B'nai Jeshurun, ca. 1917. The community of B'nai Jeshurun was founded in 1825, making it the second synagogue founded in New York and the third-oldest Ashkenazi synagogue in the country. They first occupied a building downtown on Elm Street and as the congregation grew, they moved slowly uptown into consistently larger spaces. Their last move, to West 88th Street, occurred in 1918 when a final new building was constructed for the community. Designed by Henry B. Herts with Walter S. Schneider, both of whom were congregants, the building is described as "Semitic," reflecting Moorish and Middle Eastern styles of architecture. This structure was considered influential to synagogue design in the 1920s, as more buildings were created with these Middle Eastern influences. Today the congregation continues to use this synagogue.

The Hudson River Yacht Club at the foot of West 90th Street as viewed southeastward, 1931.

Out of 150 statues depicting historic figures in New York City, only six are women. This stark inequality shines a light on gender and racial representation biases in public statues. Today, multiple groups are working to amend this imbalance. Two of these organizations are Statues for Equality and She Built NYC. This story sends us on a tour of six historic women who are honored in monuments across New York City.

"Riverside Drive, north from West 85th Street, showing prominently a predecessor of the Fifth Ave. buses. On the right is the Misses Ely's School for Young Ladies which was formerly the Episcopal Home of Mercy and occupying a setback position from the building line, between 85th and 86th Streets. North of same appears a row of brick homes, from 86th to 87th Streets, ca. 1905." The bus seen on the street here is noted as a predecessor of the Fifth Avenue Coach Company (famous in the early 20th century for their double-decker buses). This seems unlikely for a number of reasons. The Fifth Avenue line did not initially travel so far uptown. And the predecessor to the Fifth Avenue buses was a horse powered omnibus replaced in 1907 by electric buses. This open air, tiered bus looks much more like an "observation automobile" or sightseeing bus, a new popular attraction around town in the early 20th century. In 1909 the building, at right, noted in the description as Misses Ely's School for Young Ladies was replaced by The Dorchester, a 12-story grand apartment house.

344-348 West 87th Street, ca. 1913. Of this trio of buildings, only the two to the left (nos. 344 and 346) remain. They have been altered, so as to remove their staircases and first floor entrances. The doors to the homes are no at the garden (or basement) level. Many building all over the city, in the years just prior to and just after World War I, were renovated in this way.

Normandy Apartments ARCHITECT: Emery Roth & Sons DATE: 1938-39 The Normandy Apartments is one of the most outstanding apartment buildings on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. A large eighteen-story (with nineteenth-story penthouse) twin-towered structure overlooking the Hudson River, it dominates the vista of Riverside Drive. Designed by Emery Roth, and built-in 1938-39, it was his last great work, as well as the last of the monumental pre-World War II apartment muses that are such an important element of the Upper West Side.

Gathering at the Joan of Arc Memorial Statue on Bastille Day, 1918. The thirteen-and-a-half foot statue was executed in bronze by the sculptor Anna Vaughan Hyatt (later Huntington), whose design (in plaster) had won acclaim at the Paris salon of 1910 — just as a group of New Yorkers had formed a committee to erect a memorial to 15th century French heroine. The memorial was installed in Riverside Park, at 93rd Street, in 1915, becoming the first statue of a woman in a New York City park.

B'nai Jeshurun Community House, 1928. B'nai Jeshurun is the oldest Ashkenazi Jewish congregation and the second oldest Jewish community in New York State. In 1918 the synagogue moved into a Moorish and Middle Eastern influenced structure on West 88th Street. In 1927, one of the architects of the synagogue, Henry B. Herts, was rehired with his current associate, Louis Abramson, to complete a community center. Erected directly behind the synagogue, the new building is styled with complementary Moorish and Middle Eastern influences, though rendered more subtly.

Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument Typical reminder, in its hollow pomposity, of an army which had not been engaged in a major struggle since 1865 and of the exploits of the Great White Fleet, this monument symbolized the stolid wealth and prosperity of our country at the time of its building.

Clark Potter Residence, 1903. Elizabeth Clark was the widow of Alfred Corning Clark. When he died in 1896, he left his sizable estate, including his building, the Dakota, to his wife. In 1898 she commissioned Ernest Flagg to design her a substantial Beaux-Arts mansion. The large home was rendered in red brick and decorated with white marble. In 1902 Elizabeth Clark married the Episcopal Bishop of New York, Henry Codman Potter (giving the home the Clark Potter name). The residence would have had quite a view over the river, which is why the owner went to court to attempt to prevent the city from building the long-delayed Soldiers and Sailors Monument. Mrs. Clark argued that the large memorial would block her access to light and air, obstruct her view, and diminish the value of her property. Her complaints were overruled by the mayor of the city himself, and the monument was completed in 1902. The home was sold away from the Clark Potter family in 1911. (Bishop Potter died in 1908, and Elizabeth a year later.) In 1922 it was announced (incorrectly) that the home had been purchased by an anonymous buyer who wished to donate it to the city as the residence for the mayor. The real estate firm brokering the purchase had to walk back their statement. The house was demolished in 1925 and a 16-story apartment house was constructed in its place.