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Proctor's 23rd Street Theater
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Proctor's 23rd Street Theater ca. 1895 When the church that originally occupied this site was torn down. F.F. Proctor purchased the land and erected his theater. It was here that he began his career as the foremost producer of vaudeville and popular melodramas. Proctor's was the first vaudeville house in New York City to offer "continuous vaudeville," with shows running from 11 in the morning to 11 at night. Advertisements for Proctor's read "After Breakfast, Go to Proctor's, After Proctor's Go To Bed." Located in the Flatiron district, Proctor's made a special appeal to women shoppers, who could catch a show any time during the day. With the coming of movies, the theater began to offer a mix of movies and vaudeville, and then movies alone.
The O'Neill Building
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(1875, Mortimer C. Merritt; expanded 1895) As early as the 1860’s, the West 20s above Union Square had a reputation as a shopping district for a new class of retail consumer, primarily women with disposable income and leisure time to spend on shopping for ready-made clothing and goods. The Hugh O’Neill Dry Goods Store is perhaps the most visible department store on this stretch of Sixth Avenue. With its domed corner towers and central pediment, it is among the finest examples of cast-iron architecture in the city. The original fourstory, French-inspired Renaissance Revival design was expanded in 1895 with a fifth floor. The domes and pediment were temporarily removed and then reinstalled on top of the addition. Adding stories or whole new bays on cast-iron fronted buildings was a fairly frequent occurrence, and pointed up the advantages of cast iron as a modular construction technology in which standardized, mass-produced facade components and ornament could be replicated and installed with relative ease.
297 Eighth Avenue
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Orange Riots at 25th Street and Eighth Avenue, 1871. Following violence the year before uptown on July 12th, (known as Marching Day in Northern Ireland), in 1871 the police barred the Loyal Order of Orange (an Irish Protestant group) from parading again. After complaints were lodged by newspaper, the order itself, and a number of elite businessmen, the police and Tammany Hall relented and allowed the parade. The event began under heavy police and National Guard presence (about 5000 men) at Lamartine Hall, the Orangemen’s headquarters at Eighth Avenue and 29th Street. The parade was met by angry Irish Catholic crowds and the violence escalated to the point that rocks, shoes, and bottles were being thrown; the police and militia were using their clubs and bayonets; and shots were fired into the dense crowds. In all the riot caused the deaths of over 60 civilians – mostly Irish laborers – and three Guardsmen.
319 Seventh Avenue
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339 West 29th Street (1846-47) NYC HD Lamartine Place Inspired by the terraced houses of England, the north side of this block was developed as a continuous row of Greek Revival residences by William Torrey and Cyrus Mason, who gave it the vanity address Lamartine Place. It soon attracted a respectable group of homeowners including Abby Hopper Gibbons and James Sloan Gibbons, who purchased no. 339 in 1852. Well-regarded philanthropists and abolitionists, their house became a nexus for anti- slavery activity in pre-Civil War New York, and is the only documented stop on the Underground Railroad in Manhattan. During the Draft Riots of 1863, the Gibbons residence was targeted by a mob that set it afire. Family members fled across the roofs of the adjacent houses. The family later returned to their houses and made repairs. Though somewhat altered since, it is one of the few surviving sites directly associated with the Draft Riots.
48-54 West 25th Street
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48-54 West 25th Street, ca. 1923. Architects George and Edward Blum erected this 12-story building in 1910 for Abraham E. Lefcourt, who at the time was a cloak and suit manufacturer. While Lefcourt eventually came to be a prolific real estate developer, erecting more than 20 buildings in Manhattan in under a decade, this lofted-structure was his first construction in the city. Before his commissioning career took off, Lefcourt designated the bottom two floors of this building as a space for his own clothing factory.
Chelsea Hotel
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(1883-85; Hubert, Pirsson \&Co.)NYC IL; S/NR) The famed Hotel Chelsea was one of the city’s first cooperative apartment buildings, originally named the Chelsea Apartments. Architect and developer Philip Hubert was influenced in bringing the co-op to America by the philosophy of early socialist French thinker Charles Fourier, who imagined a utopian society based on communal associations. Hubert designed the Chelsea with apartments for both co-op members and renters at a variety of income levels, with shared spaces to facilitate community interaction. The massive and imposing 12-story, red-brick building is 25 bays wide, fronted by tiers of delicate iron balconies, and capped by dramatic pyramidal slate roofs, gables, dormers, and chimneys. It has elements of Aesthetic Movement, Queen Anne, and High Victorian Gothic styles, and is notable for its early use of fireproof construction methods such as load-bearing masonry walls and wrought iron beams. When Hubert’s experiment bankrupted in 1905, the building was converted into a luxury hotel visited by prominent guests including Mark Twain, William Dean Howells, Sarah Bernhardt, and painter John Sloan. After World War II, as the hotel declined and room prices fell, it attracted Jackson Pollock, Virgil Thomson, Larry Rivers, James Schuyler, Dylan Thomas, Tennessee Williams, and Jack Kerouac. Arthur Miller moved into Room 614 after his divorce from Marilyn Monroe. Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick wrote the screenplay for 2001: A Space Odyssey at the Chelsea. From 1957 to 2007, the hotel was an informal artists’ colony benevolently and tolerantly “curated” by manager Stanley Bard. Artwork he accepted in lieu of back rent from struggling artists filled the lobby and main staircase. Bard fashioned and maintained the unique creative dynamic for which the hotel is perhaps most famous, presiding during the 1960’s when Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen wrote some of their greatest songs. Andy Warhol filmed Chelsea Girls here. Bard’s departure was mourned by many residents of the hotel and the Chelsea community. The building continues to house a significant number of permanent tenants.
51 WEST 28 STREET
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\*“Tin Pan Alley had an indelible impact on the history of American popular music and paved the way for what would become “the Great American Songbook.” However, arising during the period following the Civil War and the failure of Reconstruction, when Jim Crow laws and other unjust, discriminatory practices were reversing newly won freedoms and rights for African Americans and entrenching systemic racism throughout American society, racist caricatures and stereotypes of African Americans were increasingly spread through mass media, including sheet music produced on Tin Pan Alley. At the same time, Tin Pan Alley’s music publishing brought ragtime to an international public, offered unprecedented opportunities for African American artists and publishers to create mainstream American music, and saw many gain acclaim and prominence. The proposed designation of this row of five buildings, which represent the history of Tin Pan Alley, recognizes the significant contributions and achievements of African Americans here, and acknowledges the harsh realities they faced.” \*Tin Pan Alley Designation Report
312 Eighth Avenue
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Eighth avenue, east side, from West 25th (right, not seen) to 26th Streets, showing at No. 312 the Chelsea Theatre. This structure, prior to 1913 was formerly Miner's Theatre which opened here in 1881. It burned in 1903 and was rebuilt in 1904. A photograph of 1910 closely compared, will indicate the present building minus the marquee. June 25, 1928.
312 Eighth Avenue
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314 Eight Avenue, ca. 1910. This structure, originally built in 1881, was rebuilt in 1904 after a fire the proceeding year. In 1913 it closed, to be later reopened as the Chelsea Movie Theatre.
Third Cemetery of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue
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Third Cemetery of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, June 11, 1933. This cemetery is one of the burial places of the oldest Jewish congregation in North America, Congregation Shearith Israel. While the exact location of the first cemetery for the congregation has been lost (it might have been near the African Burial Ground), two other graveyards for this community pre-date this one and remain extant. They are located at Chatham Square and just east of Sixth Avenue on West 11th Street, established 1682 and 1805, respectively. Due to the encroaching city development and changes in the law regarding burials in Manhattan, both of these cemeteries were unfit for the community's needs by the 1820s. Referred to as the 'Third' Cemetery or the 21st Street Cemetery this plot was established in 1829 to move the disinterred graves from the 11th Street location. The active period of this cemetery was brief, as the city banned burials below 86th Street in 1851. The congregation looked to the outer boroughs (a popular cemetery locale by that time). Joining with two other Jewish congregations they founded the Beth Olam Cemetery in Ridgewood, which is still active today.
Lefcourt Clothing Center
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Lefcourt Clothing Center, 1929. This 1929 building, commissioned by Garment District developer Abraham E. Lefcourt, was originally designed to house garment shops. The building was erected by the architect firm of Buchman & Kahn at a time when clothing manufacturers were beginning to relocate from Manhattan and into the boroughs. Upon its completion, the building became a magnet that started the relocation of what remained of New York's declining men's clothing industry.
Chelsea Hotel
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Chelsea Hotel, ca. 1985. Opened in 1884, as a grand Co-Op Apartment building, the Hotel Chelsea became a long-term hotel for generations of bohemians, including artists, writers, and musicians. Famous musical residents included the Grateful Dead, Nico, Tom Waits, Patti Smith, Jim Morrison, Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd, Madonna, and Jimi Hendrix. Bob Dylan composed Blonde On Blonde in room 211, and later wrote about the experience. Leonard Cohen wrote "Chelsea Hotel #2," a song about hooking up with Janis Joplin in room 222. Most infamously, Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen rented room 100 in 1978 and after several months of epic drug abuse, Spungen was found stabbed to death in their bathroom. Sid Vicious was charged with the crime but died of a heroin overdose before the trial.
St. John the Baptist School
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St. John the Baptist School, September 5, 1919. The school connected to the church of St. John the Baptist began in 1870 with 50 children educated in a space in a hotel on Sixth Avenue. The building seen here, which housed the monastery and school, was constructed in 1872 in the Collegiate Gothic style. It served as the church school through the mid 20th century. In 1974 the building was replaced by the brown brick, Brutalist Capuchin Monastery of St. John the Baptist, which currently still stands, though has been defunct since 2014.
Wax Wonders at the Eden Musee
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Though the Eden Musee is now primarily known for its motion picture shows, the institution boasted a vast collection of wax figures organized in diorama-like scenes. The Musee opened in 1884 and quickly became a staple on 23rd Street.
Hotel Governor Clinton
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Hotel Governor Clinton The Governor Clinton Hotel was built by Murgatroyd and Ogden, designers of the Barbizon Hotel, Jolly Madison, Towers Hotel and Allerton, with George B. Post in x on the southeast corner of 7th Ave and 31st streets, the first new hotel built near Penn Station since 1919. The hotel had an asymmetrical mass more in accord with 12th century Italian Romanesque then with the Imperial Classicism of nearby Pennsylvania Railroad Station and Hotel Pennsylvania.
Muhlenberg Branch, NYPL
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New York Public Library, Muhlenberg Branch, ca. 1912. Completed in 1906, the Muhlenburg Branch is a Carnegie library designed by the same architects of the Main Branch of the NYPL, Carrère and Hastings. The simplified Beaux Arts style building is named for William Augustus Muhlenberg. He was the first rector of the nearby Church of the Holy Communion, and donated many books to the Free Circulating Library (a precursor to the NYPL).
188 Seventh Avenue
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Northwest corner of Seventh Avenue and 21st Street, January 25, 1914. The newspaper stand on the corner has a poster which reads: "Why I shot Wm. E. Annis. Capt. Peter C. Hains Jr. USA lays bare for the first time the full facts of the surprising domestic tragedy which reached its climax when he shot Annis dead. In the next Sunday's American." This flashy headline refers to an event that had occurred eight years earlier. Believing that Annis, a magazine publisher, was having an affair with his wife while he was stationed in Manila, the Army captain shot the man six times at a regatta in Little Neck Bay. Hains was found guilty and served only two and a half years of his 8-16 year sentence. Presumably he was telling his story so many years later to cash in on the fame.
Black Chelsea History Tour
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Although it is often forgotten, Chelsea played a significant role in New York's African American community and its history, particularly in the second half of the 19th Century. As early as the 1840’s Pierre Toussaint a freed Haitian slave, now in the process of canonization, played a significant role in establishing St Vincent DePauls Roman Catholic on W 23 St for French speaking New Yorkers. This Church started an early school for African Americans in the city. On Lamartine Place, the block of West 29th St between 8th and 9th Aves, the Hopper-Gibbons a Quaker family that played a crucial role in Abolitionism and many progressive and charitable causes, used their house as a stop in the Underground Railroad. The house, still stands is to date the only verifiable Underground Railroad safe House in Manhattan. Particularly from the 1880s to 1900's (and lingering onto WWI), New York's African American community having been displaced from southern Greenwich Village settled in the West 20s and 30s. Thus the areas “Negro Tenderloin” was to the citys largest African-American settlement by the 1890s until once again the community was forced to move because of a brutal race riot in 1900 and displacement due to the demolition of a core area to build Penn Station. Faced with the prospects of bad living conditions, a violent and dangerous environment and displacement, St. Philips Episcopal Church, the city's oldest African American congregation which at the time was located on West 25th St played a central role in fomenting the move to Harlem by a significant portion of the cities African population. Several other of the cities older and most prominent black churches and institutions were in the neighborhood in the latter 19th Century including Bethel AME Church on W25 St and Mt Oliver and Shiloh on West 26th Street and the Colored Mission and the Sons of New York Club on West 30th St.
Chelsea Hotel
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Chelsea Hotel ca. 1947 The Chelsea Hotel, with a cliff of solid red-brick paired with lacy High Victorian cast-iron balconies, was designed by Philip Hubert and his architecture firm, Hubert Pirsson & Company Construction started in 1883. The building opened in 1885, not as The Chelsea Hotel, but as The Chelsea Apartments. Like other residences of the Hubert Home Club, The Chelsea was originally intended to be a cooperative-apartment sold to multiple owners. The cooperative-apartment model appealed to those concerned with both price and prestige as a more permanent home rather than temporary accommodations. Following the success of earlier Hubert Homes ventures, The Chelsea received generous financial backing from capitalists, allowing for its extravagant interior fittings. The rooms sold out immediately upon opening with suites at premium over the original cost. The Chelsea contained 97 suites, each ranging from 3 to 12 rooms, furnished with woodwork of the owner’s choice. In addition to its elevator, the lobby boasted a spiraling staircase with cast-iron railings and mahogany handrails. Residents also received a continuous income from the building’s storefront and tenants on the upper two stories. The attic story in the pavilions originally served as a studio apartment for artists, since its opening. At 180 feet tall, the Chelsea stood twice as tall as what the residential height limit of 1885 allowed, remaining the tallest building in New York
242 West 31st Street
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My Archive Spring 2019 "A photo of my mother, her siblings, and their mother taken in 1942 or so, no later than 1945. my mother, her siblings, and their mother." —Jill Melamed
St. Vincent de Paul
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St. Vincent de Paul ca. 1932 French-speaking Catholics from both France and its New World colonies were among the earliest Catholic settlers in New York and were some of the first parishioners of St. Peter's, New York's original parish. The French population tended to assimilate quickly into the larger society; however, bolstered by continued immigration, in 1841, they organized their own parish, St. Vincent de Paul, on Canal Street, in lower Manhattan, which later relocated to West 23rd Street.
Cavanagh's Restaurant
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Cavanagh's Restaurant ca. 1905 Irish pubs and taverns, some serving restaurant food , were central features of New York City Irish neighborhoods. By the end of the nineteenth century, Irish pubs could be found throughout the City. Irish New Yorker patronized such places because they attracted a clientele of countrymen. Relatively small amounts of capital were required to open a bar and proprietors were perennial employers of foreign-born Irish. Cavanagh's opened in 1876, and became one of the City's most popular Irish eateries. As with many like institutions, its Irishness went beyond its name. Chappell's guide to The Restaurants of New York (1925) noted: "A worthwhile stopping place is Cavanagh's at 258 West 23rd, a well-known restaurant which still keeps its fair share of patronage. It is in this part of town that the ethnologist will be able to discern traces of that rare survival, Irish New York...Cavanagh's is Irish to the core...The touch of Erin creeps in the menu."
57 West 28th Street
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57 West 28th Street, ca. 1980. From the 1880s through the 1920s a small section of West 28th Street was the center of composing, lyric writing, and sheet music publishing. Known as Tin Pan Alley, some of the most well-known compositions in the American songbook, by the likes of Irving Berlin and George Gershwin, were written in a series of row houses between Broadway and Sixth Avenue. The advent of phonographs and the radio in the 1920s sounded the death knell for Tin Pan Alley. Today the buildings remain, though in poor condition, with ground and second floor retail. They do not have landmark protection despite preservation efforts.
Eden Musee
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The Eden Musee boasted a waxwork collection and other oddities such as magic lantern shows, marionettes, and a "Chamber of Horrors" in its basement. Though the institution had a collection of paintings, it was mostly known for the motion pictures which were shown in its various halls. The Musee was the first venue in the country with motion pictures as part of its standard programming. In fact, the Eden was Edison's first movie licensee. After the venue declared bankruptcy in 1915, much of its collection was auctioned off or exhibited on Coney Island.
Bayard Rustin Residence at Penn South (Building 7)
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Bayard Rustin Residence at Penn South (Building 7), 312 West 25th Street. Bayard Rustin, one of the most important yet little-known figures of the civil rights movement, lived in an apartment in this Chelsea building complex from 1963 to 1987 (his death). While here, he served as the lead organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and took part in numerous social justice campaigns around the world.
Jeanne D’Arc Home
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The Jeanne D’Arc Home, ca. 1912. The Jeanne D’Arc Home, originally founded in 1896 as a refuge for French girls separated from their families, has remained to this day a safe place for women in New York City. Run by the Congregation of Divine Providence, the home accepts women from all religions and cultures – often women from other countries who have come to New York temporarily to study or to work. On any given day, the home can house up 140 women!
Simpson-Crawford Department Store
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Atrium of the Simpson-Crawford Company decorated for Easter, 1904. Simpson-Crawford Co. began as a small dry good store opened in the 1860s at Sixth Avenue and 19th Street. Through a series of new partnerships, the store grew and prospered (and changed names a few times), catering to a very high end clientele. At the turn of the 20th century, the owner selected architectural firm, William H. Hume & Son, to expand the large store to a full block width on Sixth Avenue. The building, complete in 1902, was stately and conservative, rendered in an understated Beaux Arts style. The building included the first escalator (called “moving stairs”) on Sixth Avenue and used a new marketing device, the mannequin. The interior featured a soaring cast iron atrium with a colored-glass skylight. This space was perfect for over the top holiday displays, such as the Easter one depicted here.
127 West 20th Street
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"127-123 West 20th Street, north side, just west of Sixth Avenue. No. 123 adjoins the Partola Building, which is on Sixth Avenue at the N.W. corner of 20th Street, 1931." The Partola Building was originally the the O'Neill-Adams department store building. After an extensive renovation in 1920, the building became home to the Partola Manufacturing Company, a chemical company.
169 Seventh Avenue
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"Seventh Avenue, east side, from 20th to 19th Streets,1931." Notice the police officer on horseback, and the two different types of ornamental light poles.
170 Seventh Avenue
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Seventh Avenue, west side, from 20th Street to 21st Street, ca. 1920.
71 West 23rd Street
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23rd Street, looking east from about Seventh Avenue, September 14, 1928. The building at center, 71 West 23rd Street, is home to the Freemason Garabaldi Lodge #542. The 19-story loft building was constructed between 1911 and 1913 in a neo-Renaissance style by Free Mason Harry P. Knowles. The structure was always meant to be, and continues to be, a means of generating income to the support the functions of the Masons. Spaces in the building have always been rented to organizations and companies as offices and event spaces. The building offers at least 15 rooms for events of various sizes with varied and spectacular interior design. The ceremonial functions of the Mason's are located in the 1909 building that fronts West 24th Street and can be reached through a through-block pedestrian passageway. Well-known members of this lodge have included Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, John Jacob Astor, and Harry Houdini.
729 Sixth Avenue
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(1886-87, Schwarzmann & Buchman)) The late 19th-century commercial takeover of Sixth Avenue wasn’t limited to just high-end department stores. The area surrounding 23rd Street was once a nexus of theatrical productions, of both vaudeville and legitimate persuasions alike. In 1879, Koster & Bial took over Bryant’s Opera House (established 1870, infamously one of the last minstrel theaters in the city). The partners soon expanded to a 1,200-seat theater on 23rd Street and eventually took up the entire Sixth Avenue frontage as well with a beer garden and a corner annex, which served as a saloon and beer store. The latter’s pediment and corner plaque still proudly advertise “The Corner” and “Koster & Bial.” In 1893, the partners were forced to close their Chelsea operations on charges of “encouraging prostitution.” A few days later they had opened a new venue on 34th Street (later famous for hosting the city’s first motion picture exhibition in 1896).
124 West 28th Street
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(c. 1854, Amnon Macvey, Superintendent of School Buildings) The New York City Board of Education was established in 1842, and in 1853 it merged with the older Public School Society to create Manhattan’s first true municipal public school system. Under it, schools were overseen by the local ward trustees who had considerable oversight over the construction and operation of school buildings. This building was completed during the long tenure of Macvey, who served from the 1830’s (under the Public School Society) through the 1870’s. One of the three oldest public school buildings in Manhattan, its Italianate design is characteristic of the period, with a symmetrical facade featuring a slightly projecting central section with shallow pediment.
Asociación de Arte Latinoamericano (ADAL)
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Asociación de Arte Latinoamericano (ADAL), 682 Sixth Avenue. For nearly 40 years, gay artistic director Max Ferrá led INTAR, a Latino theater company first known as Asociación de Arte Latinoamericano (ADAL) when it was located in this building from 1966 to 1971. Under Ferrá, who was also a co-founder, the company became a major force in developing Hispanic-American theater talent, including original works by several notable LGBT playwrights.
The Traffic Building
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(1927, Abraham Fisher) This six-story commercial building is notable for its striking façade and unusual name, a reference to the “Traffic Cafeteria” that occupied the lower two stories in the late 1920s. “Traffic” referred to the trucking industry in its nascent years. Cafeteria-style restaurants catering to budget-conscious urbanites became popular in the 1920s. Designed by little-known architect Fisher, the building is a wonder of patterned brickwork and rich, Celtic-inspired terra cotta ornament. Rather than bearing weight, this façade is a “curtain wall” held up floor-by-floor by the building’s concealed steel frame. Fisher’s treatment of the Traffic Building’s façade as a tapestry and use of diagonally-laid brick acknowledge this up-to-date reality. At the same time, traditional elements make it seem anachronistic. It is one of those buildings which, when noticed, rivet and reward.
Art, Music, and Murder: The Chelsea Hotel
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Few hotels in New York can match the cultural history of the Chelsea Hotel. From its beginnings as a luxurious apartment building to its later life as temporary accommodations for a host of artists, the Chelsea Hotel has seen been a fixture of New York throughout the years. This story is adapted from the Skyscraper Museum's "Ten & Taller."
Six To Celebrate: Chelsea
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In 1750, British naval officer Thomas Clarke bought a Dutch farm to create his retirement estate, named “Chelsea” after the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London. His property extended from approximately Eighth Avenue to the Hudson—its shore ran roughly along today’s Tenth Avenue—between 20th and 28th Streets. The estate was subdivided in 1813 between two grandsons; Clement Clarke Moore received the southern half below 24th Street while his cousin, Thomas B. Clarke, inherited the northern section. The two halves developed distinctly different characters due to the split. Today, Chelsea contains a variety of historic architecture, including some of the city’s most intact nineteenth-century residential blocks, significant commercial buildings, and industrial complexes near the Hudson River.
213 Eighth Avenue
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"Eighth Avenue at S.W. corner of 21st Street., 1929." The light colored brick building seen at left in the original photograph still stands, while the wood-frame structure on corner (which is seemingly being demolished) has been replaced by a red brick building, likely constructed soon thereafter, given its simple Art Deco style.
Jews' Hospital (Mount Sinai)
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Jews’ Hospital in the City of New York (later Mount Sinai), sketch ca. 1866. The hospital that would become Mount Sinai opened on June 5, 1855, in a townhouse on West 28th Street. As its original name suggests, Jews’ Hospital served the needs of Jewish patients — and employed Jewish doctors — at a time when other hospitals in the city refused service. Non-Jewish patients were admitted in cases of emergency, as were Union soldiers wounded in the Civil War. In 1866, hospital directors adopted the new name Mount Sinai, signaling that patients of all backgrounds were welcome. In the early 1870s, the hospital moved to a new and larger facility at Lexington Avenue and 66th Street.
Chelsea Hotel
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Chelsea Hotel ca. 1936 The eleven-story Hotel Chelsea opened in 1884 as one of the first cooperative apartment buildings in New York City. A list of some of the famous people who have lived there reads like a Who's Who of art, theater and literary circles: Sarah Bernhardt, Lillian Russell, Mark Twain, O. Henry, Thomas Wolfe, John Sloan, Arthur Miller (after his break up with Marilyn Monroe), Tennessee Williams, and Jackson Pollock. The survivors of the Titanic stayed here for a few days, and here Dylan Thomas collapsed after an alcoholic binge from which he never recovered.
French Chelsea History Tour
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From the 1870's-90's, approximately 20,000 French immigrants lived in South Village and SoHo area. By the end of the 19th century, most of that colony had relocated to the Chelsea area.
Grand Opera House
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Grand Opera House, 1937. Originally opened as Pike's Opera House in 1868, the building became the Grand Opera House the next year when it was purchased by James Fisk and Jay Gould. The repertoire was expanded beyond classic opera to include plays and light opera. Fisk's motivation for this was to create opportunity for his girlfriend, actress Josie Mansfield. He put her up in a nearby brownstone and gifted her cash and lavish jewels. The mansion also had a secret tunnel that led to the opera house and the upstairs offices of Fisk's Erie Railway. Fisk became the silent partner in an oil business run by a man named Ned Stokes. Stokes would became Mansfield's other lover and after much drama, including extortion, blackmail, libel lawsuits, and false charges of embezzlement, Stokes murdered Fisk, shooting him in 1872. Fisk lay in state at the opera house. The theatre became a venue for more popular, working class productions, as the changing audience on the west side enjoyed a cheaper and less cultured repertoire. The building became an RKO theatre in 1938 after a renovation by theatre architect Thomas Lamb. Finally closed in preparation for demolition in June of 1960, the building was gutted by a fire in July of the same year.
800 Sixth Avenue
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Kabo Corset Company ca. 1915 The Chicago-based Kabo Corset Company had its New York offices at 800 Sixth Avenue near West 45th Street. In Bowman's Corset and Brassiere Trade directory of 1920, Kabo was listed as "manufacturers of back lace, front lace, maternity and sport corsets, also corsets waists, brassieres, all types, garters and sanitary specialities."
Revillon Frères Fur Storage Warehouse
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Revillon Frères fur storage warehouse, 1925. Built in 1924 by the firm Cross & Cross, the building was both a storage facility and retail location for Revillon Frères, the French luxury furrier. After the company left the building, the upper cold storage floors were substantially altered, with the diaper-pattern brickwork replaced by rows of windows.
317 West 21st Street
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My Archive Spring 2019 "Starve a rat day, an event on 21st Street Chelsea. This was the block I lived on from 1966 or 1967 until 1979. I am in the background wearing the plaid pants." —Amy Peck
197 Eighth Avenue
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My Archive Spring 2019 "Amy Peck, seven years old, and her sister Sally Peck, five years old. I think my father liked the advertisements." — Amy Peck
Photos
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National Cloak and Suit Co.
7th Avenue between 24th and 25th Streets. National Suit and Cloak Co.
252 Seventh Avenue
\[7th Avenue and 25th Street.]
National Cloak and Suit Co.
National Cloak and Suit Co.
West 26th Street and Seventh Avenue. National Cloak and Suit Company
220 West 24th Street
West 24th Street. Old Ladies' Home.
Seventh Avenue and 25th Street
Manhattan: 7th Avenue - 25th Street (1) Seventh Avenue and point near 25th Street, looking northwards shcwing W.P.A. reconstruction work. June 2, 1937. (a) S Seventh Avenue 30th Street about to 38th Street. 13\) June 2, 1937. (3) Seventh Avence 28th to 36th Street, showing W.P.S. June 4, 1937. (4) SSe. George Balgue.
Seventh Avenue and 25th Street
Manhattan: 7th Avenue - 25th Street (1) Seventh Avenue and point near 25th Street, looking northwards shcwing W.P.A. reconstruction work. June 2, 1937. (a) S Seventh Avenue 30th Street about to 38th Street. 13\) June 2, 1937. (3) Seventh Avence 28th to 36th Street, showing W.P.S. June 4, 1937. (4) SSe. George Balgue.
239 West 24th Street
Manhattan: 24th Street (West) - 8th Avenue 239-263 West 24th Street, north side, east of Eighth Avenue. In the centre is the Jeanne D'Arc Home for Girls. March 6, 1931 P. L. Sperr
Public School 45
Manhattan: 24th Street (West) - 8th Avenue 225 West 24th Street, north side between 8th and 7th Avenues showing P.S. 45. Board of Education. N.Y.C. 1920
Public School 45
Manhattan: 24th Street (West) - 7th Avenue (1) West 24th Street, north side, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, showing Public School No. 45 at No. 225 West 24th Street. This building in conjunction with the structures at the left (No's. 233 to 239 inclusive) will be razed in 1937-8 to provide a new high school site with a 250 foot front on this street, thru to West 25th Street. The three houses on the right (No's. 219 to 223) will remain. March 6, 1931 P. L. Sperr (2) A more extensive view of the former school site in the opposite direction from No. 1. The photographer is viewing eastward to show the 6 story apartment building appearing at the left is the Jeanne D'Arc Home for Girls and is No. 251-255, slightly to the east of Eighth Avenue. March 21, 1938 (3) A due northward view thru the former school site. The large left structures seen face on the south side of West 26th Street; their rears appearing here. March 21, 1938 P. L. Sperr
237 West 24th Street
Manhattan: 24th Street (West) - 7th Avenue (1) 237-249 West 24th Street, north side, between Seventh and Eighth Avenue. March 6, 1931 P. L. Sperr. (2) The same, slightly more inclusive. Buildings shown are Nos 249 (extreme left) to 233 (3-story building extreme right). Note the Empire State Building tower in the background. December 26, 1936 P.L. Sperr.
West 25th Street and Seventh Avenue
\[7th Avenue at West 25th Street, IRT West Side/Seventh Avenue Line, Manhattan, NY] Northeast corner of 7th Avenue at West 25th Street, Manhattan, NY. Survey photograph of the street prior to construction of the IRT West Side-Seventh Avenue Line. Northward view of pedestrians, a beer and wine cafe, stores and advertisements.
274 Seventh Avenue
Guffanti's Restaurant, Seventh Avenue between 25th Street and 26th Street, New York City, May 1918. (Boyette 9366)
274 Seventh Avenue
Guffanti's Restaurant, Seventh Avenue between 25th Street and 26th Street, New York City, circa 1920. (Boyette 9365)
257 Seventh Avenue
Manhattan: 7th Avenue - 21st Street (West) Seventh Avenue, east side, south from W. 25rd to 21st Streets. View 2 is limited to the foreground frontage, viewed northeastward from 22nd Street. In the background here is the Empire State Building. Views 1, 2: May 6, 1939. P. L. Sperr.
266 Seventh Avenue
266 Seventh Avenue c. 1903. Street scene including a woman sweeping the sidewalk, a boy and woman passing by, a mannequin in front of a store advertising W.B. Corsets, and a grocers.
266 Seventh Avenue
7th Ave.
266 Seventh Avenue
Street Vendors - Vegetables. 266 Seventh Ave. Lower 7th Avenue showing a male merchant at a produce store waiting on a woman customer with a child. Vegetables are displayed on tables set up on the sidewalk outside the store. Two other women and children pedestrians can be seen.
261 Seventh Avenue
Manhattan: 7th Avenue - 25th Street (West) Seventh Avenue at the South East corner of W.25th Street. August 25th,I927 P.L.Sperr, No Reproductions.
261 Seventh Avenue
Manhattan: 7th Avenue - 24th Street East side of Seventh Avenue, 25th to 24th Streets. August 25, 1927. P.L. Sperr,Photographer.
266 Seventh Avenue
7th Ave.
Y.M.C.A., West 23rd Street
Y.M.C.A. Building, N.Y. City Primary subject: Mcburney Y
Y.M.C.A., West 23rd Street
23rd. St. Y.M.C.A. Building 215 W. 23rd St. N.Y. Primary subject: Mcburney Y Secondary subject: Carnegie Library Muhlenberg Branch
Y.M.C.A., West 23rd Street
West 23rd Street. Y.M.C.A.
Y.M.C.A., West 23rd Street
West 23rd Street. Y.M.C.A., kitchen.
263 Seventh Avenue
Manhattan: 7th Avenue - 25th Street Seventh Avenue, east side, from 25th to 26th Streets. August 20, 1927. P.L. Sperr,Photogragher. AEG 2 S002
Y.M.C.A., West 23rd Street
Rochdale Institute class at 23rd Street Y.M.C.A.
Y.M.C.A., West 23rd Street
Manhattan: 23rd Street - 7th Avenue 23rd Street, north side, from 237 West to N.W. corner of Seventh Avenue. 23rd Street Y.M.C.A., 215 West 23rd Street, is at right center. June 16, 1928 P.L. Sperr, Photographer
Y.M.C.A., West 23rd Street
Y.M.C.A. Building. The Y.M.C.A. Building at 215 West 23rd Street. The New York Public Library branch building is to the right.
Muhlenberg Branch, NYPL
Manhattan 108, Muhlenburg Library, 209-11 W. 23rd St; Jerry Spearman, Photographer
Muhlenberg Branch, NYPL
N. Y. Public Library, 209 West 23rd St.
Bethel Church
Manhattan: 25th Street (West) - 6th Avenue
Bethel Church
Church, Bethel, 25th St. Bet. 7th & 8th Aves. Taken from across the street of the Bethel Church.
Bethel Church
Church, Bethel, 25th St. Bet. 7th & 8th Aves. Looking toward the altar.
Bethel Church
Church, Bethel, 25th St. Bet. 7th & 8th Aves. Looking toward the rear from side balcony with pipe organ.
Bethel Church
Manhattan: 25th Street (West) - 7th Avenue (1) 247-207 West 25th Street, north side, west of Seventh Avenue. Bethel Chapel, in the centre, will soon be demolished, as will the house at the left 247 West 25th Street. The 12 story building at the right, is the Graphic Arts Building. About 1914. Bethel A.M.E. Church (2) A closer view of Bethel Chapel, 233-245 West 25th Street. 1915\.
Bethel Church
Church, Bethel, 25th St. Bet. 7th & 8th Aves. Photographs, Prints & Drawings Photographs, Prints & Drawings
Bethel Church
Church, Bethel, 25th St. Bet. 7th & 8th Aves. Taken from across the street of the Bethel Church.
Seventh Avenue and 26th Street, southwest corner
Manhattan: 7th Avenue - 25th Street Seventh Avenue, west side, 26th to 25th Streets. Second building from left bears inscriotior, "V. Pacheteau California Wine Cellars". August 20, 1927. P.L. Sperr,Photographer. NWES ~ E004
224 Seventh Avenue
Manhattan: 7th Avenue - 23rd Street North on west side of Seventh Avenue from south of 23rd Street. August 20, 1927. P.L. Sperr, Photographer.
224 Seventh Avenue
Manhattan: 7th Avenue - 23rd Street (West) (1)Seventh Avenue,East Side and North from West 23rd Street. Auguat 25th,I927 (2) Seventh Avenue,from North West corner of West 23rd Street. Febrdary I8th,I939 Photograph by. P.L.Sperr, No Reproductions.
229 Seventh Avenue
Seventh Avenue #229-25 - 23rd Street looking east
229 Seventh Avenue
Seventh Avenue #229-25 - 23rd Street looking east
167 West 23rd Street
\[West 23rd Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues.] From left, 169, 167, and 165 West 23rd Street, north side (decorative roofs now demolished). On right, the Traffic Building, 163 West 23rd Street.
243 West 23rd Street
Manhattan: 23rd Street - 7th Avenue 23rd Street west from 243 West, a seven-story office building of which a portion is shown at the right, north side, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. March 12, 1929 P.L.Sperr. Neg #989
271 Seventh Avenue
Manhattan: 7th Avenue - 25th Street Castle Cave, 271 Seventh Avenue, east side, between 25th and 26th Streets. August 20, 1927. P.L. Sperr,Photographer. NEG ~300
Lefcourt Clothing Center
7th Avenue between 24th and 25th Streets, east side. Lefcourt Clothing Center.
281 Seventh Avenue
Manhattan: 7th Avenue - 26th Street Seventh Avenue at S. E. corner of 26th Street. August 20, 1927. P.L. Sperr, Photographer.
225 Seventh Avenue
Manhattan: 7th Avenue - 23rd Street (West) (1)Seventh Avenue,East Side and North from West 23rd Street. Auguat 25th,I927 (2) Seventh Avenue,from North West corner of West 23rd Street. Febrdary I8th,I939 Photograph by. P.L.Sperr, No Reproductions.
225 Seventh Avenue
Manhattan: 7th Avenue - 23rd Street Seventh Avenue at N.E. corner of 23rd Street. August 25, 1927. P. L. Sperr.
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