Spring will soon be here and my curiosity led me to check out the origin of the Parisian street furniture. So classic and wonderful and the style continuity that we lack here. Saluting Paris!!!!!
When you visit Paris you’ll hardly notice them. But they are found in the hundreds throughout the French capital. The iconic public benches of Paris are part of the street furniture designed by French architect Gabriel Davioud. They played their part in Haussmann’s vast public works program in the mid-19th century.
To illustrate this article I had to search really hard through my photo library. As I mentioned earlier, we take the benches of Paris so much for granted that they might not seem the most interesting thing to photograph. However, after reading this blog post, I’m pretty sure you will never look at them in the same way!
The first public benches of Paris
The first benches made from stone or wood, as well as seats for rent, are recorded from the 18th century.
But it’s only from the Second Empire (mid-19th C.) that Paris’ pavements were furnished with thousands of public benches.When Baron Haussmann undertook the great urban work across the city of Paris, a series of structures were set up along the newly opened boulevards. All street furniture was harmonised in the same style and dark green colours. This was true for Morris columns, pissoirs, newspaper kiosks, lampposts, and by the 1870s the Wallace fountains.
The benches of Paris were no exception to that rule. They were also codified and painted in dark green.
The public benches were designed by French architect Gabriel Davioud in the 1850s. He was the main collaborator of Baron Haussmann and his works included the magnificent entrance gate of Parc Monceau, the Saint-Michel fountain and the Châtelet theatre.
Baron Haussmann introduced the public benches for the comfort of the walking Parisians.
At that time there were no cars and public transport was not as efficient as it is today.
Therefore people walked much more than today… and as you can guess, the benches were greatly appreciated for providing a comfortable place where people could catch their breath!
The first public benches appeared on the Grands Boulevards and in the public gardens (les squares parisiens) opened by Haussmann.
It is now obvious that many bench locations have since become obsolete. On many occasions, I spotted a bench and wanted to take a little rest. But it was often located too close to a car and the gutter, or next to a dirty and ugly litter bin… a puddle around it (hoping it’s not something else!), litter on the wooden boards. Why would I want to sit there? How times do change!
Over time, the models of public benches have been modernised and diversified. Some models have been created with the intention to stop homeless people from sleeping on them.
But let’s face it, this strategy hasn’t been well-received by many Parisians. Some find it cruel. As a matter of fact, the homeless are not the only people who might like to lay down on the Paris benches…
Madame, has anyone ever taught you the rules of propriety? Tsk-tsk…
The two models of Paris’ benches
It is estimated on Wikipedia that there are around 100,000 public benches designed by Davioud throughout Paris. (although I have to say I’m a bit doubtful about this high figure – other sources show 10,000).
Davioud had two models designed: the straight bench and the ‘gondole’ bench.
The first model of the bench is made up of straight and perpendicular boards hold by a cast-iron structure that display the coat of arms of the City of Paris.
The bench consists of one or two sides.
It is found on the pavement of avenues and boulevards, aligned with the street trees.
ILLUSTRATIONS BY HUGH FERRIS DEDICATION: JUNE 18, 1940
80 YEARS ON THE F.D.R.
Hugh Macomber Ferriss (July 12, 1889 – January 28, 1962) was an American architect, illustrator, and poet.[1][2] He was associated with exploring the psychological condition of modern urban life, a common cultural enquiry of the first decades of the twentieth century. After his death a colleague said he ‘influenced my generation of architects’ more than any other man.” Ferriss also influenced popular culture, for example Gotham City (the setting for Batman) and Kerry Conran’s Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.[
Early in his career, Ferriss began to specialize in creating architectural renderings for other architects’ work rather than designing buildings himself. As a delineator, his task was to create a perspective drawing of a building or project. This was done either as part of the sales process for a project, or, more commonly, to advertise or promote the project to a wider audience. Thus, his drawings were frequently destined for annual shows or advertisements. As a result of this, his works were often published (rather than just given to the architect’s client), and Ferriss acquired a reputation.
After he had set up as a free-lance artist, he found himself much sought after. In 1912, Ferriss arrived in New York City and was soon employed as a delineator for Cass Gilbert. Some of his earliest drawings are of Gilbert’s Woolworth Building; they reveal that Ferriss’s illustrations had not yet developed his signature dark, moody appearance. In 1915, with Gilbert’s blessing, he left the firm and set up shop as an independent architectural delineator.
In 1914, Ferriss married Dorothy Lapham, an editor and artist for Vanity Fair. Daily News Building, NYC By 1920, Ferriss had begun to develop his own style, frequently presenting the building at night, lit up by spotlights, or in a fog, as if photographed with a soft focus. The shadows cast by and on the building became almost as important as the revealed surfaces. His style elicited emotional responses from the viewer. His drawings were being regularly featured by such diverse publications as the Century Magazine, the Christian Science Monitor, Harper’s Magazine, and Vanity Fair. His writings also began to appear in various publications.
In 1916, New York City had passed landmark zoning laws that regulated and limited the massing of buildings according to a formula. The reason was to counteract the tendency for buildings to occupy the whole of their lot and go straight up as far as was possible. Since many architects were not sure exactly what these laws meant for their designs, in 1922 the skyscraper architect Harvey Wiley Corbett commissioned Ferriss to draw a series of four step-by-step perspectives demonstrating the architectural consequences of the zoning law. These four drawings would later be used in his 1929 book The Metropolis of Tomorrow.
This book illustrated many conte crayon sketches of tall buildings. Some of the sketches were theoretical studies of possible setback variations within the 1916 zoning laws. Some were renderings for other architect’s skyscrapers. And at the end of the book was a sequence of views in Manhattan emerged in an almost Babylonian guise. His writing in the book betrayed an ambivalence to the rapid urbanization of America: There are occasional mornings when, with an early fog not yet dispersed, one finds oneself, on stepping onto the parapet, the spectator of an even more nebulous panorama. Literally, there is nothing to be seen but mist; not a tower has yet been revealed below, and except for the immediate parapet rail . . . there is no suggestion of either locality or solidity for the coming scene.
To an imaginative spectator, it might seem that he is perched in some elevated stage box to witness some gigantic spectacle, some cyclopean drama of forms; and that the curtain has not yet risen . . . there could not fail to be at least a moment of wonder. What apocalypse is about to be revealed? What is its setting? And what will be the purport of this modern metropolitan drama? In 1955, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1960.
THIS IS A SMALL SELECTION OF THE IMAGES IN THE COMMEMORATIVE BOOK. THERE ARE MULTIPLE PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY. YOU CAN REQUEST TO SEE IT FROM THE RI.I.H.S.
Drawing of Southbound Roadway in the Triple-Dec Section in the 80’s
North portal of only true tunnel in East River Drive. It fronts Gracie Mansion, preserving it ancient view of the river.
Architects’ rendering of new municipal asphalt plant to replace existing structure on 91st Street.
The successful Asphalt Green today
Drawing of north-bound roadway of triple deck section in the 80’s
2020
From the Archives
Artist view of Grand to Montgomery Street link looking southward toward lower Manhattan.
Hugh Ferris drawings of the 81st Street portal during construction. The sketch show the tower and northbound roadway.
81st Street Portal Today
74th Street Power Station as it looks today above, and under construction below
Drawing looking south from 60th Street showing north and southbound roadways as they pass under Queensboro Bridge. Structure at left is new Department of Sanitation dump. The ramp to the dump is for Sanitation trucks. Now, just north of the dump is the East River Roundabout artpiece by Alyce Aycock
A drawing of the completed portal of the triple deck structure at 81st Street. The tower marks the juncture of the portion of the drive built on land with that built over water. The stairway joins the shore front drive at water level with the esplanade that is the third deck of the drive. Overpass leads to 81st Street.
Future concept of 91st Street redesign with Sanitation dump.
Chester Price drawing of new municipal ferry house at 78th Street. The roof of the ferryhouse will serve as a section tho the Drive’s pedestrian esplanade. Access to the ferryhouse from the west side of the Drive is by an overpass.
Park Area in the Grand to 14th Street section of the Drive built in cooperation with the Department of Parks and dedicated in 1939.
Williamsburg Bridge today.
TUESDAYPHOTO OF THE DAY
COURTESY OF JUDITH LIEBERMAN SEND US YOUR TITLE FOR THIS PHOTO
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
FUNDING PROVIDED BY ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPORE GRANTS CITY COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE BEN KALLOS DISCRETIONARY FUNDING THRU DYCD
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
Quayola, Storms. Photo courtesy of Times Square Arts.
A stormy sea will take over Times Square this March as images of frothy, crashing waves fill the giant billboard screens. Presented in collaboration with Artnet, the Times Square Arts Spring Midnight Moment series kicks off with London-based artist Quayola’s digital video series, Storms. Storms is a digitally rendered version of the ocean, with realistic waves that collide on a stormy night. Known for her immersive audiovisual installations, Quayola captures the crashing waves of Cornwall, England’s sea, to show the challenging relationship between nature and technology. Storms will be on view from March 1 to March 31.
Credit to Woomin Kim
Love arts and crafts? Material for the Arts textile artist Woomin Kim plays with an assortment of materials and quilts to make The Warehouse, a series of textile works inspired by the MFTA’s expansive inventory of art supplies. In her solo exhibition, Kim examines themes of immigrant life through landscapes filled with a clutter of objects like discarded mannequin pieces, clothes, furniture, and a whimsical horse. The quilts hang together in colorful pieces. Kim’s work shows visitors what can be created with the materials and found objects at MFTA and how you can give the formerly discarded items a new home. The installation will be on view until April 12.
Courtesy of Shushank Shrestha
The Rubin Museum of Art will close its physical museum this fall, so don’t miss out on the new exhibit Reimagine: Himalayan Art Now! Reimagine features 32 contemporary artists from across the globe and a collection of artworks that explore diverse perspectives of heritage, culture, and identity. The exhibition marks the museum’s 20th anniversary year and will be on view from March 15th to October 6th, 2024.A centerpiece of the exhibition is a large-scale installation by Asha Kama Wangdi. The site-specific piece is made of hundreds of repurposed prayer flags from religious sites. Wangdi’s installation will cascade down the museum’s spiral staircase. Bidhata K C’s interactive piece Out of Emptiness highlights connections between discarded objects and broader themes of life. LuYang explores Buddhism through a 3D animation of the Wheel of Life. Prithvi Shrestha’s paintings make a commentary on technological effects. Roshan Pradhan’s piece uses robots to explore the topic of gender. Tenzin Mingyur Paldron’s Power, Masculinity and Mindfulness also highlights gender fluidity as an outlet of their own experience of coming out as transgender. Uma Bista’s photo series Stay Home, Sisters showcases cultural taboos surrounding women.
Dennis RedMoon Darkeem blends indigenous culture and inspiration from old maps in his poster, Direct Connection on Turtle Island. Darkeem depicts a colorful version of the New York City skyline sitting on the shell of a turtle as the sun rises in the background. The entire scene is bordered by a wampum, a traditional indigenous bead. Catch a Line by Erin Robinson celebrates subway travel and the graphic design of New York City subway maps through a vibrant collage of subway lines and symbols.
Our computer glitch has been repaired with a new keyboard. Glad to have one where you can actually see the letters on the keys.
A rendering of “Biosignature Preservation” on Park Avenue, a sculpture by Jorge Otero-Pailos which will be part of his forthcoming exhibition “Analogue Sites” on Park Avenue Exhibition
The Fund for Park Avenue will unveil two massive sculptures this spring by artists Jorge Otero-Pailos and Betsabeé Romero.Traces in Order to Remember by Betsabeé Romero is a collection of five sculptures, each with a unique story to tell. On The Other Side Of The Track, a tower that symbolizes the industry and exploitation of Western colonization, kicks off the series on 81st St. The series continues uptown with Moon Seal and Warriors in Captivity III on 82nd St, Warriors in Captivity at 83rd Street, and Rubber and Feathered Snakes at 83rd Street. Romero is a Mexican visual artist who uses everyday materials in her work.
Jorge Otero-Pailos’ sculpture is made of large steel pieces wrought from a fence that once surrounded the former U.S. Embassy in Oslo. Part of an upcoming exhibition, Analogue Sites, the sculpture aims to raise awareness of the importance of American modern architecture and the preservation of mid-century embassies. Originally placed in Oslo, the art piece will relocate to Park Avenue in mid-March. It will be on display until October 2024. Don’t miss out on the Spring Program Lecture for the exhibition hosted at Colombia University, which will feature the artist himself.
Photo Courtesy of the New York Botanical Garden
Take a walk through The New York Botanical Garden this spring for The Orchid Show: Florals in Fashion, a fashion-themed orchid exhibition featuring exotic plants arranged in bold, vibrant arrangements. This year’s 21st-anniversary display highlights the work of rising sustainability-focused and climate-aware fashion brands Collina Strada by Hillary Taymour, Dauphinette by Olivia Cheng, and FLWR PSTL L a.k.a. Kristen Alpaugh. Each artist provides their take on the connection between plants and fashion. Walk the runway with Alpaugh’s leafy model, strike a pose with Cheng’s mannequins clad in flowery bikinis and draping leaves, and snap a picture of Taymour’s gown made of blooming flowers! Look out for select dates of Orchid Nights, an evening that offers music, cocktails, and live performances, a must-see event for fashion and nature enthusiasts alike. The Orchid Show runs from February 17th to April 21st.
Spend Friday evening at a late-night festival of conversations, debates, multimedia pop-ups, and workshops, that will inspire you to consider the impact of urban development through lenses of inclusivity, sustainability, arts and culture, education, and food. Night of Ideas, co-curated by Villa Albertine and Centre Pompidou, will take over Hudson County Community College (HCCC) in Jersey City from 6pm on Friday, March 1st to 1am. This nocturnal arts and culture annual marathon is free and open to the public! RSVP here.
Courtesy New York State Museum, Albany NY
As a tribute to the 400th anniversary of New Amsterdam’s settlement, The New-York Historical Society reveals a special exhibit titled New York Before New York: The Castello Plan of New Amsterdam on March 15th. The original Castello Plan by Johannes Vingboons is a 17th-century map that provides a snapshot of Dutch life in Mannahatta. It reveals the city of New Amsterdam at its peak. Through documents, artifacts, letters, and cartography the exhibit expands upon what the map shows to paint a picture of what life in New Amsterdam was like not just for the Duch settlers, but also for Indigenous people of New York and enslaved Africans. The artist Russel Shorto, Director of the New Amsterdam Project at New-York Historical, utilizes this project to delve into themes of free trade, race, and colonialism of that time while connecting it to our world today. The Castello Plan of New Amsterdam will be on view from March 15 through July 14.
MTA Arts & Design jazzes up your commute this month with six new vibrant artworks. From subway superheroes to flying dragons, talented artists Dennis RedMoon Darkeem, Yevgenia Nayberg, Erin K. Robinson, Taili Wu, and Marcel Dzama celebrate New York City’s history and the Chinese zodiac Year of the Dragon through digital art. Catch these gems at select stations and inside subway cars throughout the year.
Marcel Dzama’s art cards, The underground helps the garden 1 and 2, depict whimsical scenes of nature within subways cars. In Dzama’s art, people and animals coexist in urban places, emphasizing the harmony between city life and the natural environment. NYC Superhero by Yevgenia Nayberg portrays a cape-clad superhero flying over the city. This figure serves to empower commuters on their daily journeys. Talili Wu’s Year of the Dragon is a ceramic-crafted subway-themed dragon with references to New York City landmarks adorning its body to represent growth and energy.
Dennis RedMoon Darkeem blends indigenous culture and inspiration from old maps in his poster, Direct Connection on Turtle Island. Darkeem depicts a colorful version of the New York City skyline sitting on the shell of a turtle as the sun rises in the background. The entire scene is bordered by a wampum, a traditional indigenous bead. Catch a Line by Erin Robinson celebrates subway travel and the graphic design of New York City subway maps through a vibrant collage of subway lines and symbols.
The U.S. Navy New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn, New York (USA), photographed from 300 m altitude, looking west, 15 April 1945. The ships in the large dry docks in center are (left to right): USS Houston (CL-81) and the aircraft carriers USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVB-42) and USS Reprisal (CV-35).
Photo of the Hindenburg over New York City on May 6, 1937. A few hours after this photo was taken, the airship crashed and burned at Lakehurst, NJ while trying to land.
LOTS OF FOLKS IDENTIFIED THIS IMAGE OF GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL AARON EISENPREISS, LINA BECKER, JOYCE GOLD, ANDY SPARBERG, ALEXIS VILLAFANE, HARA REISER, & GLORA HERMAN
CREDITS
Text by Judith Berdy
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
MAYA LEVANON-PHOTOS TIK TOK & INSTAGRAM
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
IN 1961 THE FDNY DID AN AERIAL SURVY OF WELFARE ISLAND. THESE IMAGES ARE POSTED ON FLICKER. THANKS TO DYLAN BROWN FOR TELLING ME ABOUT THIS GREAT HISTORICAL REFERENCE.
The center of the island from Cottage Row, just sout of Blackwell House. Notice that the main road came off the Welfare Island Bridge and was on the West side of the island. The buildings in the center of the island were the City Home.
On the West Road was Our Lady Consoler of the Afflicted Catholic Church.
Just north of the Welfare Island Bridge are the remains of the Convalescent Camp, later to become the FDNY Training Center. North of the camp are the buildings of Metropolitan Hosptial
The north end of the island showing the City Home area around Good Shepherd. Notice the amount of structures on the island. The white roof is Good shepherd with the one adjacent to it Good Samaritan German Lutheran Church
Another view of the Welfare Island Bridge ramp as it come onto the island going north or south.
Lighthouse Park with Draper Hall, the nurses residence that remained from the Metropolitan Hospital School of Nursing.
Metropolitan Hospital campus with the Octagon central building. Coler Hospital is just to the north. Can you spot the lighthouse?
Sacred Heart Church is to the right of the Metropolitan Hospital campus.
A TRYLON AND PERISPHERE REPLICA ONCE STOOD AT THE LINCOLN TUNNEL
ISSUE # 1190
UNTAPPED NEW YORK
Searching the World’s Fair archives, Untapped New York’s founder Michelle Young came upon a forgotten gem: a mini Trylon and Perisphe replica that once stood at the New Jersey entrance of the Lincoln Tunnel. This information booth structure was meant to be eye-catching and to “induce the out-of-town motorist to stop at the booths before plunging into Manhattan.” The Trylon and Perisphere were the centerpieces of the 1939 World’s Fair and this piece of promotional architecture was one of many replicas that popped up around NYC to promote the fair.
“1939 World’s Fair Information Booth,” Courtesy of The Weehawken Time Machine
At the Lincon Tunnel, the spherical Perisphere part of the information booth is described as “containing a window counter with space for two clerks” and it measured 11 feet in diameter. The Trylon part stretched 38 feet high and was wrapped in a silver and black pennant which read “New York World’s Fair.” The structures were painted white and the lettering on them was red with blue trim.
The booth was advertised with 27 billboards on the highways which called attention to it and directed motorists toward it. It was manned 24/7 while the fair was in operation. The press release notes that the fair guides inside were “equipped to not only dispense information about the fair but about hotels and rooming, garages, road conditions, and similar subjects.”
Trylon and Perisphere booth in Times Square Image fromNYPL
The Port Authority built similar information booths at entrances to the Holland Tunnel and George Washington Bridge as well, as the document notes. Another information booth in this shape was built at the center of Times Square, at 46th Street and Broadway, mere steps away from the headquarters of its sponsor, Loews Metro Goldwyn Meyer.
CORRECTION
Good morning. This is Andy Sparberg. My message is not a response to today’s photo of the day, but a needed correction to this morning’s issue ISSUE # 1189 about the Wall St. Subway Station.
Specifically, the paragraph about the ticket chopper is incorrect. I am providing a corrected version below. Additional needed words are in bold font.
What’s the purpose of the ticket chopper? Before subway tokens were introduced in 1953, riders paid the fare via coins. Until 1921, the worker in the subway booth would hand them a paper ticket, and the rider gave the ticket to another employee at the chopper box, which would shred the ticket, according to the New York Transit Museum. To save the labor costs of chopper boxes, in 1921 the subways introduced automatic turnstiles, which required the rider to deposit the proper fare before admitting the rider into the station. Turnstiles required nickels until 1948, dimes from 1948-53, and tokens from 1953 until 2003.
(Turnstile information is from Under the Sidewalks of New York, by Brian Cudahy, pages 88-99.)
STATUE OF PROMETHIUS AT ROCKEFELLER CENTER BEING RE-GUILDED GLORIA HERMAN, JOYCE GOLD AND HARA REISER GOT IT RIGHT
Text by Judith Berdy
UNTAPPED NEW YORK
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 Dottie Jeffries
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
Con artists were no strangers to early New York City. At one time or another, nearly every major landmark in the city had been sold by a ‘matchstick man.’ Around the turn of the twentieth century, one such fraud was performed by two men who targeted an artifact of slightly less renown: The Great West Point Chain.
The Great West Point Chain was the linchpin of the American defenses at West Point during the Revolutionary War. Prior to the Chain, various other methods of securing the Hudson River Valley from invading British vessels had been tried, but none with success. First installed across the Hudson at West Point in 1778, “General Washington’s watch chain” would guard the River for four years.
George Washington contracted Sterling Iron Works to make the chain, according to the Office of the USMA Command Historian. It contained 750 links weighing 100-120 pounds each. The chain was pulled out of the river each fall so it wouldn’t break when the water froze in the winter. The ice would keep the British at bay during that time. The chain was reinstalled each spring for four years. It was taken in for the last time in the fall of 1782.
After the War, the Chain was left on the riverbanks. The new country was nervous that they would end up in another war with Great Britain and didn’t want to dispose of the Chain in case it became useful again. However, when war did break out again in 1812 the Chain sat idle. Finally, in 1829, it was melted down.
Photo: U.S. Military Academy PAO Michelle Kalish
Or so it seemed. Over the next 60 years most forgot about the West Point Chain. Then, in 1889 Chicago confectioner Charles Frederick Gunther began displaying 18 links of the “original” West Point Chain in his curiosity museum. He had bought them from a military surplus dealer in New York City.
The dealer went by the unlikely moniker of Westminster Abbey (he told people his father had wanted him to be a lawyer and gave him a distinguished name. This would probably have given his father quite a shock, as the elder Abbey actually named his son ‘John’). ‘Westminster’ ran a junk shop on Front Street near the South Street Seaport, advertising everything from “rifles, revolvers, and military pistols” to the “best mixed tea, wholesale or retail”.
New York Sun – December 25, 1898
Abbey picked up his chain at an auction at the Brooklyn Navy Yard but didn’t pretend to know how it got there. When asked, he simply replied that Gunther had verified it. Abbey hit the jackpot, both in dollars and publicity, when he managed to sell 18 links of the chain to former New York mayor Abram Hewitt in 1898.
Abbey got out of the chain game shortly after the Hewitt sale. He sold his remaining sections to equally dubious (albeit more successful) surplus dealer Francis Bannerman VI, of Bannerman Castle fame. Where Abbey was an amateur self-promoter, Bannerman had gone pro. To go along with his links (and the desk weights he made out of some pieces) Bannerman printed up a booklet detailing the chain’s history.
Photo: U.S. Military Academy PAO Michelle Kalish
According to Bannerman, a large section of the Great Chain had survived the furnace and was brought to Manhattan in 1864 to be displayed at the Metropolitan Sanitary Fair, which raised money for the Union Army. Rather than haul the Chain back to West Point after the fair, it was dumped in Brooklyn. It had been Bannerman’s father (also a surplus dealer) who bought the chain at the Navy Yard Auction. His idea was to melt the unremarkable chain down for scrap.
At this point (Bannerman says) Abbey stepped in and, recognizing their importance, saved the links from destruction by buying them all. After making a few big sales, Abbey sold the leftovers back to Bannerman.
The problem is that none of the chain links sold by Abbey or Bannerman were authentic. In reality, Abbey had acquired a British mooring chain, cast in Wales in the mid-nineteenth century. Made of smooth rolled iron (rather than the rough, hand-hammered metal of the authentic Chain), Abbey’s links were almost double the size and weight of the West Point links. Despite the obvious differences, Abbey and Bannerman crafted a fiction from just enough fact that people believed it.
In reality, some of the original Chain was saved from destruction and left behind at West Point. Some of what was saved was exhibited at the 1864 Sanitary Fair. An auction at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1887 is also documented (although no mention is made of any chain).
Photo: Michelle Kalish, USMA PAO, Feb. 16, 2024
Although some questioned why their links differed from the originals, most either remained silent from embarrassment or made excuses (the Buffalo Historical Society wrote in 1921 that their Bannerman links are larger because they were made for a point in the Chain where the strain from the River was greatest).
By the time all was said and done, spurious chain links were scattered from Vermont to California, from small-town museums to the Smithsonian archives. The whole fraud wasn’t pieced together until 1990 when Hudson River historian Lincoln Diamant investigated all the known links for his book Chaining the Hudson: The Fight for the River in the American Revolution, a wonderful history of the West Point Chain.
Photo: Michelle Kalish, USMA PAO
A few authentic links still survive, most notably at Trophy Point in the United States Military Academy at West Point. Thirteen links ring a monument to the ingenuity, dedication, and patriotism of those who created it. Most of the chain was reused during the 19th century by the West Point Foundry.
You can even see pieces of the fake chain links that Abbey sold. A stretch of 25 links runs across the grounds of Ringwood Manor, the former New Jersey summer estate of Peter Cooper and Abram S. Hewitt. Hewitt purchased the chain segment from Abbey in the early 1900s, but almost immediately realized he had been conned. He had the links analyzed and found out they were made of English iron. The chain remained on the grounds as a reminder of the local area’s iron mining history.
EMERGENCY EXIT FROM 53RD STREET SUBWAY TUNNEL NEXT TO STRECKER LABORATORY
Text by Judith Berdy
ROOSEVELT ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
UNTAPPED NEW YORK DAN THURBER
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 Dottie Jeffries
MAYA LEVANON-PHOTOS TIK TOK & INSTAGRAM
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
During the 1920’s Aloysisus O’Kelly painted a series of paintings of Blackwell’s Island and the East River.
Years ago, I saw 5 of the painting at a conference room at Metropolitan Hospital. I took photos, just in case…..
Originally the painting I assume were hung at the Metropolitan Hospital on Blackwell’s Island.
Recently the NYC Health + Hospitals Arts in Medicine program has been surveying the collections of all the hospitals and facilities. The survey for Metropolitan Hospital lists two of the 5 paintings as being on site. The others may still be there, but not yet discovered.
Two other paintings were listed by an auction gallery on the internet.
Thanks to Larissa Trinder and the Arts in Medicine program for discovering many great artworks that have been lost of not on view at our H+H facilities.
Aloysius O’Kelly (3 July 1853 in Dublin – 12 January 1936) was an Irishpainter.
Early life
Aloysius was born to John and Bridget O’Kelly in Peterson’s Lane (now Lombard Street East), Dublin 3 July 1853. He was the youngest of four boys and one girl. The O’Kelly family along with Aloysius’ cousins, the Lawlors, made up a network of artists and political activists in 19th-century Irish cultural history. His grandparents on his father’s side were natives of County Roscommon and his father ran a blacksmith’s shop and dray making business in Peterson’s Lane.[1] His uncle on his mother’s side was John Lawlor, a successful sculptor, and his cousin, Michael Lawlor, was also a sculptor employed in London. Aloysius’ brothers, Charles and Stephen, also became artists, whereas the eldest brother, James J. O’Kelly, set forth on a successful political career. O’Kelly’s mother directed him towards a career in the arts.
In 1861, John’s father died and Bridget, whose brother, John Lawlor (1820-1901) was already an established sculptor in London. moved her family there. Lawlor became a father figure to her children, especially her sons. Lawlor took on the boys, including Aloysius, as apprentices in his studio.[2]
Career
Mass in a Connemara Cabin by Aloysius O’Kelly, 1883
O’Kelly traveled to Paris in order to enroll at the École des Beaux-Arts in 1874, where he studied under Bonnat and Gérôme. To enter the Gérôme’s atelier was a great honour, however, the master was exceedingly strict and merciless in his criticism; such that a number of students could not last the distance. It is uncertain whether O’Kelly ever matriculated.
From Gérôme, O’Kelly developed an interest in Oriental scenes. He traveled to Brittany in 1876, painting its aesthetic coastlines, fishing ports and villages.
In October 1881, Charles Stewart Parnell, a member of Parliament and leader of the Irish Party, was arrested and imprisoned in Kilmainham. Two days following his arrest, Aloysius’ brother, James J. O’Kelly, along with some other Party members, including John Dillon, were imprisoned where they remained until May 1882. A number of Aloysius’ drawings during this period portrayed the political situation dealing with his brother’s incarceration.[4]
Aloysius inevitably became embroiled in the murky and often secretive life of his brother. He began to paint and sketch political activists including members of the Land League.
O’Kelly lived in Concarneau, Connemara and eventually the United States, painting rural scenes in the prior and city life in New York City.[5] He knew Mark Twain, and painted a depiction of Huckleberry Finn, which the author inspected and commented on.[citation needed]
O’KELLY’S WORKS AT METROPOLITAN HOSPITAL
DRAPER HALL-NURSES RESIDENCE, BLACKWELL’S ISLAND LABELED AS GOLDWATER HOSPITAL) PAINTING ON SITE AT HOSPITAL
LIBRARY – PROBABLY DRAPER HALL, BLACKWELL’S ISLAND
CHAPEL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT- BLACKWELL’S ISLAND PAINTING IS ON SITE AT METROPOLITAN HOSPITAL
METROPOLITAN HOSPITAL BUIDINGS, BLACKWELL’S ISLAND
Just off the coast of Astoria, Queens, at the confluence of the Harlem and East Rivers, is a narrow tidal channel. Hell Gate. Its fast currents change multiple times a day and it used to be riddled with rocks just beneath the surface. Even today, visitors to Randall’s Island Park can see the swirling churn and watch pleasure boaters struggle through. American author Washington Irving wrote an essay about it: “Woe to the unlucky vessel that ventures into its clutches.”
But many a vessel did venture into those clutches over the centuries. Traversing it could save sailors navigating between New York Harbor and Southern New England days of travel around Long Island. This expediency often came at a cost. Hell Gate is the final resting place of literally hundreds of ships. Most of them are forgotten but one continues to captivate. Because down there, under the minor maelstroms, is the promise of gold.
The East River runs up from New York Harbor with Manhattan on one side and first Brooklyn then Queens on the other. At Randall’s Island it splits. To the west, it becomes the Harlem River, which skirts around the top of Manhattan to join the Hudson. In the other direction, it connects to the entirety of Long Island Sound—but it’s easy to miss that this connection comes only via a single, slim channel. Each time the tide turns, the Atlantic forces its way through this passage in one direction or the other, with the discharge of the Harlem River adding to the chaos.
Hell Gate, seen in a Hammond’s map from 1909, is where the East River skirts two islands. On the upper left, it turns into the Harlem River and connects to the Hudson. At the upper right, it leads out. to Long Island Sound. THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY DIGITAL COLLECTIONS/PUBLIC DOMAIN
“Because those volumes are large, and the opening at Hell Gate is small, it means the velocity is going to get very high and that makes it difficult to navigate,” says Roy Messaros, a coastal engineer and professor of hydraulics at New York University.
“Even on a calm day the current is boiling,” says John Lipscomb, who regularly patrols New York Harbor on a 36-foot wooden boat for the environmental nonprofit Riverkeeper. “It’s a boisterous place. There are whirlpools and the wind against the tide causes interesting, short, aggressive waves. You pay attention when you’re in Hell Gate.”
That’s today. Conditions in the past were even worse. Most rocks in the area have now been removed to facilitate navigation, but Hell Gate used to be a minefield. It sounded like Hell, too. The whirlpools could be heard from “a quarter of an hour’s distance,” according to one 17th-century Dutch traveler. During the 1850s, it was estimated that about one in 50 ships that crossed Hell Gate was either damaged or sunk.
“You’re talking about centuries of navigation,” says Bronx Borough Historian Lloyd Ultan. “Everything from rowboats to large ships have been sunk by hitting those rocks. One on top of the other on top of the other on top of the other.”
Out of all those wrecks, one in particular has obsessed people for over 240 years—HMS Hussar. The whole gamut of underwater exploration technology has been employed in the search for its purported treasure, from 18th-century diving bells to modern sonar scanners. The cast of characters who have invested significant time and money into salvaging the ship is equally wide-ranging. Thomas Jefferson had a go, as did the inventor of the modern submarine. Alongside crews of schemers and hustlers, serious underwater archaeologists have tried, too. Most recently the most prominent attempts to find the wreck were the brainchild of a Bronx man who calls himself Joey Treasures.
The coveted ship was a frigate of the Royal Navy that arrived in British-occupied New York during the Revolutionary War, in November 1780, reportedly carrying the payroll of British troops in gold coins. Shortly after arriving in the city, Hussar set sail for Gardiner’s Bay on the eastern end of Long Island (though some accounts say it was headed to Newport, Rhode Island). While traversing Hell Gate it hit a submerged formation known as Pot Rock and began taking on water. The ship drifted down the East River until it sank to a depth of 60 to 80 feet, somewhere off the coast of the Bronx. This much is known. The rest, much like the waters of Hell Gate, is murky.
Accounts differ on how many, if any, of the crew were lost, but most agree that around 60 American prisoners of war who were shackled below deck went down with the ship. Crucially, whether Hussar still had gold on board when it sank has also been the subject of much debate over the past two centuries. Modern historians tend to think not. Contemporaneous news articles about the accident made no mention of treasure, nor do the minutes from the Royal Navy court martial into the loss of the frigate.
“It’s a pie-in-the-sky romantic notion that you could find gold in the waters of the Bronx,” says Ultan. But this did not stop generations of people from trying, beginning in the early 19th century. It was known that the ship was carrying gold when it arrived in New York, and in the decades after Hussar sank, “the legend began to grow that the gold was still on the ship,” says Ultan. “The East River at the southeastern end of the Bronx suddenly becomes the Spanish Main.”
Captain Charles Morice Pole (left) was in command of HMS Hussar when it wrecked, but was acquitted of wrongdoing at a court martial. This British gold George III guinea (right) from 1777 represents the coins that were rumored to have been carried in the ship. PUBLIC DOMAIN; THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART/PUBLIC DOMAIN
By the 1810s, the notion that a fortune in gold was lying near the bottom of Hell Gate had become an almost-uncontested truth in the New York press, and would remain so well into the 20th century. “You have to remember it’s a good story,” says Ultan. “It sells copy.” This frenzy may have been initially fed by the British themselves, who, despite denying that there was gold in Hussar when it sank, sent over a team of experts to salvage the ship in the 1790s, “with results wholly ineffectual,” according to a New York Times article from several decades later.
Press speculation on the value of the gold varied wildly. The “large amount” vaguely referred to in early articles suddenly became the oddly specific sum of £600,000, and then $1,000,000, then $5,000,000. In the 1980s, an international coin dealer told The New York Times that the bullion said to be in the Hussar wreck could fetch a whopping half a billion dollars in the rare coins market. “Everything gets distorted,” says Ultan. “It’s like a game of telephone.”
Early attempts to salvage the ship, including by the British, involved diving bells, a technology that dates back to antiquity and is still used today. Divers descended in a small metal chamber with an open bottom, with the air pocket that allowed them to breathe at depth as they more or less felt around the bottom. At and around Hell Gate, this yielded few results. Diving was only possible for short windows, and even then the currents would toss the bell around, making any kind of concerted search impossible.
A Charles Pratt diving helmet which is on display at the Worcester Historical Museum in Massachusetts. JOAQUIM SALLES
But even for him the waters around Hell Gate were a worthy opponent. The bottom lived up to the tempestuous reputation of its surface waters. Currents remained fierce, visibility was near-nonexistent, and the submarine armor was cumbersome. It was made of a combination of rubber and metal and weighed around 70 pounds. Its copper helmet had to be bolted to the diver’s neck piece. A rubber hose connected the helmet to a hand-cranked air pump at the surface.
Over the course of 13 years, Pratt salvaged numerous artifacts from Hussar. He raised cannons and cannonballs, bottles of wine and swords. He found human bones still in shackles—likely the remains of the American prisoners. Tantalizingly, he also found several 18th-century gold guineas, but far from the promised windfall. The coins probably belonged to the crew and were not a part of a larger haul, but were more than enough to keep the legend alive. Like others before him, Pratt had difficulty breaching the wreck’s lower deck, where cargo was traditionally stored. He dove on Hussar for the last time in 1866. (Fast forward to 2013, when Central Park Conservancy employees were cleaning a cannon from Hussar that had likely been donated by Pratt and kept in storage for many years. They were surprised to discover it was still loaded with gunpowder and a cannonball. The NYPD bomb squad was called on to diffuse it.)
McGowan’s Pass, now in Central Park, was a British position during the Revolutionary War. Today, a cannon from HMS Hussar marks the site. In 2013, the Central Park Conservancy discovered that it was still loaded, and called on the NYPD bomb squad to defuse it. STATION1/CC BY-SA 4.0
Several salvage companies worked on Hussar over the ensuing decades, without Pratt’s success. One notable attempt was led by a less-than-reputable street preacher named George W. Thomas, who, like Davis before him, convinced investors to back his effort. They gave him $70,000, roughly equivalent to $2 million today, though he was later accused of using the money to buy a lavish house in New Jersey. In 1900, divers trying to salvage a yacht in the East River found an anchor with “H.M.S. Hussar” inscribed on it and sold it to a junk shop. After a century of regular media coverage, it would be almost 40 years until Hussar made headlines again.
Four decades is a long time in a place like Hell Gate. Somewhere along the way, the location of the wreck was lost. Hell Gate itself had changed significantly over the course of the 19th century. Its rocks had been blown to bits to facilitate boat traffic, first by a French civil engineer in the 1850s and later by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Pot Rock, the hazard that sank Hussar, was the first to go. The greatest of these blasts happened in 1885, when 300,000 pounds of explosives were simultaneously set off in the waters of Hell Gate, lifting a geyser of foam and rock high in the air. Journalists at the time hyped it as the single largest explosion in history. The blast was felt as far as Princeton, New Jersey, 50 miles away, according to the New York City Parks Department website entry for Mill Rock Island, where the explosives were prepped. One can only imagine the effect that this blast and the ones that came before it, all over Hell Gate, had on the remains of the wrecks below.
But even after dozens of failed attempts and the bombardment, there were still those who believed there was a fortune waiting to be discovered. Simon Lake, one of the inventors of the modern submarine, began looking for Hussar in 1935 in a “baby-submarine” of his own creation, adapted to the conditions of the East River. A year later he gathered journalists in his hotel room and announced that he had found the ship. “Within six weeks I expect to step within her hold,” he told The New York Times. This never came to pass. Whatever Lake had found, it was not Hussar. He ended the 1930s in dire financial straits.
Fifty years later, another underwater explorer would continue the search. Salvage expert Barry Clifford came to the project with a pedigree. He had just discovered Samuel Bellamy’s treasure-filled pirate ship, Wydah, off the coast of Cape Cod. Hussar seemed like the next logical step. Clifford and his team began taking sonar images of the bottom of Hell Gate in 1985. The same technology had just been used to locate the wreck of Titanic that same year. Within months, in an echo of Simon Lake’s hotel room press conference, Clifford announced to the world that he had found the wreck. “My opinion is there is a very strong possibility that there is treasure on board the Hussar,” he told The New York Times. But when divers got in the water it was a different story. In the end, Clifford and his team encountered abandoned cars, washing machines and seven other shipwrecks, but none from the Revolutionary War era.
And with that, the era of serious salvagers and underwater explorers was deep-sixed. The latest to take up the mantle left by others before is an actor and demolition worker from the Bronx named Joe Governali, who goes by “Joey Treasures.” Governali has been trying to secure exclusive salvage rights over the wreck since the early 2000s. In a deposition, Governali claimed to have found an old map in the Rare Books Room of the New York Public Library that revealed the location of the ship. His salvage company conducted several exploratory dives, but have little to show for it other than some grainy video of what Governali claims is the wreck of Hussar and an 18th-century beer pitcher of British origin. Governali produced a reality TV pilot of his escapades. Alas, he is also being accused of fraud by one of his investors, James Kays, who was convinced to pitch in $100,000 after being shown gold coins purported to be from Hussar. According to court records, they were allegedly “junk bought on eBay.”
It’s difficult to predict what the next phase of this centuries-long treasure hunt will be, but it’s likely to continue in some form. James Kays’s lawyer wrote in a letter to the judge presiding over the case that his client intends to continue the search, just as soon as he gets his money back.
The next big development might be with Hell Gate itself. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has proposed major civil works in the area to protect New York City from storm surges. Some versions of the proposal include large storm barriers that could permanently alter the tidal exchange between the East River, Long Island Sound, and New York Harbor, potentially weakening Hell Gate’s infamous currents. Although such barriers would only close during rare storms, they “threaten to choke off the tidal flow” even when open, according to Riverkeeper. The Army Corps of Engineers indicated recently that they are leaning towards a less invasive alternative but the storm barriers have not yet been ruled out. “It remains possible that other alternatives or components of those alternatives may also be advanced,” according to New York/New Jersey Harbor and Tributaries Project Manager Bryce Wisemiller.
“It’s a little bit here, a little bit there, a little bit everywhere.” For now at least, the currents of Hell Gate will keep on flowing unobstructed. As for Hussar, the promise of its gold remains alive and well, even if the same may not be true for the ship itself. After two centuries of salt corrosion, violent tides, salvage attempts and maybe explosives, it’s a safe bet that whatever remains of it is probably beyond recognition. “I think the Hussar is hither and yon,” says Lloyd Ultan. “It’s a little bit here, a little bit there, a little bit everywhere.”
In his essay about Hell Gate, Washington Irving mentions how he had grown up hearing fantastic stories about the remains of a ship that lay scattered among the channel’s rocks, one of the many that fell victim to its currents. As an adult, he tried to find the truth about those stories. “I found infinite difficulty, however, in arriving at any precise information,” he wrote. “In seeking to dig up one fact it is incredible the number of fables which I unearthed.”
