Tag Archives: New York City

NYC: Original Central Park Plan On Exhibit


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central park map 1863The Museum of the City of New York has put on public display the rarely seen Greensward Plan for Central Park – the original 1858 design by Central Park superintendent and future leading landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and English-born architect Calvert Vaux that won a public design competition to improve and expand the park.

This four-by-twelve-foot map depicting Central Park’s framework in pen and ink has permanently left its imprint on the park and the visitor experience. On loan from the New York City Parks Department, the Greensward Plan for Central Park is now on view at the City Museum through January 2015. Continue reading →

NYC ‘Evacuation Day’ Celebration Planned


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Evacuation_of_New_York_by_the_BritishThe Lower Manhattan Historical Society, the Sons of the Revolution of the State of New York, and the Manhattan Borough President have announced a number of events to celebrate Evacuation Day — November 25, 1783 – the day the British left New York City finally ending the American Revolution.

On that day George Washington’s troops marched down Broadway to Bowling Green Park, and the American flag was raised over the City for the first time since the City had fallen to the English in 1776. There was an elaborate dinner with Governor George Clinton and Washington and many of his officers at Fraunces Tavern where there were thirteen toasts to the new government. Continue reading →

Antebellum NYC Envrionmental Battles


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Taming ManhattanTaming Manhattan: Environmental Battles in the Antebellum City (Harvard Univ. Press, 2014) details the environmental history of the city of New York in the years before and during the Civil War, when pigs roamed the streets and cows foraged in the Battery.

On Tuesday, November 25th, at an event at NYU, author Catherine McNeur will discuss nineteenth-century New York City’s long forgotten shantytowns, the people living in the communities, and how outsiders viewed the architecture and communities developing on the metropolitan periphery. Continue reading →

Resilience and History: 2 Years After Superstorm Sandy


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BigULeveeSince 2013 the Rockefeller Foundation has been celebrating its 100th Anniversary with a focus on resilience, a theme devised to match its mission of global engagement with big problems. Judith Rodin, the president of Rockefeller Foundation has even found time to write a whole book, The Resilience Dividend: Being Strong in a World Where Things Go Wrong. Mayor de Blasio has an Office of Resilience and Recovery run by Daniel Zarrilli, and New York has won a place in the 100 Resilient Cities Project which is trying to build stronger urban systems to resist catastrophes before they happen. But the waters are rising, and New York has been drenched again and again. Can human actions defy the cycle of damage and the predictions of future devastation proclaimed with every conference on climate change and disaster’s aftermath? Continue reading →

CultureAID Connects NYC Orgs During Disasters


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Culture Aid LogoThe recent two year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy serves as a reminder of how vulnerable cultural organizations can be when confronted by natural disasters.

CultureAID (Culture Active in Disasters) was established to keep New York City’s arts and cultural communities better connected in time of disaster – whether natural or manmade. The network is a volunteer-based communication system, designed to systematize messages about preparedness as well as recovery-related information and resources. Continue reading →

Exhibits: Marisol Escobar at El Museo del Barrio


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7_portrait-of-marisol-jack-mitchellThe artist Marisol Escobar sculpts figures that are big and blunt, or bright and shiny, or whimsical and eerie. She has been called a New Realist, a surrealist and a Pop artist. Born in 1930 of Venezuelan parents, her friends and companions and mentors have included Hans Hofman, Andy Warhol and Willem de Kooning.

The current exhibition at New York’s El Museo del Barrio is on view till January. Traveling from the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art in Tennessee, the exhibit features some terrific portraits, juxtaposed with works on paper that reveal a slanted take on the family. Curator Marina Pacini has selected a brilliant sample of Marisol works to reveal the streak of pain underpinning the dazzling surfaces.  Continue reading →

1931: Tammany Hall, Voter Fraud, and Sullivan County


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james-a-farleyOf all the fascinating races in Sullivan County’s colorful political history, none has had a greater statewide impact than the 1931 contest for the New York State Assembly.

And the significance of the election had only a little to do with its outcome.

William Whittaker, a South Fallsburg (Sullivan County) Democrat, was the Assembly incumbent in 1931, having won the seat the year before in a contest decided by fewer than 200 votes. His opponent in both races was John T. Curtis of Monticello, owner and editor of the Sullivan County Republican newspaper. As Election Day approached, Republican party officials in the county became suspicious of an unusually large number of absentee ballots, and asked for an investigation. Continue reading →

Thomas Jefferson Letters Make Public Debut in NYC


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Thomas_Jefferson_by_John_Trumbull_1788For the first time, the Museum of the City of New York have put on public view more than 20 original letters from Thomas Jefferson to Robert R. Livingston, who served as Chancellor of the State of New York and whom Jefferson appointed resident minister at the court of Napoleon. The personal letters, which span from 1800 – 1803 and have been part of the City Museum’s collection since 1947, will be on public display through Friday, December 5, 2014.

In these documents, Jefferson writes about a number of remarkable and historically important topics, including: the Louisiana Purchase, the Napoleonic Wars, early debates over the Constitution, the unearthing of a buried mammoth skeleton in upstate New York, the technical details of the first steam engine, the development of new codes for delivering secret messages to American diplomats living overseas, and much more. Continue reading →

Memories of the Way We Were and Are


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Dont ForgetLong time readers of my posts may recall the importance of Melanie Griffith in “Working Girl.” Her explanation of how she originated the idea for the corporate merger is a classic expression of the serendipity of the unexpected juxtaposition leading to thinking.

The eureka moment occurs not when one expects it but when things click in one’s mind. That’s why I enjoy thumbing through a newspaper rather than simply extracting predetermined information from the web – you never know what connections will be made…nor do the editors of the newspaper who are examining each article in isolation. Continue reading →

Lecture: NYC Carnegie and Branch Libraries History


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Untitled1The Historic District Council of New York City will present a lecture, “The History and Endurance of New York City’s Carnegie and Branch Libraries”, by Dr. Jeffrey Kroessler on Wednesday, October 29, 2014 at 5:30 pm at the Yorkville Branch of the New York Public Library (the first Carnegie Library built in New York City), 222 East 79th Street (between Second & Third Avenues).

In 1899, industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie donated the funds which would build 67 architecturally distinctive libraries in the five boroughs between 1901 and 1923. These buildings, of which 54 still function today as libraries, have been community landmarks ever since. Together with the more recently built branch libraries, and the famous main branches, they make up the three library systems that serve the dynamic population of New York City. Continue reading →

Ottilia Beha: An Extraordinary NYC Educator


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OttiliaBehaclassJust a few months after losing a re-election bid as county school commissioner, Ottilia Beha accepted a position in New York City, where she began teaching in 1903. By 1909, she had taught at several public schools in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens, and had served as assistant principal at two facilities, gaining valuable experience.

In fall of that year, she was among 258 teachers to take the licensing exam for elementary school principal. Ottilia finished at the top of the group, leading to a promotion as principal of a Brooklyn school with 800 students and a staff of 19 employees. Continue reading →

NYC Historic Districts Council Opposes Frick Expansion


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Frick Expansion planAfter many thoughtful meetings and two site visits to The Frick over several months, the Historic Districts Council has determined that we cannot support the proposed institutional expansion at the individually landmarked Frick. Our thoughts are outlined in our statement below:

In a city of superlatives, The Frick is unique. One of the last remaining Millionaire’s Row mansions of the Gilded Age, The Frick residence was designed from the beginning to become a museum. Henry Clay Frick stipulated in his will that his home become “a public gallery of art to which the entire public shall forever have access…”and to this end, a separate Board of Directors for his art collection was established after his death in 1920. After the death of Mr. Frick’s wife Adelaide in 1931, architect John Russell Pope was commissioned to architecturally guide the mansion’s transition to a museum (described in its 1973 designation report as “sensitive architectural blendings of alterations and additions with the original mansion”).  From its beginnings, The Frick has been a thoughtful, considered place. Continue reading →

Authentic Moments at the Waldorf Archival Exhibition


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Waldorf=Astori 2 hi resWith this week’s news that the historic Waldorf Astoria hotel has been sold, and in celebration of New York Archive Week, the hotel’s archivist Erin Allsop will offer Authentic Moments at the Waldorf – An Archival Exhibition this Friday, October 10th from 10 am to 4 pm in Sir Harry’s Lounge, located off of the hotel’s main lobby.

The interactive exhibition will showcase some of the most “Authentic Waldorf Moments” over the last century. This event will feature unique items from the Waldorf Astoria archive such as photographs, original menus, correspondence, advertisements, an original brick from the hotel’s construction in 1931, an original uniform, and video clips from the archives website. Continue reading →

N-Y Historical Society To Open 1914 Time Capsule


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unnamed(26)In 1914, a time capsule marking the tricentennial of the New Netherland Company charter was put on deposit at the New-York Historical Society by the Lower Wall Street Business Men’s Association.

It was intended to have been opened in 1974. As the opening date passed without notice, New-York Historical’s curators and historians decided to open it in 2014 to mark the quadricentennial of the New Netherland Company. Continue reading →

Johnny Dempster: New York’s Checkers Master


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P2A Checkerboard wikiUndaunted after the tough loss to August Schaefer, Dempster remained in New York City and continued working on his game. Competitive teams representing the city were chosen from a pool of highly skilled players, which included Johnny. When the world champion, Wyllie, came to town again, he played against nine of the region’s best competitors and vanquished all but one, who managed a tie. The next two best finishers against the great Wyllie were Schaefer and Dempster.

While John continued to win big matches, his efforts were now focused on memory development. The skills he learned, combined with the influence of matches he once played against Yates, steered him toward a new career: playing blindfolded. He went public and demonstrated just how adept he had become. Continue reading →

Events Mark NYC Ties to Battles of Saratoga, Yorktown


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Trinity_Church_Cemetery_NYC_A ceremony commemorating the American victories at the battles of Saratoga and Yorktown will be held on Sunday, October 12, 2014 in Manhattan’s historic Trinity Churchyard.  The cemetery holds the bodies of General Horatio Gates, the commanding general at the Battle of Saratoga to whom a 10,000 man British force surrendered on October 17, 1777, and Alexander Hamilton, who led the charge against Redoubt 10 at the Battle of Yorktown on October 19, 1781. Both men are buried within a few yards of each other.

The ceremony will be preceded by a two hour walking tour beginning at 12:30 p.m. sponsored by Open House New York in which walking tour historian James S. Kaplan, will lead a group through sites of Revolutionary War importance in Lower Manhattan, ending at Trinity Churchyard. Continue reading →

Johnny Dempster:
Watertown Boy With Wonderful Mind


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P1Bingham painting, checkers1850When leading sports channel ESPN began broadcasting events like poker and eating contests, it was regarded as innovative (or disturbing, as in the case of eating contests). A major media member had turned its attention to games rather than sticking with the traditional sports world. Unusual though it may have been, the move was hardly groundbreaking.

It harkens back to previous centuries, when popular games like chess and checkers received daily coverage on the sports pages of many of the world’s newspapers. And more than 130 years ago, an amazing North Country boy was mixing it up with the best of them in the world of competitive checkers. Continue reading →

The Sinking of The S.S. Normandie At NYC’s Pier 88


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Normandie_posterOn February 9, 1942 crowds gathered at New York City’s pier 88 to witness a spectacle. The largest ocean liner in the world was on fire. Fire fighting efforts successfully contained the fire after five and a half hours of effort, but the effort was in vain. Five hours after the flames were out the stricken vessel rolled onto its side and settled on the bottom of the Hudson.

The S.S. Normandie was a star crossed ship. Intended to be the pride of the French people, she was designed to be the height of shipbuilding technology and modern culture. Her first class passenger spaces were decorated in the trendiest Art Deco style and filled with luxuries. The radical new hull design, with a subsurface bulb beneath a clipper bow, and long, sweeping lines lent her previously untouched speeds while requiring far less fuel. She even had one of the earliest radar sets ever used by a commercial vessel, in order to improve the safety for her passengers. Continue reading →

Andrew Dolkart To Receive NYC Preservation Award


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Andrew DolkartThe Historic Districts Council, the citywide advocate for New York City’s historic neighborhoods, will present its annual Landmarks Lion Award on November 19 to Andrew Scott Dolkart, the James Marston Fitch Professor of Historic Preservation and Director of the Historic Preservation Program at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP). Continue reading →