"The street outside the George Gould house at 67th Street & 5th Avenue. Horse-drawn carriages are lined up outside the house for the wedding of Anna Gould to Count Boni de Castellane, 1895."

My Archive Summer 2019 “A group visit by Landmarks Commissioners and staff sometime between 1990 and 1994 to review proposed restoration work at Bethesda Terrace.“ —Jeremy Woodoff

This arsenal at 64th Street was already outmoded as a military facility when the Civil War broke out in 1861. Built by Martin Euclid Thompson, it had been an auxiliary headquarters for the Seventh "Silk Stocking" Regiment since 1848. Although it was vacated by them in 1857 when the city claimed the building for its new Central Park, the arsenal continued as a military storage center in the early years of the war. It subsequently became a museum (precursor to the American Museum of Natural History), a weather bureau, and an art gallery. It also served as a makeshift zoo until 1870, when the Central Park Menagerie was given more permanent grounds behind the Arsenal. Today it serves as the headquarters for the Parks Department.

Lotos Club (1947) Built as a private residence, this house shows the most ornate phase of the Beaux Arts style as expressed by many of our architects. The desire to make an elaborate display of details, modified for the sake of originality, often led us up a blind alley.

35 East 68th Street (left), ca. 1977. This 1901 Carrère & Hastings townhouse was built for Edward K. Dunham, a doctor and professor of pathology at Bellevue, and his wife Mary (née Dows).

The Delacorte Clock, ca. 1971. Named after philanthropist George T. Delacorte, the Delacorte Clock is located near the Children's Zoo and Wildlife Center in Central Park. Since it was unveiled in 1965, the clock has chimed seasonal songs and nursery rhymes on the hour and half hour everyday from 8:00 am – 6:00 pm. Its design, inspired by the musical clocks Delacorte observed during his European travels, features a tower and rotating band of animal sculptures by Andrea Spadini.

Elephant Enclosure at the Central Park Zoo, date unknown (post 1934). The Central Park Zoo began as a small menagerie in 1860 when citizens and circuses started donating animals to the city. It was the first zoo in New York State and, when officially chartered in 1864, was the second publicly owned zoo in the United States (after the Philadelphia Zoo). In 1934 the zoo entered a new era when Robert Moses, the city's master planner, built a new zoo. The grouping of new brick and limestone, neo-Georgian buildings were constructed around the new seal lion display. The featured animals included seals, lions, tigers, elephants, and gorillas. This photograph was taken after the new zoo was opened to the public. The zoo was then closed in 1983 and underwent a multi-year, multi-million dollar renovation and expansion under the supervision of the Wildlife Conservation Society, reopening in 1988.

2 East 70th Street ca. Designed by Rosario Candela and the firm Walker & Gillette, 2 East 70th Street stands on the site of the Blair Mansion, a marble home built by Carrere & Hastings that survived for less than a decade before being torn down. Candela styled 2 East 70th street to take after the mansion in order to complement the Frick collection across the street. The simple stone clad design and quoined corners intended to leave a classic yet elegant impression.

Astor Mansion, Fifth Avenue; 1897. Where you now see Temple Emanu-El, Mrs. Astor's French chateau once stood, with a ballroom large enough for 1200 guests. Mrs. Astor— the only name she went by—was the gatekeeper of Gilded Age society. And a ticket to her annual ball told you whether you had made it in. Through blood and marriage, Mrs. Astor hailed from the city's oldest and wealthiest stock. Caroline Webster Schermerhorn was born to one of New York's first Dutch families, who made their fortune in shipping. Her husband, William Backhouse Astor, was the grandson of the country's first millionaire, John Jacob Astor, a fur trader who had the foresight to buy up Manhattan real estate in the early 1800s. Ball season extended from debutante parties in December through weddings around Easter time. But Mrs. Astor's fête—always the first Monday in January—was the most exclusive of them all. Her social advisor, Ward McAllister, had determined that there were "only about 400 people in fashionable New York," telling the press "If you go outside that number, you strike people who are either not at ease in the ballroom, or else make other people not at ease." In fact, Mrs. Astor's first ballroom accommodated up to 600 guests. But that wasn't the point. In 1895, Mrs. Astor decided to leave her home on 34th and Fifth Avenue to come up to this location before you, following the trend to move uptown. She hired William K. Vanderbilt's architect, Richard Morris Hunt, who put up the four-story French Renaissance chateau to the tune of $2 million—or $54 million in today's dollars. Like her house, Mrs. Astor's balls took their inspiration from European kings and queens. Servants wore green plush coats and brass-buttoned red vests with white breeches, black silk stockings, and gold-buckled shoes. Mrs. Astor, meanwhile, usually donned royal purple, diamonds, and pearls, and greeted guests while standing next to a portrait she commissioned of herself. Until the end of her life, Mrs. Astor tried to maintain her reign over Gilded Age society. In a 1906 interview for a magazine called, appropriately, The Delineator, Mrs. Astor said, "I hope my influence will be felt in one thing, and that is discountenancing the undignified methods employed by certain New York women to attract a following." She added that recent parties "belonged under a circus tent rather than in a gentlewoman's home," probably thinking of a recent Newport ball that had totally upended the social order with guests dressed as the servants. Mrs. Astor died in 1908. Her mansion was torn down in 1926.

Sheep Meadow ca 1910 Sheep Meadow is the best example in today’s Park of the pastoral vision that Olmsted and Vaux intended for Central Park’s meadows. Their design called for peaceful expanses of green that inspired calm and refreshing thoughts just by looking at them, not necessarily walking upon them. The fifteen-acre meadow holds true to this intention today as Central Park’s largest lawn without ballfields and as a designated quiet zone. No organized sports or gatherings are allowed on Sheep Meadow to preserve the space for quiet picnicking and relaxation. Originally a rocky and swampy terrain, Sheep Meadow was the most expensive landscape in the Park to construct. Its transformation to a pastoral meadow required the blasting of rock outcrops and the installation of four feet of soil. The landscape was first known as “the Green” or “the Commons,” but became known as “Sheep Meadow” in the early twentieth century due to the ever-present flock of pedigree sheep that grazed the meadow. For nearly fifty years, the sheep spent their days on the meadow and their evenings in the nearby Sheepfold, which is now the landmark Tavern on the Green restaurant. In the 1960s, Sheep Meadow became the iconic gathering spot for New York’s counterculture, including anti-War protests, peace rallies, love-ins, be-ins, draft card burnings, Earth Day celebrations, and popular concerts. These events, and the lack of management and proper maintenance led to severe damage and erosion on the lawn. By the late 1970s, it was a virtual dustbowl. The restoration of Sheep Meadow was one of the first projects undertaken by the Central Park Conservancy in 1980. The newly lush and well-managed lawn was the first green space that many New Yorkers had ever seen in Central Park. Public excitement over the newly opened lawn inspired and an outpouring of support for the nascent Conservancy that empowered its first decade of success. -Central Park Conservancy

17-25 East 64th Street, adjoining and west of the northwest corner of Madison Avenue.

Residence of Judge Elbert H. Gary, 1927 Like many of Candela's buildings, 856 Fifth Avenue was built on the graves of the mansions that came before it, including Judge Gary's mansion and some adjacent buildings were torn down to build Candela's 856 Fifth Avenue. The Gary mansion had stood on the site for only 15 years. Gary's widow moved into the apartment house at 856 Fifth upon its completion in 1928.

W.C. Whitney Drawing Room ca. 1899-1900 William Collins Whitney spent more than $1,000,000 renovating the Fifth Avenue and 68th Street home that he shared with his second wife. Under the mastery of renowned architect Stanford White, this 1896-to-1899 project resulted in one of New York's most sumptuous Gilded Age interiors.

Elbridge T. Gerry Residence, 1901. Designed by renowned architect Richard Morris Hunt, the Elbridge Thomas Gerry residence (1891-1894) on the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 61st Street was built for Gerry and his family. Gerry, a prominent lawyer and philanthropist, eventually gave up his law practice to devote his time to the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, a charity he helped establish in 1874. The house was demolished in 1927, the year of Gerry's death, and replaced by the Pierre Hotel, completed in 1930.

Temple Emanu-El Temple Emanu-El was established in 1845 as New York City’s first Reform congregation. 33 members met in a loft at the intersection of Clinton and Grand Streets on the Lower East Side. As the congregation grew, Emanu-El moved further and further uptown. In 1854, it moved to its third location at 110 East 12th Street, which later housed St. Ann’s Roman Catholic Church. By 1868, the congregation had built a permanent structure on Fifth Avenue and 43rd Street, designed by Leopold Eidlitz and Henry Fernbach. Much fanfare surrounded its consecration on September 11, 1868. The following day, The New York Times reported that a limited number of tickets available for the ceremony sold out several days in advance. “The anxiety to secure them was very great. When the doors were opened there was a crushing and crowding in which ladies’ crinoline and gentlemen’s hats suffered severely.” Over time, however, the neighborhood became increasingly commercial and Temple Emanu-El was unable to expand to accommodate its growing membership. In 1925, Temple Emanu-El sold the building and purchased property at Fifth Avenue and 65th Street, the site of the John Jacob Astor mansion. Construction of the new temple at the site of the Astor mansion began in 1927 and would last two years. Architects Robert D. Kohn, Charles Butler, and Clarence Stein designed the building. In the meantime, services were held 11 blocks uptown at Temple Beth-El, another Reform synagogue. On January 10, 1930, 2,500 people attended Temple Emanu-El’s formal dedication at 1 East 65th Street, where it remains to this day.

Thanksgiving—comfortable or contentious, there are some things we've come to expect from this day each year. Whether it's the presidential turkey pardon, watching the big game, or eating too much, many families have time-honored traditions and individual ways to celebrate. One of these is The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! This Story is an abbreviated version, the original can be viewed here.

856 Fifth Avenue ca. 1929 With its smooth stone facades and flush windows rising above a three-story rusticated base, 856 Fifth Avenue was one of architect Rosario Candela's most elegantly severe designs. The building initially comprised nine single-floor apartments, two two-story maisonettes, and a penthouse duplex of 18 rooms. Interior decorator and style maven Dorothy Draper served as consultant on the building's plans and decorations.

Josiah M. Fiske Residence, ca. 1901-1902. The Gothic-inspired home on the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 70th Street was that of stockbroker Josiah Fiske and his wife, Martha. John Sloane, partner in the very successful firm of carpet and furniture retailers, W. & J. Sloane, occupied the residence directly adjacent, at 883 Fifth Avenue.

Designed by famed sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward, the Pilgrim Statue of Central Park depicts one of the men who landed at Plymouth Rock in November 1620. It was created for the 75th anniversary of the New England Society. Dedicated in 1885, the work stands atop a pedestal designed by American architectural master Richard Morris Hunt. The base features four bas-reliefs illustrating significant aspects of the Pilgrims’ landing. Pilgrim Hill, which descends from the monument, is a popular and long-standing locale for winter sledding. In 1979 the Central Park Conservancy began their restoration work on the park's impressive statue collection with this piece.

Knickerbocker Club ca. 1915 Architects William Delano and Chester Holmes Aldrich excelled at interpreting and adapting the architecture of Colonial America and the early Republic. The architects specialized in designing socially exclusive New York City clubs, for whom the Anglo-American past had rich associations. As a young architect, William Delano designed this facility for the Knickerbocker Club, an offshoot of the Union Club, in the Federal style. Delano wrote, “I felt the elaborate façades of the prevalent French School did not fit in New York,” and drew inspiration instead from the more understated expression of his father’s townhouse on Washington Square.

The Mall is a quarter-mile stretch in Central Park, capped off on the south end by the famous Literary Walk. The only deliberate straight line in the park, it contains a quadruple row of American Elm trees, an important feature as the location is one of the few remaining stands of the trees in North America. As one of the most photographed and visited sections of the park, it has been nicknamed the "Promenade."

857 Fifth Avenue, 1929. In 1906, after seeing the new mansions of Fifth Avenue rise around him, particularly the new gleaming white Thomas Fortune Ryan mansion next door, George Gould decided to demolish his home and built something new. He hired Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer, who created an Italianate mansion that matched its neighbor's style, down to a rusticated base that was nearly exactly the same. The home once again became the host to a couple society wedding, this time for the daughters of George. George would die in 1923 and following his death, a major battle ensued over his wealth and real estate between his older children and his second wife (and former mistress with whom he had children while still married to his first wife). The house was eventually purchased by a Vanderbilt relative. Sold by that owner in 1951 for a mere $400,000 (it was built in 1907 for $1.25 million), it was torn down in the early 1960s and replaced with a 19-story building.

Inscope Arch, ca. 1910. In the 1870s, the crowds of pedestrians were becoming an annoyance to horseback riders and carriage drivers. The bridge which created the Inscope Arch was one of three suggested and built by Olmsted and Vaux in the 1870s, and it is the only one still remaining. The engineering of the bridge was complicated, as the land it occupied was once a swamp. Though the water had been drained, the soil remained soft and moveable. The resulting structure, rendered in ornamental pink and gray granite, is a half-oval archway, 13 feet 7 inches across at the base and 12 feet high in the middle. Inscope’s underpass is 34 feet long, and it has a 100-foot-long railing on top.

Entrance to the Frick Residence, ca. 1915. The female figure depicted lounging in the relief over the door was modeled on famed early 20th century artist model, Audrey Munson.

Richard Morris Hunt Memorial, ca. 1900. Richard Morris Hunt, the dean of American architecture and the first American to study at the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, died in 1895. Immediately upon his death, friends and colleagues quickly undertook an effort to erect a monument to the man. Initially begun by the Municipal Arts Society (of which Hunt was the first president), the cause was soon taken up by other arts and architectural institutions as well the wealthy families for whom Hunt designed homes. The planned memorial was to be created by Bruce Price with the bust of Hunt and the flanking statues sculpted by Daniel Chester French. On October 23, 1898, the incomplete monument was unveiled. It was erected on Fifth Avenue between 70th and 71st Streets, across the street from Hunt's 1877 Lenox Library. The memorial would finally be completed in 1900 with the addition of the flanking female statues. Fun Fact! This was not the first likeness of Hunt in New York City. A bust of the well-loved architect already existed by the time of his death. In the early 1880s, as stone cutters were completing work on the William K. Vanderbilt mansion, the architect discovered that the artisans had created his likeness as a tribute. The statue of Hunt, depicted as a stone-cutter, was installed on the roof over the entrance to the house. With the home demolished in 1926, the fate of the statue is unknown (though likely it was destroyed with the house).

Dancing Goat sculpture ca. 1962 This whimsical bronze statue is part of a pair of niche sculptures that flank the buildings in the Central Park Zoo. The Dancing Goat stands at the south side, with the Honey Bear at the north. Cast at Roman Bronze Works in Brooklyn and installed in 1937, the sculptures serve as decorative fountains. Placed in basins at the sides of the zoo's Dancing Crane Cafe, both animals stand on their hind legs. Water sprays from five ducks at the feet of the goat, and from five small frogs at the feet of the bear. The lighthearted pieces were created by renowned animal sculptor and Brooklyn native Frederick George Richard Roth. They are among several Roth works acquired by Central Park in the 1920s and 1930s. (Among them is Balto, the statue of the legendary Alaskan husky). Central Park Conservancy refurbished the sculptures in 1993, and today Roth's pieces continue to delight Park and Zoo visitors of all ages.

Jewish New Year Prayer services and celebrations were always newsworthy and still are, in the pages of The Forward.

Josephine Schmidt Mansion ca. 1900 Though now replaced by the blue blooded Knickerbocker Club, this lot was once home to the Josephine Schmidt Mansion. Josephine's husband had been a successful brewer and she built this limestone chateau in 1899 following his death. However, it was not to last long for in 1909 she married the son of an Italian prince and moved to Europe. The Knickerbocker Club purchased the mansion in 1914 and tore it (and its neighbor) down to build their club house.

Crimmins House, ca. 1898. Originally constructed as a fashionable brownstone in 1879 for the construction contractor John D. Crimmins, the home was one of William Schickel's first residential commissions in the city. Crimmin was involved in much of the construction of city infrastructure in the decades around the turn of the century, from the elevated trains, to gas works, and the Croton Aqueduct. In 1898, after deciding he needed a larger home, Crimmins purchased the adjacent brownstone (no. 42), hired Schickel once again, and commissioned a new double wide mansion. The resulting ornate Beaux-Arts facade, rendered in gleaming white, was eye-catching among the older brownstone homes on the block. Today the Beaux-Arts beauty remains, having been broken into a multi-family building some time in the mid century and sans its central staircase.

John Quincy Adams Ward's bronze work titled the "Indian Hunter Monument" was the first statue created by an American artist in Central Park-- and is one of the oldest statues in the park. Lauded for its realism, the original plaster work was so popular that a committee of New Yorkers raised funds in 1869 for a bronze cast.

107th Infantry Memorial, ca. 1935. A bronze figural group depicting seven larger-than-life-sized World War I soldiers in battle, the 107th Infantry Memorial honored the dead of the Seventh Regiment. Created by sculptor Karl Illava (who was a sergeant with the 107th) and placed on a massive base designed by architects Rogers and Haneman, the"doughboys" seems to be advancing out of the woods of Central Park towards the Regimental headquarters a few blocks east. The monument was dedicated on September 27, 1927, the ninth anniversary of a decisive battle at the Hindenburg Line, where the 107th helped secured a victory that turned the tide of the war.

Gapstow Bridge, ca. 1910. The iconic Gapstow Bridge over a small neck of the Central Park Pond is the second bridge on this site. The first structure was an elaborate wood and iron bridge, designed by Jacob Wrey Mould in 1874 that declined to the point that it needed to be replaced in 1896. The second bridge which still stands is constructed of Manhattan schist. The bridge is 12 feet high, spans 44 feet of water, and has a full length of 76 feet. The bridge has been featured in many films set in New York City, including Weekend at Bernies, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, and It Should Happen to You.

Henry Clay Frick House ARCHITECT: Carrère & Hastings DATE: 1913-14 Set in spacious grounds and surrounded by retaining walls, this great mansion presents a striking picture of imposing grandeur and architectural distinction on Fifth Avenue, where it occupies the entire blockfront between 70th and 71st Streets. Built as the residence of Henry Clay Frick, it has been a museum since 1935. The entrance to The Frick Collection is at No. 1 East 70th Street. Adjoining the mansion to the east and connected to it at basement level, is the newer Frick Art Reference Library Building at No. 10 East 71st Street.

Residences on East 66th Street, March 20, 1947. Andy Warhol purchased No. 57, the townhouse partially visible, at left, in 1974, and lived there until his death in 1987.

17 East 70th Street ARCHITECT: Arthur C. Jackson DATE: 1909-11 STYLE: French Classical This house at 17 East 70th Street was built in 1909-11 and designed in the French Classical manner, one of the prominent styles during this period. The architect, Arthur C. Jackson was with the prominent New York City architectural firm of Heins and LaFarge when he designed this building. He was later noted for his public and commercial buildings in New York City

855 Fifth Avenue, 1891. From 1885 until the mid-1890s, this home was the residence of one of the most prolific members of Hispanic society in New York. Born Francisca Aparicio y Merida in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, Aparicio had served as the First Lady of Guatemala from 1874 until 1885. Her husband, President Justo Rufino Barrios, trusted her with duties of the state. When Barrios was killed on the battlefield in an attempt to re-form the Central American Union, Aparicio moved to the United States with her seven children. Upon moving to New York City, the former First Lady purchased a building at 855 Fifth Avenue. She soon made her home widely known for lavish entertainment. A column in an Ohio newspaper of the time claimed, "of all New York's young widows and matrons she receives the most attention." The article describes "Mme. de Barrios," wearing a Cleopatra costume, herself in the possession of "a selection of jewels so great that if she wore a new parure each day there would be more than enough for all the days in the year." Aparicio's home became a social destination for Spanish-American society in New York. The residence became a lavishly decorated mansion full of Latin American Art, where Aparcios hosted classical music performances, private operas, costume balls, and dancing (a skill in which she was supposedly very talented). On one of her trips with her family to Europe, she met Jose Martinez de Roda, a member of the Spanish Congress of Deputies. They were wed in her Fifth Avenue home. As was to be expected, this ceremony was full of pomp and circumstance, with the civil service performed by New York City's mayor Hugh J. Grant and the religious ceremony by the archbishop of New York, Michael Corrigan. The couple moved to Europe shortly after they were married. One-time minister to the court of Spain Perry Belmont took over the residence after the newly-weds moved out.

Fifth Avenue alongside Central Park is one of New York's most recognizable locales. This walk focuses on the institutions that lend this turf its name: the Museum Mile!

Southeast corner of Fifth Avenue, ca. 1912. The building at no. 856 was constructed in 1881-1882—the corner building in a set of four townhouses (three of which faced Fifth Avenue and one at 2 East 67th Street). Designed by the firm of Lamb & Wheeler, the home was built for H.O. Armour, a meat-packing industrialist, who ran the New York syndicate of the well known Chicago firm. Armour died in 1901 and his wife sold the home in 1910. The 19th century home on this very desirable lot (of considerable size, 30 foot by 120 foot) was quickly demolished. The new construction was a mansion for Judge Elbert Gary.

On October 25th, 1917, New York City celebrated "Liberty Day," a massive attempt to raise funds for the United States entry into World War I. The campaign drew a crowd of thousands to watch a parade of military vehicles fill the streets of Fifth Avenue. Bomber planes flew low over the city, dropping a message in paper pamphlets: "A Liberty Bond in your home will keep German Bombs out of your home." But the real sight to see was the German captured submarine, renamed "U-Buy-A-Bond" in honor of the occasion.

19 East 70th Street ARCHITECT: Thornton Chard DATE: 1909-10 STYLE: Italian Renaissance This extremely elegant and architecturally distinguished residence was designed by Thornton Chard (1873-1951), a New York architect, in a simplified but sophisticated version of early Italian Renaissance style. Chard had attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1901 and, upon his return from Europe, opened an architectural office in the city. His small but selective practice in this city and state spanned some three decades. His client, for whom the house was built in 1909-10, was Dave Hennen Morris and his wife Alice. Mr. Morris later served as United States Ambassador to Belgium during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first term.

C. C. Auchincloss residence, ca. 1912. Charles C. Auchincloss was a stock broker and book collector, who with his wife, Rosamond, were fixtures of New York society. They lived in this home in the first three decades of the 20th century. In the early 1930s the building, and its neighbor at no. 10 were purchased by the Frick collection and demolished to make way for a new library building. The new Frick Art Reference Library building opened to the public on January 14, 1935. By the time of this demolition and new building, Charles and Rosamond had moved on to 120 East 70th Street, a three-story brownstone house, which they demolished and replaced with a (still standing) five-story neo-Georgian mansion.

834 Fifth Avenue ca. 1946 Designed by Rosario Candela, 834 Fifth Avenue embodies the trend in the early 20th century of luxury apartment buildings replacing townhouses and mansions as residences for the rich. Because Margaret V. Haggin, owner of the house on the corner of 64th Street and Fifth Avenue, refused to sell it to developer Anthony Campagna, Candela originally designed 834 Fifth Avenue as just a mid-block apartment building replacing a row of existing residences. During construction, however, she changed her mind, and the building was redesigned to encompass the corner. Haggin stayed on the site of her former home, occupying a duplex in the new building.

How did the stunning Frick Collection come into existence? A passion for art collecting and hard-nosed business practices of course!

Bronze statue of Robert Burns, Central Park, ca. 1976. The Central Park monument to Burns, the Bard of Ayrshire, was cast by the poet's countryman, sculptor John Steell and dedicated on October 2, 1880. It is one of four casts, with its siblings located in London; Dundee, Scotland; and Dunedin, New Zealand.

While New York is the setting of an enormous amount of films, some scenes define a space and some spaces define a scene. Either way, they happened in New York. 🎬

H.O. Havemeyer Mansion ca. 1901 Henry Osborne Havemeyer was the president of the family's sugar refining business until his death in 1907. Designed by Charles C. Haight, the architect of the similarly turreted New York Cancer Hospital which still stands at 106th Street and Central Park West, the Havemeyer mansion was built between 1890 and 1891 on the north east corner of Fifth Avenue and 66th Street. The home was best known for its sumptuous interior decoration by Louis Comfort Tiffany and Samuel Colman, commissioned by Havemeyer and his wife Louisiana in 1890. The interior design provided a distinctive setting for the Havemeyer's collection of Impressionist and Old Master paintings.

Sculptor George Blackall Simonds (1844-1929) created The Falconer, which is located to the south of Cherry Hill at Terrace Drive.

Central Park Casino, during demolition, 1936. It’s 1929 in an Art Deco ballroom. Dancers glide around, dimly reflected in the black glass ceiling while outside on the terrace, the sound of champagne corks popping intersperses with conversations, laughter, and jazz, all floating through the night air. Surrounded by Central Park, the Central Park Casino was the place for rich, fabulous, and socially and politically connected citizens of the late 1920s and early 1930s who wanted to party together and ignore the troublesome 18th Amendment. Yet by 1935, the party was over. How did a political rivalry end the revelry at one of the most exclusive Jazz Age nightclubs? The Central Park Casino began in 1864 as the Ladies’ Refreshment Salon, a quaint Victorian two-room stone cottage designed by Calvert Vaux on East Drive and 72nd Street. Unaccompanied ladies could relax during their excursions around the park and enjoy refreshments at decent prices, free of any threat to their propriety. Twenty years later, the salon had morphed into a far pricier destination, called The Casino, and was open to both sexes. The name was used to invoke the Italian translation of “little house” rather than denoting a gambling joint. Locals and tourists flocked to the restaurant, where one could get a sirloin steak for 75 cents (just under 20 dollars in today’s money) and choose from an extensive wine list. Because it was in the park and had the then rare attraction of outdoor seating, it was the place to see and be seen. Yet after decades of feeding and refreshing wealthy and hungry park-goers, the Casino fell onto hard times and according to an article from the New Yorker from September 20, 1941, by the early 1920’s it was being managed in “a somewhat dumpy nite-club style.” In 1926 New York City was swept up in the Jazz Age. Speakeasies, dancing, and just a general pursuit of good times engulfed the city. To go with this fun-loving era, New York City elected a new mayor, James “Gentleman Jimmy” or “Beau Jim” Walker, who personified this spirit. Walker was a successful songwriter with the 1905 hit “Will You Still Love Me in December as You do in May?” and was generally much more enthusiastic about the excesses of the Roaring Twenties than being the mayor of New York. This worked out well since Tammany Hall was quite content to manage the city while Walker functioned as its dashing figurehead. Walker reportedly never made it to City Hall before noon and when he did and wasn’t feeling up to the task, he had a private “hangover room,” complete with a bed and an exercise bike (the bike was reportedly never used). This is not to say that Walker was a bad mayor. His constituents loved him because he vowed to keep subway ride prices at a nickel, allowed baseball games to be played on Sundays, and promised to improve the parks. Mobsters loved him too since he was such a fan of the nightlife that they ran. On top of that, Walker was a gifted speaker, always ready with a quip, wisecrack or some delightful repartee. He was New York City’s master of ceremonies. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the next incarnation of the Central Park Casino started with a favor. Sidney Solomon, a noted hotelier, had introduced Walker to his personal tailor and that, to the always snazzily dressed mayor, was worth quite a bit. So when Solomon asked to take over the Casino to make it into an “outstanding restaurant instead of the shanty it is now,” Walker (through a series of somewhat sketchy maneuvers) made it happen. After a $500,000 renovation, the Casino added a tulip pavilion, orange terrace, a silver conservatory and, most importantly, a black-glass Art Deco ballroom. There were tables to seat 600 and a parking lot for 300 cars. Solomon said, very humbly, “it is not just a renovation. It’s something that has never before existed so perfectly in the world.” On the night of June 25, 1929, every seat was taken as the Casino opened to select guests, the so-called “fashionable and fastidious” to whom the restaurant now catered to. It was called “Walker’s Versailles,” where the bandleader would immediately start playing “Will You Still Love Me in December as You do in May?” as soon as Walker and his mistress, the actress Betty Compton, walked in the door. For the next few months, parties regularly lasted until 3 A.M., with Tammany hotshots mingling with Ziegfeld Follies’ showgirls. To get around the pesky Prohibition laws, patrons would leave their Rolls-Royces stocked with bootleg champagne parked outside. The maître d kept an eye on the drinks at the wealthiest tables and when they ran low, he would signal their chauffeur, standing near the doorway, to restock the alcohol from the stash in the car. It was the most exclusive playground for the most exclusive set. In the fall of 1929, Walker easily defeated Fiorello La Guardia for a second term as mayor. While the Casino was still dazzling its well-heeled guests, some people saw it as the epitome of...

The Frick Collection, ca. 1979. Like many of New York's richest men who supported the arts, Henry Clay Frick amassed his fortune through sharp—and often ruthless—business tactics. Born in 1849 in a rural Pennsylvania town, Frick sacrificed schooling to work as head bookkeeper in the family business. By 1883, when he was 34, he merged his own company with Andrew Carnegie's to form Carnegie Steel, at a capitalization of $25 million and with a labor force of 30,000. Frick opposed organized labor his entire life. In 1892, his efforts to slash costs and keep profits up resulted in the Homestead Strike, one of the 19th century's bloodiest labor conflicts. There was even an attempt on Frick's life. In 1899, Frick and Carnegie parted ways on bitter terms that lasted the rest of their lives. Following Frick's resignation from Carnegie Steel, he sued Carnegie and walked away with a $15 million settlement. Frick's interest in art began in his early 20s, when he filled his clapboard shack with prints and sketches. Though there's little record of Frick's thoughts about the art he went on to collect, it's clear the collections of other New York industrialists inspired him. After attending the Metropolitan Museum of Art's memorial exhibition for J.P. Morgan in 1914, Frick spent more than $3 million (more than $66 million today) to buy up Limoges enamels, Chinese porcelains, Renaissance bronzes, 18th century French furniture and sculpture, and a variety of other objects. The biggest single purchase was a series of paintings by Jean Honore Fragonard that had been commissioned by one of Louis XV's mistresses. While many of the city's elite built their homes around entertaining, Frick built his to house his art, making the picture gallery the grandest room. And when he executed his will he made explicit that the home should be open to the city "for the purpose of encouraging and the developing the study of the fine arts, and of advancing the general knowledge of kindred subjects." Frick died in 1919, just a few months after Andrew Carnegie, and the collection opened to the public in 1935, upon the death of his wife, Adelaide. Many of the rooms look just as Frick left them: the library bookshelves filled, and living room tables topped with Renaissance bronzes and Chinese porcelains.

Knickerbocker Club Building ARCHITECT: Delano & Aldrich DATE: 1913-15 STYLE: Neo-Federal Recognized as one of the finest examples of the neo-Federal style in New York City, the Knickerbocker Club Building was built between 1913 and 1915 by the fashionable architectural firm of Delano & Aldrich. Occupying a prominent lot at the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 62nd Street, the building was designed to fit comfortably into the surrounding residential neighborhood as well as to maintain the club’s historic presence on the avenue.

R. Livingston and Eleanor T. Beeckman House ARCHITECT: Warren & Wetmore DATE: 1903-05 STYLE: French Classic Although this small townhouse is sandwiched between two large apartment buildings, their overpowering size cannot overshadow the palatial scale nor the elegant grandeur of its architecture. Designed by an architect educated in the finest tradition of the French Beaux-Arts School, this house, in its character, reflects the influence of the Eighteenth Century classic period of Louis XV. Two windows wide, the three-story masonry facade, with steep mansard roof containing two floors with dormers has an impressive dignity and restraint.

My Archive Spring 2019 "I took this in the late 1960s on a day trip to Central Park. At that time I lived in the suburbs. I was taken by the three of them dressed in the same uniform. I wondered what their organization was because they were not in Boy Scout or Cub Scout uniforms. I wondered what they were thinking of the fabulous fountain and all of the people below." —Stephen Harmon

Sidewalk Excavation for Tree Planting at the Henry Clay Frick House, 1913. Henry Clay Frick commissioned the Beaux Arts masters Carrère & Hastings to design a residence for both his family and his art collection at the site of the former Lenox Library. Looking to create shade along 70th and 71st Streets, Frick had the sidewalk excavated to six feet in depth to install European horse-chestnut trees, which have dense canopies and shallow roots. Each of the trees was carefully selected and brought over on a special train from Germantown, PA, and fertile soil was trucked in from Long Island. Despite the care and attention of Frick’s gardeners, all the trees died less than a year later. The culprit? Illuminating gas was found seeping into the soil from faulty pipe connections from the mansion.

Situated at the edge of the area known as The Concert Ground, the Naumburg Bandshell is the only Neo-Classical building in the park. It replaced a previous (and acoustically poor) cast-iron bandstand in 1923. It has been the site of many musical performances across genres, with concerts by greats like Irving Berlin, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, and The Grateful Dead. The Central Park SummerStage concerts originated at this venue.

Mineral Springs Pavilion ca. 1880 The Mineral Springs Pavilion was constructed due to the popularity of a health craze that was sweeping 19th-century New York. It was thought at the time that mineral water was essential to a healthy constitution (which at a time before the Croton Aqueduct supplied fresh water to most New York households it may have been.) Drinking mineral water was thought to be the cure for a number of ailments. Thus, Carl Schultz, the owner of a mineral water company successfully petitioned the Board of Health to have a pavilion, designed by Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wray Mould, that would sell mineral water in the park. It was for a time quite popular, serving as a spot for socialization, however, the supply of readily available clean water meant that the Mineral Springs Pavilion lost its uniqueness and by the 1960s the pavilion was torn down.

George Gould Residence, ca. 1900. George Gould was the son of millionaire railroad man Jay Gould. In 1892 George had built a new mansion for his growing family. The mansion, built in a French Neo-Gothic style, was made of dark brownstone and was ornamented with turrets, balconies, and peaked gables. It was the location of the 1895 wedding of George's sister Anna to a French count, where the social elite of New York and European royalty arrived by carriage, and New Yorkers lined the street to try and glimpse the guests. In 1906 the dark, Gothic style mansion was terribly out of fashion with the new mansions of the Upper East Side. So George had his home razed and constructed a new building on the site.

William Shakespeare monument, Central Park, ca. 1975. John Quincy Adams Ward (1830-1910) created the sculpture of William Shakespeare located at the south end of the Mall. This was the first sculpture of a writer to be placed on the Mall, which is also known as Literary Walk.

Zoos were not always magical places. Many of the early menageries and zoos collected animals by trapping them in the wild and placing them in cramped cages that looked nothing like their native environment. Today, the Wildlife Conservation Society, which runs the zoos and the aquarium here in New York (with the exception of the Staten Island Zoo; so independent, that Staten Island), works tirelessly to protect wildlife and the natural world. This desire to protect animals is actually something people have been passionate about for years. People - specifically Brooklynites.

The Upper East Side’s three landmarked armories might be the most “commanding” structures in the neighborhood. Among New York’s earliest landmarks, these fortified urban fortresses were built to store arms and to provide training and social space for local regiments whose members served in every major U.S. conflict from the War of 1812 through The Second World War. More recently, these structures have been transformed into schools, park facilities and art spaces. Today, they offer a slice of local history and an impressive catalog of ideas for adaptive reuse. As the conversation continues around reorienting our city’s martial elements toward the communities they serve, the evolution of our neighborhood’s armories reminds us that historic preservation is a tool both for honoring the past and for enriching the present. Scroll on to learn more about the Upper East Side’s armories. Read this story in its original format here.

W.C. Whitney ca. 1901-1902 William Collins Whitney and his second wife were the third owners of this mansard-roofed brownstone mansion. Mrs. Whitney died just prior to the 1899 completion of its three-year interior renovation, and her husband died in 1904 of appendicitis. Built by architect William Schickel in the early 1880s, the house passed through several hands over the years, until its 1942, just nine months after the death of its final occupant, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney.