Central Park Reservoir ca. 1947 One of the Park's most picturesque landscapes, the reservoir is 40 feet deep and holds a billion gallons of water. It was built in the 1860s as a temporary water supply for New York City, while the Croton Water system was shut down for repairs two weeks each year. The reservoir was decommissioned in 1993, deemed obsolete because of the Third Water Tunnel. President Bill Clinton, Madonna, and Jackie Kennedy Onassis (for whom the reservoir was named in 1994) have all run on the 1.58-mile track.

Eldorado Apartments ARCHITECT: Margon & Holder; Emery Roth DATE: 1929-31 STYLE: Art Deco The Eldorado, extending along the entire blockfront of Central Park West between 90th and 9lst Streets, is the northernmost of the four twin-towered apartment houses that give Central Park West its distinctive skyline silhouette. The Eldorado was designed in 1929 by the architectural firm of Margon & Holder with the renowned early 20th-century New York City architect Emery Roth as a consultant. These architects created one of the finest and most dramatically massed Art Deco style residential buildings in New York City.

In 1977, the City created a new agency to manage its water supply and wastewater treatment and to regulate air quality, noise, and hazardous materials: the Department of Environmental Protection. DEP inherited the infrastructure, responsibilities, and documentation of many predecessor agencies dating back to the 1840s. That documentation comprises the bulk of the DEP archives and is still used in planning capital construction and rehabilitation projects, as well as watershed land management, facilities maintenance, and other operations.

12-16 West 86th Street, ca. 1913. Designed by Alexander Welch, for speculative developers William and Thomas Hall, the row mansions were constructed in 1910. No. 14 (at center) was designed in the neo-Renaissance style, while no. 16 (at right) is neo-Georgian.

Central Park Reservoir ca. 1931 Built between 1858 and 1862, the 106-acre reservoir is 40 feet deep and holds over a billion gallons of water. Once a critical part of the city’s fresh water system, it received water from the Croton Aqueduct and distributed it throughout Manhattan. The reservoir was decommissioned in 1993, deemed obsolete due to the new water main under 79th Street that connected with the Third Water Tunnel, and because of growing concerns about contamination. In 1994, the reservoir was renamed for Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in recognition of her contributions to the New York City, and because she enjoyed jogging along the 1.58 mile running track that surrounds it. In 2003, an unsightly seven-foot chain link fence was replaced by a four foot tall steel fence with cast-iron ornamentation, based on the design of the fence that was installed when the reservoir was completed in 1862.

Central Park is one of New York's beloved public spaces. Sculpted by Olmstead and Vaux, millions have sheltered under its trees and walked its roads. But in the creation of this magnificent park, a Black community was destroyed. The destruction of Seneca Village shows the complicated legacy of even our most treasured spaces.

El Dorado Apartments, ca. 1920. The history of the El Dorado Apartments is similar to that of its nearby neighbor The Ardsley. The original El Dorado (seen in this photograph) was an eight-story speculative apartment house completed in 1902. Somewhat similar in design to the original Ardsley, the CPW front of the building had large rounded corners to allow for sweeping views of the park and good cross ventilation. In the 1920s the real estate market on Central Park West boomed and a number of the older apartment houses were demolished and replaced. In 1929 investor Frederick Brown bought the first El Dorado and resold the site to Louis Klosk, a Bronx-based developer. The financial crisis that followed would eventually stall the construction and force Klosk to foreclose. The eventual building, finished late in 1931 under new ownership, was a 30-story, twin tower Art Deco building. Designed by Margon & Holder, and their associate architect Emery Roth (who designed the second Ardsley) the large building has terraced setbacks on the towers topped by abstract geometric spires.

West Drive, Central Park, ca. 1910.

39-35 West 89th Street, ca.1915. This series of Renaissance Revival rowhouses was constructed in 1894-1895. The row, from nos.19-39, were designed by Gilbert Schellenger, who designed homes all over the city, including many in the proposed Bedford-Stuyvesant historic district.

Sandhogs are urban miners and underground construction workers who’ve been tunneling through sand, mud, and bedrock for well over a century. They dug New York’s subway, traffic, sewer, and water tunnels, as well as foundations for structures like the Woolworth Building. The term “sand hogs” originated with workers digging the sandy bottom of the East River inside caissons to build the Brooklyn Bridge. Over time, the term expanded to describe any laborer working underground in the City, and became specifically tied to the Local 147 Sandhogs Union. NYC built three deep pressure tunnels through bedrock to carry water throughout the five boroughs. Placing them hundreds of feet underground kept the water supply safely below any utility and subway tunnels, and the depth required laborers who could work under often grueling and dangerous conditions.

247-249 Central Park West, ca. 1975. Constructed between 1889 and 1890, developer William Noble and architect Edward Angell created a row of nine Queen Anne style homes. The buildings which ran from nos. 241 to 249, were speculatively built, intended for wealthy families. These grand homes facing Central Park spared no expense; they included stained glass, gargoyles, angled staircases, turrets, and balconies. The Real Estate Record & Builders’ Guide described the row as perhaps too whimsical, taking offense at their “giddiness.” Being the corner building, no. 249 (at right) was perhaps the most fanciful of the homes, with a faceted tower topped by a conical tiled cap and false balconies. It was first purchased by by wallpaper manufacturer Frederick Beck and hosted his daughter's extravagant society wedding in 1890. In 1914 it was owned by clergyman Luther Albert Swope and his wife, who came from a wealthy New York family. The home passed to a Swope nephew in 1930 and was sold in 1974. By that time some of the facade had been stripped of its ornamentation, it had been painted (!) white, the interior had been converted to apartments, and all of its neighbors (save no. 247 next door) had been demolished. Around 1990 the paint was striped to work on the facade which had begun to crumble. In 2006 the home was sold for $14.4 million and a conversion back to a single family house was undertaken. Amazingly, though the upper floors have been gutted, much of the original interiors of the lower floors remain intact, including an entirely oak-paneled dining room.

32 West 88th Street, 1911. Built as a series of buildings on the south side of 88th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue in 1887-1889, no. 32 is one of a few of the buildings to retain the majority of its original features. Designed by Thom and Wilson, the rowhouses here are of a Renaissance Revival style with Romanesque and Gothic Revival features. A number of these buildings were altered in the 1910s and 1920s. They had their stoops removed, new basement entrances created, and some even had their cornices removed as well. No. 32 retains its prominent dogleg front staircase.

241 Central Park West, date unknown. Built between 1930-31 and designed by Schwartz & Gross, the 19-story Art Deco building is clad in brick and cast stone. The architecture firm was well-known for their apartment houses, particularly in Morningside Heights.