THANK YOU TO RACHEL MAINES AND GLORIA, MARK HERMAN, CAROLINE CAVALLI, MR. & MRS. RICHARD MEYER, NANCY BROWN, ARLENE &STEVE BESSENOFF, MARIE EWALD & DAVID DANZIG, BARRY & JUDY SCHNEIDER, & MICHELLE ROY, ARON EISENPRESIS FOR THEIR DONATIONS. WE ARE WAITING TO ADD YOUR NAME TO OUR DONOR LIST
We need your help this spring to help us restore and enhance our garden. Our goal is $2000.00 for a complete restoration of soil, drainage, plantings and fencing. We will update donations daily. We will list our donors.
Join us in making our garden thrive again. ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE
TO MAKE YOUR DONATION: https://rihs.us/donation/ TO MAKE YOUR DONATION BY CHECK: R.I.H.S., 531 MAIN STREET, #1704. NY NY 10044
New York City’s “Not So Secret” Enclaves: Grove Court
(Grove Court: Gotham Walking Tours LLC) Nestled between Numbers 10 and 12 Grove Street, one of the most charming streets of the West Village, is a row of six, brick-faced townhouses, sitting serenely in an ivy-laden patch of land. Welcome to Grove Court, one of several private courts scattered throughout the City. The three story structures are approximately 990 square feet in size – small structures when one considers the fact that the average size of townhouses in 19th Century New York City was a respectable 2,000 square feet. The six shuttered townhouses, completed between 1853 and 1854, were the brainchild of an enterprising businessman named Samuel Cocks; Cocks’ eponymous grocery was located at the corner of Grove and Bedford. What better way, he reasoned, to attract even more customers to his place of business, than by building a row of houses for tradesmen and laborers who, as luck had it, would end up patronizing his store.
(Grove Court: Gotham Walking Tours LLC) To understand the origins of Grove Court, however, requires a brief (I promise) history of Grove Street.
It didn’t start out as “Grove,” as those of us who are students of the necrology of New York City streets are no doubt aware. It was originally named “Columbia” Street, and then renamed “Cozine” Street, after a prominent family who lived in the area. From there, it became “Burrows” Street. William Burrows, an officer in the reconstituted United States Navy, saw service during the First Barbary War and the War of 1812. He died while in command of his ship, The Enterprise, during a skirmish with the British brig, The Boxer. Alas for the poor Lieutenant, Burrows Street was then renamed to “Grove” Street, so as to avoid any confusion with the nearby “Barrow” Street.
Grove Street was so named because of the lush greenery and cascading trees that once occupied the area. (It’s still a wonderfully “green” block by New York City standards). The charming row of Federal style houses to the right of Grove Court (note the Flemish bond brickwork, the six over six window panes and their clean lintels, the charming little dormers, and the wrought iron railings), were built by James N. Wells between 1825 and 1834. This row of houses (as well as Grove Court), evokes images of Bloomsbury, a district in Central London between Euston Road and Holborn, that is famous for its garden squares. Note the small buildings to the very far right of the following 1787 print of Queens Square, with the wonderful 1936 photograph by Berenice Abbott, also below, to get an idea of the similarities between the row houses:
(Bloomsbury: Wikipedia)
(Grove Street: Berenice Abbott, Changing New York, 1936, NYPL Digital Collection) Difficult to believe, but Grove Court was the last place one would want to live in mid-19th Century New York City. It lacked all the vestiges of respectability – the houses were small, lacked the stoops so common among the brownstones of the day, and, most glaringly, were devoid of any prestigious street frontage. They were, in short, “backhouses” designed to house the poor of the City. So poor, in fact, that its inhabitants couldn’t even afford a proper pint of ale and had to resort to drinking a foul concoction – the nasty dregs that remained in their local barkeeps’ beer barrel. Literally the “bottom of the barrel.” Hence Grove Court’s old moniker – “Mixed Ale Alley.” (It was also referred to as “Pig Alley.”)
In the 1920’s, the Grove Court parcel was sold by Trinity Church and the Trinity Corporation to Alentaur Realty Company, a real estate concern that intended to transform the houses into a haven for the artists and writers who were flooding into the Village. (Unfortunately, the further development of the parcel meant that families that had resided in Grove Court for a generation were displaced).
Trinity’s sale of the Grove Street parcel barely made a dent in its holdings: a 1705 land grant from Queen Anne to Trinity Church deeded all of the land west of Broadway, and between Fulton and Christopher Streets, to the Church. That huge swath of land, previously known as the “Queen’s Farm,” was subsequently referred to as the “Church Farm.”
(Trinity was also entitled to all unclaimed shipwrecks and beached whales in the Hudson. Now, I’ve lived in Tribeca, right on the Hudson, for a number of years, and have yet to see a whale, let alone a beached whale. (Does anyone know whether whales ever frequented the river?) As for unclaimed shipwrecks, I used to joke about that fact as well, until the construction crews at the World Trade Center site uncovered the skeletal remains of an 18th Century shipwreck in the foundation of the site. I’ve since taken the “shipwreck joke” out of the repertoire of stories I recount to my clients when telling them about the development of Lower Manhattan).
Times have changed . . . Grove Court is now one of the most coveted row of townhouses in the West Village; a private enclave that, somewhat like Gramercy Park, is inaccessible unless you have access to one of the coveted keys that unlock its solitary, narrow gateway. Thankfully, Grove Court survived a 1950’s plan to raze the townhouses and to replace them with a playground for P.S. 3, the elementary school located directly opposite its gateway.
So . . . the next time you’re in the neighborhood . . . look for this little oasis of greenery nestled between the houses on Grove. Close your eyes, block out the street noise (and the gaggle of natives and visitors alike who are busily taking photos of the television series’ “Friends” house located at the junction of Grove and Bedford), and imagine yourself living in this wonderful little Court.
We can dream . . . can’t we?
(This is one of several articles that will focus on the City’s hidden enclaves. Please stay tuned . . . . )
Walk Gotham! POSTED BY WALKING GOTHAM LABELS: BERENICE ABBOTT, GREENWICH VILLAGE, GROVE COURT, GROVE STREET, REAL ESTATE, WEST VILLAGEG GOTHAMWelcome to Walking Gotham! This blog celebrates the extraordinary nature and diversity of New York City: its history, culture, architecture, people, culinary traditions, ever-changing real estate market, off-the-beaten paths, and more. I hope you enjoy the postings – both short fiction and nonfiction – and I welcome any comments you may want to share. Looking forward to hearing from you. Warm regards, Lina.VIEW MY COMPLETE PROFILE
IRVING AND RUTH BERDY, MY PARENTS (BEFORE I WAS BORN) AT THE MARINE AIR TERMINAL AT LA GUARDIA. IRVING WAS DEPARTING FOR LONDON VIA GANDER, NEWFOUNDLAND AND SHANNON, IRELAND TO FLY TO GREAT BRITAIN IN 1946. PLEASE NOTE PROPER ATTIRE FOR A PASSENGER!!! PAT SCHWARTZBRG, NINA LUBLIN, THOM HEYER, ALEXIS VILLAFANE, ELLEN JACOBY, JAY JACOBSON ALL GOT IT RIGHT
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
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS WALKING GOTHAM:
A WALKERS GUIDE TO NEW YORK CITY
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JUDITH BERDY
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
THANK YOU TO RACHEL MAINES AND GLORIA, MARK HERMAN, CAROLINE CAVALLI, MR. & MRS. RICHARD MEYER, NANCY BROWN, ARLENE &STEVE BESSENOFF, MARIE EWALD & DAVID DANZIG, BARRY & JUDY SCHNEIDER, & MICHELLE ROY, ARON EISENPRESIS FOR THEIR DONATIONS. WE ARE WAITING TO ADD YOUR NAME TO OUR DONOR LIST
We need your help this spring to help us restore and enhance our garden. Our goal is $2000.00 for a complete restoration of soil, drainage, plantings and fencing. We will update donations daily. We will list our donors.
Join us in making our garden thrive again. ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE
TO MAKE YOUR DONATION: https://rihs.us/donation/ TO MAKE YOUR DONATION BY CHECK: R.I.H.S., 531 MAIN STREET, #1704. NY NY 10044
For years La Guardia was known as the worst airport by a certain former Vice President……now it is almost completely rebuilt.
This is when La Guardia was the best and only airport in town!!!
Just for comparison La Guardia is built on only 680 acres, less than 5 times the size of Roosevelt Island
North Beach Amusement Park was on the site of the North Beach then La Guardia Airport.
Proposed Municipal Airport No. 2, North Beach 1934-1945
Rendering, aerial view of landplane base administration building proposed for North Beach Airport.
Aerial view, North Beach Airport, 1940
Aerial view, North Beach Airport (Partial rendering)1940
Air view of North Beach Airfield; Parking lots in back of American Airlines hangars. Flushing Bay in rear
LaGuardia Airport Terminal seen from the field (dense)
LaGuardia or North Beach Airport, American Airlines DC-3 at terminal.
VISITORS WAITING TO ENTER THE TRAM STATION SUNDAY AT 2 P.M. NINA LUBLIN, JUDY SCHNEIDER,GLORIA HERMAN, ALEXIS VILLAFANE ALL GOT IT RIGHT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS NYC MUNICIPAL ARCHIVES
PHOTOS COURTESY OF 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
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Back When Western Queens had the Borden’s Milk Plant
***********************
“DOLLARS FOR DAFFODILS”
UPDATE: OUR FIRST DONATIONS HAVE ARRIVED
THANK YOU TO RACHEL MAINES AND GLORIA, MARK HERMAN, CAROLINE CAVALLI, MR. & MRS. RICHARD MEYER, NANCY BROWN, ARLENE &STEVE BESSENOFF, MARIE EWALD & DAVID DANZIG, BARRY & JUDY SCHNEIDER, & MICHELLE ROY, ARON EISENPRESIS FOR THEIR DONATIONS. WE ARE WAITING TO ADD YOUR NAME TO OUR DONOR LIST
We need your help this spring to help us restore and enhance our garden. Our goal is $2000.00 for a complete restoration of soil, drainage, plantings and fencing. We will update donations daily. We will list our donors.
Join us in making our garden thrive again.
ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE
TO MAKE YOUR DONATION: https://rihs.us/donation/ TO MAKE YOUR DONATION BY CHECK: R.I.H.S., 531 MAIN STREET, #1704. NY NY 10044
Tonight my friend Pat was telling me of her youthful escapades in the Borden Playground as a teenager. Sure enough plant is gone, but images of it remain along with some photos. I can imagine teenagers propelling themselves to the sky on the swings!
The Borden’s Condensed Milk Co. pasteurizing plant at 35-10 Steinway St., summer 1936.
Gail Borden Jr. founded what became the Borden’s Condensed Milk Co. on Dec. 31, 1856. The company prospered during the Civil War, selling condensed milk to the Union armies. It pioneered milk bottles in 1885 and evaporated milk in 1892.
In June 1913, Borden announced it was building a four-story pasteurizing plant at 55 Steinway Ave. (off Pierce Street, now 35th Avenue), for $30,000. G. Howard Chamberlain of Yonkers was the architect. Like Borden’s Manhattan office and Brooklyn plant, the structure was heated with coal burners.
The new plant employed hundreds from the area. In 1917, a huge strike took place when workers demanded a raise from 30 to 35 cents a day. The building was renumbered 35-10 Steinway Ave. when the street name system was changed.
Elsie the Cow became the company spokescow in 1937. In the 1950s and ’60s Borden went on a buying spree, purchasing Wylers, Drakes Cakes, Wise snack foods, Kava coffee and Cracker Jack, to name only a few of the most recognizable.
When the price of whole milk dropped in 1992, the company did not adjust the cost of its product, causing a major market share loss that it could not recover. Borden’s looked for someone to buy it.
The plant was last in the telephone book in 1973. Eventually, the coal-burning, asbestos-laced building was torn down. A merger made Borden part of Hexion Speciality Chemicals, which shut it down and assigned its trademarks to another company.
Borden’s Milk Company 1940
Playground-Steinway Street & 35th Avenue ,NYC MUNICIPAL ARCHIVES 1941
Vintage RARE Borden’s Golden Crest Quart Brown Milk Glass Bottle Elsie The Cow
Borden’s Factory: Female workers at paraffining machines.
Borden’s Factory: Filling and Sealing Machine
A Borden’s milk delivery van with bodywork in the shape of a milk bottle, New York, 30th January 1935. (Photo by FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
BLUE DRAGON BY GUSTAV KREITZ AT ENTRANCE TO SOUTPOINT PARK GLORIA HERMAN GOT IT RIGHT
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
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS NYC MUNICIPAL ARCHIVES
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JUDITH BERDY
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
THANK YOU TO RACHEL MAINES AND GLORIA, MARK HERMAN, CAROLINE CAVALLI, MR. & MRS. RICHARD MEYER, NANCY BROWN, ARLENE &STEVE BESSENOFF, MARIE EWALD & DAVID DANZIG, BARRY & JUDY SCHNEIDER FOR THEIR DONATIONS. WE ARE WAITING TO ADD YOUR NAME TO OUR DONOR LIST
We need your help this spring to help us restore and enhance our garden. Our goal is $2000.00 for a complete restoration of soil, drainage, plantings and fencing. We will update donations daily. We will list our donors.
Join us in making our garden thrive again.
ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE
TO MAKE YOUR DONATION:
https://rihs.us/donation/ TO MAKE YOUR DONATION BY CHECK: R.I.H.S., 531 MAIN STREET, #1704. NY NY 10044
M&S Schmalberg Inc.
Custom Fabric Flowers since 1916
The historic M&S Schmalberg artificial flower factory first opened its doors in 1916. The majority of business was custom wholesale orders of bulk fabric flowers. Over 100-years later we have stayed true to our American made roots. Schmalberg fabric flowers are still hand-made in our New York City garment district atelier.
Our family business was first started by brothers Morris and Sam Schmalberg. Their nephew, Harold began working at the factory at the age of 17. Harold was a holocaust survivor who lost his family in the war. He was able to contact his American relatives, Morris and Sam, who helped him move to New York. In time, Harold learned the family business and eventually inherited M&S Schmalberg—which has always been a NYC Garment District business.
Warren Brand, current President of M&S Schmalberg has been making fake flowers for over 40 years. His sister Debra Brand joined the fabric flower business shortly after. As Harold got older and eventually passed away, the two of them took on more responsibility. In 2008, Warren’s son Adam joined the company, making it a 4th generation family business. Sadly in July of 2019 Debra passed away after a long battle with Lupus.
When Morris and Sam Schmalberg started the flower business in 1916, the NYC Garment District produced most of the women’s and children’s fashion apparel in the United States. In the 1940s there were dozens of “flower guys”. Throughout the years that number has shrank, and today, M&S Schmalberg is the oldest and last of it’s kind in America.
M&S Schmalberg’s artificial flower business has changed drastically over the past 20 years. We are a domestic factory surviving in an “import world”. We now focus on specialty custom fabric flower projects for couture fashion designers, milliners and costume designers. The factory remains ready to produce large production orders as well. M&S Schmalberg continues to manufacture all of its artificial fabric flowers in America.
The New York City Garment District is still the fashion capital of the world. M&S Schmalberg’s artificial flowers complement the couture and luxury designers that have made this city famous. Each artificial flower is hand-made at our atelier using vintage tools and techniques with a tried and true quality that cannot be matched. Contact us today to discuss your artificial flower needs!
M&S Schmalberg is a 4th generation, family owned company. Our artificial flowers have complemented the apparel, wedding, accessory, millinery and home furnishing industries for over 100-years. M&S Schmalberg’s custom fabric flowers are still hand-made in New York City. We have been featured in The NY Times, Women’s Wear Daily, Wall Street Journal, Vogue and on the runway all over the world.
Using the same vintage manufacturing process since 1916, we are able to provide exquisite quality and a level of artisanal customization that cannot be matched. Some of our vintage flower molds date back to the turn of the century. Styles can be fabricated in any material; including natural silks, synthetic polyester, real leather and suede, cotton, velvet, felt, velour and even exotic snake and alligator skins. As a garment district factory, we are capable of producing large production orders of bulk artificial flowers as well as special one of a kind couture pieces.
So call or visit us today and give your designs the finishing touch… a Custom Fabric Flower by M&S Schmalberg!
*We offer tours of the factory and discounts for fashion students
Macy’s Flower Show featuring DIOR will sprout at Macy’s Herald Square from Sunday, March 26 through Monday, April 1
WEEKEND PHOTO OF THE DAY
SEND YOUR ANSWER TO: ROOSEVELTSLANDHISTORY @ GMAIL.COM ANSWERS SHOULD BE RECEIVED BY 4 PM. SUNDAY
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
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS M&S SCHMALBERG
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JUDITH BERDY
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
THANK YOU TO RACHEL MAINES AND GLORIA, MARK HERMAN, CAROLINE CAVALLI, MR. & MRS. RICHARD MEYER & NANCY BROWN FOR THEIR DONATIONS.
WE ARE WAITING TO ADD YOUR NAME TO OUR DONOR LIST
We need your help this spring to help us restore and enhance our garden. Our goal is $2000.00 for a complete restoration of soil, drainage, plantings and fencing. We will update donations daily. We will list our donors.
Join us in making our garden thrive again.
ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE
TO MAKE YOUR DONATION BY CHECK: R.I.H.S., 531 MAIN STREET, #1704. NY NY 10044
Daffodils planted across NYC to honor New Yorkers lost to 9/11 & Covid
All photos courtesy of New Yorkers for Parks
Except from 6sqft
As a living memorial for those lost during the September 11 terrorist attacks and the Covid-19 pandemic, the open-space advocacy group New Yorkers for Parks last week launched The Daffodil Project. As New York’s largest annual volunteer program, the project distributes hundreds of thousands of daffodils to be planted by volunteers.
Since 2002, the organization has planted over nine million daffodils in NYC parks with the help of more than 400,000 volunteers. Last year for the event’s 20th anniversary, the organization planted over one million daffodil bulbs and launched a public awareness campaign in bus shelters throughout the city.
The program started when Dutch daffodil supplier Hans van Waardenburg gifted one million daffodils to NYC following the 9/11 attacks.
. The event has grown from having 10,000 volunteers in its first year to approximately 50,000 in 2021.
“The Daffodil Project is an opportunity for New Yorkers to come together and create a beautiful, living memorial for those we’ve lost, sparking healing, togetherness, and joy,” Adam Ganser, executive director of New Yorkers for Parks, said.
Ganser continued: “Flowers, parks, and natural spaces have a significant impact on our quality of life, and New York’s city government must follow through on the Mayor’s verbal commitment to increase spending for the Parks Department to 1% of NYC’s annual spending.”
Daffodils were planted at the Tram Plaza in honor of 9/11. In 2012 our Kwasan Cherry tree was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. A new tree was donated by the Rivercross Tenants’ Corporation and has bloomed annually since 2013.Text by
THURSDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
Hear that screeching? Spring is here and the medical center peregrine falcons are in their mating season. The Medical Center Archives had its first falcon sighting of the year on March 13th! Their story begins with Red Red, a rare Cornell University-bred peregrine falcon, who first made her home at the medical center in 1987. She was born at the Cornell University peregrine falcon facility in Ithaca, New York, which was set up to save this endangered bird species and reintroduce them into the wild. Although she was released to the Arcadia National Park in Maine, she made her way down to New York City and chose the medical center to be her new home. Her name, Red Red, comes from the double Cornell connection (a reference to the university and medical college’s color.)
”Red Red had two chicks with a mate named Buster in a nesting box outside the window ledge on the 24th floor of the Baker building. Buster died in 1989 and was replaced by a falcon named PJ. Red Red and PJ had several mating seasons here at the medical center and their descendants still breed in same nesting box at the medical center and elsewhere in New York City today.
FRIDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
SEND YOUR ANSWER TO: ROOSEVELTSLANDHISTORY @ GMAIL.COM ANSWERS SHOULD BE RECEIVED BY 4 PM.
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
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 6SQFT
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JUDITH BERDY
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
THANK YOU TO RACHEL MAINES AND GLORIA, MARK HERMAN, CAROLINE CAVALLI, MR. & MRS. RICHARD MEYER & NANCY BROWN FOR THEIR DONATIONS.
We need your help this spring to help us restore and enhance our garden. Our goal is $2000.00 for a complete restoration of soil, drainage, plantings and fencing. We will update donations daily. We will list our donors.
Join us in making our garden thrive again. ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE
A new solar-powered live stream now offers an inside look at the lives of New York and New Jersey’s bridge falcons. For more than thirty years, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has helped provide peregrine falcons with safe places to hatch and raise their chicks. Now, you can watch a family of peregrine falcons grow under the Bayonne Bridge.
Peregrine falcons love the high vantage points afforded by New York City and New Jersey’s bridges. The endangered predators typically prefer to nest on cliff ledges but have adapted to urban life by nesting at places like the Brooklyn Bridge, George Washington Bridge, Metropolitan Life Building, and Riverside Church among other locations. From these high points, they can dive bomb toward their prey at up to 200 miles per hour.
When the peregrine falcon population fell dangerously low due to the use of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and other pesticides in 1989, the Port Authority stepped in to help. While release programs initiated by the Peregrine Fund helped to restore the population, the Port Authority provided safe shelters away from human activity where the falcons could lay eggs and raise their young. More than 200 chicks have hatched at the agency’s facilities across the region.
Each year at nesting sites near the Bayonne, Goethals, and George Washington bridges as well as the Outerbridge Crossing, new chicks are given tags and names. Some past names have included Locust, Edgewater, and Bayside, inspired by where the falcons lived. The tags, implemented in collaboration with New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYC DEP), provide information on the birds’ movement, migration patterns, lifespan, and overall health.
The new live stream is focused on a 45-foot-tall nesting tower constructed by the Port Authority on an isolated island in the straits of the Kill van Kull, which runs under the Bayonne Bridge. It will be available for viewing until August 2023. Watch here on the Port Authority’s website!
The Roosevelt Island EMS Garage, with the Hospital Department Power House across the street and the Hospital Department Laundry in the background. Note both the Power House and the Laundry were built long before the city created the Health and Hospitals Corporation. ED LITCHER GOT IT RIGHT
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
THANK YOU TO RACHEL MAINES AND GLORIA & MARK HERMAN
We need your help this spring to help us restore and enhance our garden. Our goal is $2000.00 for a complete restoration of soil, drainage, plantings and fencing. We will update donations daily. We will list our donors.
Join us in making our garden thrive again. ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE
The Historic Districts Council (HDC) has announced its Six to Celebrate, an annual listing of historic New York City neighborhoods that merit preservation attention. Six to Celebrate is New York’s only citywide list of preservation priorities.
HDC’s 2023 Six to Celebrate community partners are:
HDC will work with the Addisleigh Park Civic Organization to provide resources to adjust their zoning in order to protect the historic character of their neighborhood, as well as promoting the neighborhood as a cultural and historic destination.
HDC will help the Bushwick Historic Preservation Association advance their proposed list of landmark designations and preservation priorities, including the Northeast Bushwick Historic District.
HDC will support the Garifuna Coalition USA, Inc., an organization representing a culturally differentiated Afro-indigenous community who began migrating to New York City in the 1930s, in their efforts to be more effective in their strategy to identify the historic resources in their community and promote the community’s significance.
Kew Gardens, Queens
HDC will work with the Kew Gardens Improvement Association and the Kew Gardens Preservation Alliance to help support their campaign to preserve the historic core of the neighborhood, which includes the historic bridge at Lefferts Boulevard, the surrounding historic pre-war buildings, and several blocks of historic houses.
Mosholu Parkland, The Bronx
HDC will support Friends of Mosholu Parkland work to create a Master Plan for Mosholu Parkway to improve the quality of life for the local communities, including Bedford Park and Norwood. We will also assist in their preservation efforts for sites including The Bronx Victory Memorial and Frank Frisch Field.
Steinway Village, Queens
HDC will help the Greater Astoria Historical Society create new ideas, new messages, and new strategies for community preservation. In addition, HDC will provide strategic resources to revive a previously proposed historic district for Steinway Village.
Since the program’s inception in 2011, HDC has helped Six to Celebrate groups create three National Register districts; one National Register-eligible district; three National Register Properties; 33 NYC Individual Landmarks; six NYC historic districts (with many others still in the works); one contextual zoning to maintain neighborhood scale and character; and 13 neighborhood surveys that have resulted in the documentation of thousands of historic buildings across the five boroughs.
HDC has also assisted in leveraging over $100,000 in private and public grants for these community-driven projects. Neighborhoods selected also benefit from professionally designed websites, illustrated walking tour brochures, press attention, growing audiences and new contacts in the field.
SEND YOUR RESPONSE TO: ROOSEVELTISLANDHISTORY@GMAIL.COM BUZ ALDRIN, NEIL ARMSTRONG AND MICHAEL COLLINS BEING GREETED BY MAYOR JOHN LINDSAY. AUGUST 13, 1969 AT THEIR TICKER TAPE PARADE. JOHN WHEELER GOT IT RIGHT!
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
Every spring dozens of daffodils bloom around our Kwasan Cherry tree next the the Visitor Center.
We need your help this spring to help us restore and enhance our garden. Our goal is $2000.00 for a complete restoration of soil, drainage, plantings and fencing. We will update donations daily. We will list our donors.
Join us in making our garden thrive again. ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE
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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF JUDITH BERDY
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
If this sounds familiar, here we go again: Nick Golebiewski’s Studio Sale in the Brookly Navy Yard. I set out on the 12:27 p.m. NYC Ferry to the Yard, to the studio and sale of Nick Golebiewski, this time on the correct date.
Nick’s is the artist that daily publishes his Lunchbox art Nick’s studio is in the Navy Yard, which can be challenging to get around. The easiest way to find his space is enter the Yard at the Cumberland Avenue Gate. Building 280 is right inside the entrance. You need a visitor pass to enter the Yard and wait until next time Nick announces that his studio will be open.
Building 280 is jut inside the Cumberland Gate on Flushing Avenue.
Nick’s studio is full, wall-to-wall with his artworks,
Prints, photos, notecards are all for sale. It is so much fun to recognize his New York street scenes.
Nick is a Buffalo native who arrived in Brooklyn 20 years ago.
This Chinatown scene took months to complete.
You are welcome to look thru his Sketchbooks? Can you identify this structure and it’s Island connection?
The view from his studio is spectacular and overlooking the Willamsburg Bridge
After leaving the Yard, we grabbed an UBER to a real Brooklyn landmark, Juniors!! I had never been there before and lunch was great.
The cheesecake was WONDERFUL!!!
Right on the corner of Flatbush Avenue, and steps from the Q train!!!
Ellen and David Jacoby joined me on this adventure, since Ellen is a Brooklyn native!!!
The steps leading to the Main Street Theater & Cultural Center Time for some spring cleaning, RIOC Nina Lublim got it right
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
JUDITH BERDY
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
In 1845 Archbishop John Hughes pleaded his case before the city fathers, seeking land on which to build an orphan asylum. The Roman Catholic Benevolent Society’s facility at Prince and Mott Streets was overcrowded and inadequate as more and more Catholic foundlings were brought to the Sisters of Charity. The nuns and the Archbishop knew only too well that if Roman Catholic waifs were admitted into a Protestant orphanage they would be lost to the faith.
The city offered the block of land far north of the developed city, on the still unpaved Fifth Avenue between 51st and 52nd Streets, stretching back to Madison Avenue. The church would pay the city one dollar per year rent, with the caveat that the property would be used to house orphans. The deed was signed on August 1, 1846 and the new asylum was completed in 1851. At the time, aside from the block-wide property of St. Luke’s Hospital between 54th and 55th Streets, there were only one or two homes or shops in the neighborhood.
In 1853 Hughes would commission James Renwick, Jr. to work on his ambitious St. Patrick’s Cathedral project that filled the block across the street to the south. By the time the cathedral was completed in 1879, the neighborhood had drastically changed. The homes of Manhattan’s wealthiest citizens were inching closer up the avenue
When St. Luke’s Hospital was razed in 1896, Fifth Avenue around the asylum was the most exclusive residential district in the city. The value of the land had soared. As was the case with the hospital, relocating the orphanage and selling the land made financial sense. In 1897 the church began discussion of moving the orphanage and two years later construction of new buildings began in the Bronx. In 1900 building lots on the old asylum land became available.
The lucrative possibilities of the choice real estate did not escape Edward Holbrook. The president of the Gorham Manufacturing Company lived in Stamford, Connecticut. He, therefore, perhaps underestimated the passion with which the millionaires in the surrounding mansions detested the threat of commercial intrusion. He would soon be informed.
On June 5, 1900 The Evening Post Record of Real Estate Sales in Greater New York reported that “The two lots on Fifty-second Street of the Orphan Asylum property which were bought by Worthington Whitehouse for a client were sold by him to Edward Holbrook.” The lots were Nos. 6 and 8, and Holbrook had big plans.
Within a few months he had commissioned renowned architect C. P. H. Gilbert to design an apartment house. The Brickbuilder noted in 1901 “C. P. H. Gilbert is drawing plans for a fourteen-story bachelor apartment house to be erected on 52d Street near Fifth Avenue for Edward Holbrook.”
Neighbors like the Vanderbilts and Rockefellers were already infuriated over John Jacob Astor’s St. Regis Hotel—construction of which had just begun on Fifth Avenue at 55th Street. Evidently someone had a talk with Holbrook, for a few months later he changed his mind. The New York Times reported on May 28, 1901 “Plans were filed yesterday by Architect C. P. H. Gilbert for the two dwellings to be erected at 6 and 8 East Fifty-second Street…at a cost of $114,000.” Rather than the 14-story apartment building, Gilbert would produce two limestone-clad six-story mansions.
The silver executive apparently was pleased with Gilbert’s designs, and in November 1903 he began work on his own mansion next door, at No. 4 East 52nd. Again he turned to C. P. H. Gilbert for the design and plans were filed for a six-story house. The New York Times reported it would be “wholly of fireproof construction” and the New-York Tribune added “The front is to be of dark blue Indiana limestone…The building will cost about $95,000.” The cost of construction in today’s dollars would be about $2 million.
Street construction is going on along 52nd Street in front of the newly-completed mansions. The Holbrook mansion (left) is overshadowed by the mammoth Plant house on the corner. To the right is the white marble home of Robert Goelet at No. 647 Fifth Avenue — photo by Wurts Bros., from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York, http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UAYWJU5AZ&SMLS=1&RW=1366&RH=605
Construction would take over two years to complete. In 1905 the Real Estate Record and Builders’ Guide commented on the progress. “Exterior complete. Windows and doors in. Interior work under way.” As the Holbrook residence rose, it was overshadowed by the magnificent Morton Plant mansion nearing completion next door—a palatial Italian Renaissance palace that diminished Gilbert’s handsome design.
Holbrook moved into the new house with his wife, Frances, and daughter Lillian. In turn-of-the-century New York there was no surer way to garner the envy of other socialites than to marry one’s daughter to European nobility. Frances Holbrook’s social coup came soon after when Lillian married Count Guillame de Balincourt in the new mansion on January 3, 1906.
The New-York Tribune could not resist mentioning that “The count is a Catholic and the bride a Protestant.” The new countess and her husband sailed off to France, to live in Paris.
Edward and Frances would not remain in the mansion long after the wedding. In June 1907 he sold the 30-foot wide house and a month later curious neighbors would discover the identity of the buyer. The Times reported “James B. Duke, President of the Tobacco Trust, was the purchaser of the new dwelling at 4 East Fifty-second Street, the sale of which was announced in The Times about a month ago. At the time the name of the purchaser was not known, and since then there has been much speculation as to the future home of the tobacco magnate and his future bride.”
The newspaper went on saying “It has long been current gossip that the social ambitions of the President of the Tobacco Trust and his bride-elect, Mrs. William Inman of Atlanta, would lead them to settle in close proximity to Fifth Avenue. A week ago it was reported that Mr. Duke would purchase the home of the late Henry H. Cook, at Seventy-eighth Street and Fifth Avenue, and that he would occupy it with his bride on their return in the Fall from the tour of Europe they expect to make on their honeymoon this Summer.”
James paid $300,000 for the mansion—fully three times what it cost Holbrook to build. He and his bride, Nanaline, would not be in the house long, however. As The Times predicted, Duke did buy the old Henry Cook house. He had it demolished and in 1909, while his new mansion was being erected the newlyweds moved into his brother’s splendid home at No. 1009 Fifth Avenue.
No. 4 East 52nd Street became home to Harry James Luce and his family. Luce was the president of the Acker, Merrall & Condit Company of New York, one of the oldest grocery firms in the city. He was also the president of the candy firm of Henry Maillard, Inc., and a director of Faber, Coe & Gregg, Inc. The well-connected millionaire was a member of the best clubs—the Metropolitan, New York Yacht and Knollwood Country Clubs among them.
Like the Holbrooks, Harry and his wife, the former Katherine H. Moxley, had a daughter. December 1914 was a busy time in the house as Margaret Payne Luce was introduced to society. On December 6 The Times reported that “Mrs. Harry J. Luce of 4 East Fifty-second Street is to give the second dinner for her daughter, Miss Margaret J. Luce, on Thursday.”
Like many society girls, Margaret answered the call to help her country with the outbreak of World War I. She joined the canteen service of the Y. M. C. A. and was sent to Nice, France in 1918. War relief turned to romance when Margaret met the dashing (and wealthy) U. S. Navy Lieutenant-Commander Hamilton Vose Brian. In March 1919 Harry and Katherine announced their daughter’s engagement. With the armistice signed and the war over, they traveled to Paris in July 1919 for the wedding which took place in the Church of the Holy Trinity there.
It would be three years before the Luces would see their daughter again. She and her husband arrived in New York on the Olympic for a visit on May 10, 1922 after being stationed in Constantinople and Tifilu. Margaret would come home to a much-changed neighborhood.
The Morton Plant mansion next door was now the home of Cartier Jeweler. The white marble mansion around the corner at No. 647 had been converted to the art dealership of Gimpel & Wildenstein. Commerce was taking over the old residential district.
Five years later the Luce mansion would fall to the trend. Cartier, Inc. purchased the house in 1927 and Harry and Katherine moved to the nearby Gotham Hotel. Pierre Cartier converted the mansion to L’Alliance de Francaise de New York—a school offering classes in French and French literature. Dr. Leon Vallas, a professor of the Sorbonne, was brought in to direct the school. The school shared the mansion with the French Chamber of Commerce. It was here, in 1935, that Pierre Cartier was elected its president.
The French Chamber of Commerce would remain in the house through the war years. In 2000 Cartier did a renovation of both the Holbrook and the Plant mansions. The two buildings were internally connected, making No. 4 an extension of the retail store. While the first two floors of the Holbrook mansion have been extensively altered for commercial use, the upper floors retain the integrity of C. P. H. Gilbert’s handsome design. And as it was in 1905, the mansion is still overpowered by Morton Plant’s monumental house next door.
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
DAYTONIAN IN NEW YORK
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
