” explained writer Susan Merrit in Works That Work. This numerical system was originally designed to help park employees locate lamps in need of service or repair, but it’s has since become a useful tool for in-the-know park visitors.
TUESDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY WILL RETURN SOON.
MONDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY WILL RETURN SOON.
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
UNTAPPED NEW YORK
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
The Alexander Hamilton Custom House, now the National Museum of the American Indian, was built to impress. Designed by noted architect Cass Gilbert, the Custom House was the first building merchants and traders sailing into Manhattan’s Port of New York would visit to pay their duties, The building purposefully faces Broadway instead of the Port, so those entering could see the impressive thoroughfare and Bowling Green and be dazzled by the bustle of New York City. Massive sculptures and ornate stonework add grandeur to the facade, and inside, the building is just as magnificent. Walking into the landmarked building’s rotunda, a massive domed ceiling and skylight created by the masterful Guastavino Company are revealed.
When Cass Gilbert sent the Guastavino Company his 1899 plans for a 130 by 85-foot elliptical dome with a skylight in the center, he didn’t explain how it would be structurally supported. The Guastavino father and son engineering duo were often tasked with transforming vague and ambitious architectural plans into real structures. For Gilbert’s Custom House dome, Guastavino Sr. created a “double-tile dome with an elliptical steel compression ring at the top and a steel tension ring at the bottom,” as explained in Guastavino Vaulting: The Art of Structural Tile by John Ochsendorf. The skylight weighs 140 tons and is supported by the dome thanks to Guastavino’s innovative vaulting method. The recognizable Guastavino-style vaulting with its cross-hatch tile is hidden behind the dome you actually see!
When you gaze up at the dome today, you see beautiful murals painted by Reginald Marsh. Those paintings were not part of the original design but were added in 1937. The murals were commissioned by the Treasury Relief Art Project, an offshoot of the Works Progress Administration. Marsh’s art covers 2,300 square feet of the vaulted ceiling. With help from eight assistants, it took only three months to complete the project. Marsh paid his assistants $1.50 an hour and took only ninety cents an hour for himself. The entire project cost $3,000, surely much less than just one of the paintings is worth today. The murals depict port scenes of various ships arriving and departing, with interpretive portraits of famous early explorers like Henry Hudson and Giovanni da Verrazzano in-between.
Mark Twain was also known, inside and outside the club, as an avid, obsessive billiard player. The famous billiard champion William Hoppe described Twain as “the most enthusiastic billiard fan” he ever knew. According to the website of the Amsterdam Billiards in New York City, Twain was more than enthusiastic, he was borderline obsessed: “Twain stipulated anywhere he lived, there must be a proper billiards table. As he grew older, billiards became an obsession for him; he was a recluse who would only accept callers if they were willing to shoot pool with him. Once, when his house caught fire, he was so invested in his game of billiards that he barely even noticed the flames.” Twain himself in a public speech declared, “The game of billiards has destroyed my naturally sweet disposition.”
You can find more of Guastavino’s work in the staircases of the Custom House. The spiral shape was inspired by the shells of the nautilus, an aquatic mollusk. This design feature is in-line with the decorative nautical theme found throughout the Custom House, where ornamental shell shapes, waves, anchors, dolphins, and ship bows are a common sight. The staircases employ the same innovative vaulting methods as the rotunda dome.
The Museum of the American Indian, which now occupies the building, is currently closed due to COVID-19. However, when the museum is open, you can visit for free and see the rotunda inside, as well as the museum’s exhibits! The Guastavinos were a prolific pair who left their mark on many of the city’s most iconic buildings.
TUESDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
WILL RETURN SOON.
MONDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
WILL RETURN SOON.
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
UNTAPPED NEW YORK
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
OOPS….ONE OF NEXT WEEK’S ISSUES WENT OUT EARLY. ON JANUARY 2 INSTEAD OF JANUARY 11. WE ARE WRITING IN ADVANCE AND PUSHED THE WRONG BUTTON. ENJOY THE ISSUES. SEE YOU ON THE 12TH!!!! JUDYB
FROM THE ARCHIVES
TUESDAY,JANUARY 3, 2023
ISSUE 876
TIDBITS FROM
UNTAPPED NEW YORK
LOCATE MARK TWAIN’S POOL CUE IN THE PLAYERS CLUB IN NYC’S GRAMERCY PARK
Above a portrait of Mark Twain hangs his pool cue at the Players Club
There are many treasures in the members only Players Club in Gramercy Park, whose membership consists of theater industry folks and enthusiasts. One of them is a pool cue used by writer Mark Twain (aka Samuel Longhorne Clemens), one of its most famous members who by all accounts, lived it up at the club.
He was present at the founding lunch at Delmonico’s where the club inaugurated, an event reported with gusto in the New York Times on April 18, 1888 as one of the “pleasanter lunches ever given” at the restaurant. (General William Tecumseh Sherman was also present, himself a big fan of the theater). He was also an avid attendee of the dinners hosted at the club itself, according to Lost Past Remembered, and signed the below menu from January 3rd, 1906 where each dish has an accompanying clever quote.
Mark Twain was also known, inside and outside the club, as an avid, obsessive billiard player. The famous billiard champion William Hoppe described Twain as “the most enthusiastic billiard fan” he ever knew. According to the website of the Amsterdam Billiards in New York City, Twain was more than enthusiastic, he was borderline obsessed: “Twain stipulated anywhere he lived, there must be a proper billiards table. As he grew older, billiards became an obsession for him; he was a recluse who would only accept callers if they were willing to shoot pool with him. Once, when his house caught fire, he was so invested in his game of billiards that he barely even noticed the flames.” Twain himself in a public speech declared, “The game of billiards has destroyed my naturally sweet disposition.”
The Library of Congress has a photograph of Twain standing over a billiard table holding a cue stick at Stormfield, Twain’s house in Redding, Connecticut that he lived in from 1908 to his death in 1910. Twain’s house in Hartford, Connecticut (where he lived from 1874 to 1891), designed by Edward Tuckerman Potter and Alfred H. Thorp, had a dedicated billiard room.
He was not an even-tempered player. When the game went steadily against him he was likely to become critical, even fault-finding, in his remarks. Then presently he would be seized with remorse and become over-gentle and attentive, placing the balls as I knocked them into the pockets, hurrying to render this service. I wished he would not do it. It distressed me that he should humble himself. I was willing that he should lose his temper, that he should be even harsh if he felt so inclined–his age, his position, his genius gave him special privileges. Yet I am glad, as I remember it now, that the other side revealed itself, for it completes the sum of his humanity. Once in a burst of exasperation he made such an onslaught on the balls that he landed a couple of them on the floor. I gathered them up and we went on playing as if nothing had happened, only he was very gentle and sweet, like a summer meadow when the storm has passed by. Presently he said:
“This is a most amusing game. When you play badly it amuses me, and when I play badly and lose my temper it certainly must amuse you.”
It is therefore not surprising that The Players Club would also have a billiard table and to this day, his pool cue hangs next to it above a portrait painting of Twain by Gordon Stevenson
PHOTO OF THE DAY WILL RETURN SOON.
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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THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
