The Hispanic Society of America ca. 1919 Founded in 1904 by Archer Huntington, the son of a wealthy railroad tycoon, the Hispanic Society of America stands as a testament to Washington Heights' opulent past at the turn of the twentieth century. Huntington developed Audubon Terrace, the block between 155th and 156th Streets west of Broadway, on land that was originally part of the farm of painter and naturalist John James Audubon. Huntington invited other cultural institutions to locate there, and today Audubon Terrace also houses the American Numismatic Society, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and Boricua College. The Hispanic Society building is a sprawling, Beaux Arts style structure that contains one of the largest collections of Spanish art in the United States, including works by El Greco, Diego Velázquez, Francisco Goya, and Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida. The sculptures on the plaza in front of the building were created by Huntington’s wife, the prominent sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington. Huntington created the society as an elite academic institution with limited access. In recent years the Society has loosened its stringent regulations and has reached out to both scholars and members of the Washington Heights community, in an attempt to increase its visibility.

Washington Heights, the narrow strip of high ground between the Harlem and Hudson Rivers, is named for the Revolutionary War Fort Washington. Fortifications aside, the area was rural, rocky, and sparsely populated until latter half of the 19th century; the extension of rapid transit to Upper Manhattan century helped spur development. Today, Washington Heights is a diverse, densely populated enclave including the massive Columbia University medical campus, historic sites like the Morris-Jumel mansion, and panoramic views of the Bronx, Lower Manhattan, and the New Jersey Palisades.

The Cortez 625 West 156th Street Designed by Neville & Bagge 1909 Audubon Park Historic District Named after the eponymous Spanish conquistador, the Cortez sits across the street from the Church of Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza and the Hispanic Society of America. Its Beaux-Arts façade has a tripartite composition, with a two-story limestone base, six-story red brick shaft and a free-standing brick parapet with an overhanging modillioned metal cornice. The limestone base is enhanced by a double-height entrance portico, while terra-cotta balconettes, lintels and string courses decorate the rest of the brick façade. At the time of construction, each floor of the Cortez featured two apartments with nine rooms and three baths per unit. One of its notable tenants was Agil Hanau, a founder and the first secretary of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association of New York.

Rhinecliff 788 Riverside Drive Schwartz & Gross Designed by 1910-11 Audubon Park Historic District The 11-story Rhinecliff continues the cornice line of its southern neighbor, the Vauxhall, complementing it with a Beaux-Arts façade carried out in granite, light brick and terra cotta. The elaborate roofline is decorated with oversized brackets, cartouches and a cornice with arched pediments. One of the more expensive buildings constructed in the neighborhood, the Rhinecliff featured suites of four to six rooms, as well as duplexes of eight to nine rooms equipped with separate entrances for servants. The Rhinecliff shares its name with a town in the Hudson Valley, a popular summer destination in the 19th century. More recently, the Rhinecliff was featured in the 1989 filming of the teleplay, The Hollow Boy.

The Audubon Terrace complex, as viewed from the Audubon Park Apartments at 3750 Broadway, 1919. At right is the American Geographical Society, completed in 1911 (now Boricua College). At left is the Museum of the American Indian, which would be completed in 1922.

The Audubon Park Apartments, across from the Audubon Terrace complex, then under construction, 1908. Its listing in Apartment Houses of the Metropolis advertises “an unobstructed view of the Hudson River and surrounding country” and “suites of five, six and seven rooms and extra servants’ rooms” for rents between $720 and $1,200 a year.

Grinnell 800 Riverside Drive Designed by Schwartz & Gross 1910-11 Audubon Park Historic District Occupying the entire triangular lot formed by the intersection of the diagonals of the old Boulevard Lafayette and Riverside Drive, the Renaissance Revival style Grinnell has a dominating presence in the neighborhood. While only nine stories tall, its size is amplified by freestanding cupolas topped by bell-shaped pediments that tower over each corner. Two-story granite arches flanked by duplex apartment units on either side serve as entrances to the building’s large interior courtyard. Upon completion at the original terminus of the Riverside Drive extension, the Grinnell claimed to be the only building in Manhattan with both a Riverside Drive address and a subway station at one entrance. Early residents recalled how dances with a full orchestra used to be held on the roof every spring and gloved staff delivered mail to each apartment twice a day.

857 Riverside Drive, November 16, 1937. This charming 19th century, wood-frame home with a widow's walk on the roof remains standing though with some serious alterations. The widow's walk and porch have been removed and the clapboard replaced with faux brick siding. The current cornice and chimney seem to match with the details of this 1937 photograph.

Willam A. Wheelock Mansion ca. 1937 This Second Empire-style mansion, located at 661 West 158th Street with grounds spreading from West 158th to 160th Streets, was built about 1860 for businessman William Almy Wheelock. The Wheelock House withstood the incursion of the 1904 Riverside Drive extension, which was curved inward toward the east to avoid the charming villas of Audubon Park. Laid out around an oval park with a white marble fountain group, the Drive tended to isolate the houses, which were gradually replaced by apartment houses. Almost the last of the old places to survive was 661 West 158th Street. It was finally demolished in 1938, just a year after photographer Berenice Abbott documented it, for Riverside Houses, a low-income housing project.

South side of West 161st Street, ca. 1905.

Chapel, Church of the Intercession, ca. 1910. The second home of this Episcopal congregation, the chapel at 158th Street and Grand Boulevard (now Broadway) was built in 1872. By 1906, the parish was suffering from both overcrowding and financial difficulties. To solve both issues, parish officials struck a deal with the Trinity Church, whereby the new Church of the Intercession was built on the grounds of the Trinity Cemetery, at Broadway and 155th Street.

“Fort Washington Avenue, north from West 163rd Street, and showing upon the west side of same, the New York Institution for the Deaf extending to 165th Street. Note the tower of the George Washington Bridge through the trees. June 15, 1937.” The New York Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb was founded in 1818 and moved to its third location, in Washington Heights, in 1856. The school moved to its current campus in White Plains, New York in 1938, shortly after this photo was taken. When the George Washington Bridge (at left) opened in 1931, it was the longest single bridge span in the world. 19 days before this photo was taken, it lost that title to San Francisco’s brand-new Golden Gate Bridge."

160th Street, east from Broadway, ca. 1905. Pope & Co. druggists at 3834 Broadway advertises stationary, drugs, and prescriptions at “downtown prices.”

Audubon Park Apartments 3750 Broadway Designed by Schwartz & Gross 1905 Completed in 1905, the Audubon Park Apartments was one of the first apartment buildings constructed in the neighborhood. A 1906 advertisement for the building described the unspoiled nature of the area, promoting its location “on Washington Heights, Manhattan’s only section of natural beauty - adds the charm of country to the city house.” Offering unobstructed views of the Hudson River and surrounding countryside, the building’s “extra large” apartments boasted a “long distance telephone in each apartment.” Notice the building’s initials “APA” inscribed in the cartouche above the entrance. Many apartment buildings built during the subway boom of the 1900s were given names to lend them an air of prestige and distinguish themselves from their neighbors.

514 West 160th Street, ca. 1932.

An eclectic three-story semi-detached frame house owned by the Church of Our Lady of Esperanza, a part of the Audubon Terrace complex, with an entrance across Broadway on 156th Street, 1932.

Tusitala on the Hudson River at West 156th Street, September 16, 1937. The Tusitala was the last full-rigged merchant ship to fly the American flag. Built in Scotland in 1883, she sailed under the flags of Scotland and Norway before being purchased by a group of writers and artists in New York City in the 1920s. The collective called themselves the “Three Hours for Lunch Club” and named their ship Tusitala in honor of Robert Lewis Stevenson, who had taken that name, meaning storyteller, from the Samoan language of his adopted home. Though one of the writers behind the purchase was a ships captain in addition to his literary career, the collective quickly ran out of funds to support the vessel. She was sold to James A Farrell,the President of U.S. Steel, who sailed the ship from New York to Hawaii via the Panama Canal through the 1930s. In 1939 she became training ship at a United States Maritime Services Training Center in Florida before being scrapped in 1947.

Located on a portion of John James Audubon’s former estate, Audubon Terrace is one of the country’s first planned cultural centers outside a university context. Archer M. Huntington, stepson of railroad magnate Collis P. Huntington, was fascinated by Hispanic culture, and founded the Hispanic Society of America in 1904. To design its headquarters, Huntington hired his cousin, Charles Huntington. Hoping that geographic closeness would encourage cooperation, Archer Huntington donated land to encourage the Church of Our Lady of Esperanza, the American Numismatic Society, the American Geographic Society and the Museum of the American Indian to locate here. Although the center’s construction spanned two decades and four architectural firms, the structures were all designed in the neo-Italian Renaissance style to create a unified setting. In keeping with the Beaux-Arts tradition, the buildings were all arranged around a central courtyard paved in red brick, enclosed by stone balustrades and filled with sculptures designed by Anna Hyatt Huntington, Archer’s wife, and others. Audubon Terrace has sustained some change, with additions and newer buildings necessitating the reorientation of the entrance from West 156th Street to Broadway. Today, the complex is occupied by the Hispanic Society of America, the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a campus of Boricua College.

“West 158th Street, west from Riverside Drive to the North (Hudson River). Shown in the center is the elevated West Side Vehicular Highway against the Palisades of New Jersey. November 18, 1936.” The elevated roadway at center is the viaduct carrying Riverside Drive West, with the West Side Highway visible through its arch. The ornate columned entryway to no. 613 (right) has been stripped of its details, though the structure remains.

"Swing," was a reinforced concrete sculpture by Clement Meadmore. Its size of twelve feet in height, eighteen feet in width, and twelve feet in width is meant to negotiate between its urban setting and the human scale. This sculpture was commissioned by the Public Arts Council's Neighborhood Environmental Sculpture Program (NESP) in 1972. The program sought to bring works of public art to the Inwood and Washington Heights as selected by the residents of each neighborhood. Meadmore's "Swing," is one of the five pieces chosen by a panel of art professionals and city-wide ballot, supplemented by a mobile exhibition and art-education workshops. The program had initially planned for ten permanent structures to be installed, however, various constraints cut the final roster in half, and determined the installations temporary. NESP aimed to encourage local determination from Inwood and Washington Heights, but the selection and feedback process ultimately constrained the very voices they wanted to empower. Meadmore's "Swing" was the first of the five public sculptures to be installed. An observation came later, stating that if the sculpture had been meant as a play-piece, a mat should be installed underneath it to prevent climbing children from hurting themselves. This comment foreshadowed the sculpture's ultimate removal.

The Riviera 790 Riverside Drive Designed by Rouse & Goldstone 1909 Audubon Park Historic District Built at a projected cost of $1.7 million, this 13-story building is both the tallest and most expensive structure in the historic district. The building sits on the former site of the Hemlocks, the home of the Grinnell family from the 1860s to 1910. The Riviera’s Renaissance Revival style façade consists of a three-story limestone base and a brick façade with terra-cotta details and large Venetian windows at the top floor. Punctuated by courtyards that divided the façade into five wings, the Riviera could boast that every room was an “outside room.” Bennett Cerf, the founder of Random House, moved into the newly built Riviera in 1911 at the age of 13.

The Audubon house, photographed in 1916. After Audubon’s death in 1851, his wife Lucy Audubon sold the residence to Jesse Benedict, a lawyer. Benedict updated the house with Victorian details including a mansard roof.

Top view faces south on Broadway, from between 159th and 160th Streets. Bottom view is the reverse, north on Broadway, with the Loew’s Rio Theatre at center, ca. 1914. Cab drivers are using the Broadway median to park, while they await fares from theatergoers. Due to competition from larger theaters in the area, the Rio closed in 1957.

“Residence of J. J. Audubon Esq,” watercolor, 1857. The naturalist, ornithologist, and namesake of the Audubon Society, John James Audubon purchased a 20-acre estate on the Hudson River in 1841, in what was then a wooded area. By 1911, the house had fallen into disrepair. After multiple unsuccessful attempts to move the structure to city parkland, it was demolished in 1931.

American Academy of Arts and Letters, 1930. Completed in 1930, the annex building for the Academy was designed by member Cass Gilbert. The building included a 730-seat auditorium and sky-lit exhibition gallery. Both this structure and the original Academy building next door were designed in an Italian Renaissance style with imposing double bronze doors.

504 West 160th Street, ca. 1932

Riverside Drive West and the Hudson River, ca. 1941. The original route of Riverside Drive made a sharp turn to the right at 155th Street, bisecting Audubon Park, and isolating “Minnie's Land,” John James and Lucy Audobon’s former home, well below street level to the west of the new road. Upon the opening of the new curved roadway in 1911, motorists complained about the succession of sharp turns. As a solution, the city built a new viaduct between 155th and 161st Streets. Opened in 1928, the viaduct today carries Riverside Drive West.

“519-521 West 158th Street, north side, west of Amsterdam Avenue. Both are three-story frame houses. 1932.” The sign advertises a tailor at no. 521. The clapboard and shingle facades have been replaced, and the wooden porches dismantled, but the bones of this row of frame houses remain.

William A. Wheelock Mansion, photographed by Berenice Abbott in November 1937. In 1862, Wheelock, a dry goods wholesaler, purchased a riverside parcel of the Audubon estate that stretched from 157th to 159th Street. There, he build a Victorian mansion, complete with a bell-shaped mansard roof, Gothic details, and extensive gardens. The city purchased the by-then overgrown Wheelock property in 1941, tearing the buildings down to make room for a housing development.

Our Lady of Esperanza Church, 1924. Designed by Charles P. Huntington, the original structure was completed in 1912 with a staircase entrance to 156th Street. In 1924, a new facade by Lawrence G. White — son of Stanford White — extended the facade to street level and moved the entrance staircase to the building’s interior.

Hispanic Society of America, 1922. The Hispanic Society of America was founded by philanthropist Archer Milton Huntington in 1904. The building is both a museum and reference library for the arts and culture of primarily Spain and Portugal, as well as some of the former colonies in Latin America, the Philippines, and Portuguese India. Huntington, possessed with a passion for scholarship, amassed a great portion of the museum's collection of over 18,000 works using his family's resources. In addition to funding the curation of artifacts, Huntington's family also participated in the design of the museum. Archer Milton Huntington's cousin, Charles P. Huntington, designed three buildings of the Audobon Terrace complex. The philanthropist's wife, sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington, is credited for many of the statues around the terrace, including the equestrian statue "El Cid" that serves as the unofficial mascot of the museum. The museum's collection features paintings from renowned artists such as Velazquez, Goya, El Greco, Zurbaran, and Ribera. Among other objects, Huntington's holdings also include a variety of ceramics, 15th-century door knockers, a cartography collection, and an extensive library of literary works relevant to Hispanic culture, all published prior to the 19th century, including a copy of the first issue of popular Spanish novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. Huntington's interest in specifically Spanish culture was prompted by English author George Borrow's "The Zincali; or, An Account of the Gypsies in Spain," published in 1841. Enamored by Borrow's account on life in Spain, Huntington began taking Spanish language lessons and studying the country's culture from afar. A young Archer Huntington's interests in art and culture were not unusual for his family. His father Collis Potter Huntington was one of the Big Four of the Western Railroad. His financial holdings allowed Archer's mother, Arabella, to amass her own collection of Dutch Old Master paintings, 18th century English portraiture, 18th-century French decorative arts. At the age of 12, a young Archer wrote of his experience at a museum: "Read the catalog until I could not see anymore and went to bed. I think a museum is the grandest thing in the world. I should like to live in one." As a teenager, he began amassing the collection that would later form the foundation of his own museum. After Huntington accompanied his parents on a trip to Mexico, he came to the conclusion that he would devote his time and resources to opening a "Spanish Museum." He purchased the site to build his grand museum in 1904. Huntington was deliberate in both the acquisition of his collection and the display of his works. After frequent trips to Spain and Latin America, he claimed his earlier studies of the regions produced a sterile and academic understanding of Hispanic culture. His museum would display the soul of the culture, supposedly discovered by Huntington in his travels. The collections were almost exclusively acquired from collectors and dealers outside of Spain: Huntington was cautious not to dispossess Spain of its cultural heritage. The "Spanish Museum," now named, "The Hispanic Society," opened in 1908, for the "advancement of the study of the Spanish and Portuguese languages, literature, and history." In 1910, Huntington planned to expand the museum with a series of works three meters tall and seventy meters wide by the painter Joaquin Sorolla depicting daily life in contemporary Spain and Portugal. Regarding the arrangement of works in the museum and the lack of windows, Huntington said, "the windows of art museums should be pictures." The collection of archaeological artifacts on display are in part from Huntington's own excavation in a site French archaeologist Arthur Engel abandoned in Itálica. In 1920, Huntington took a pause on populating his collection and instead focused on the scholarly research that could take place in the museum. He sought to encourage young scholars to utilize the vast resources he gathered. He said of his staff, "I hope to get each one interested in a single subject, so that they may become expert." The Society's librarians, a group of young women who had recently graduated from library school, were asked to become chief curators of the museum's holdings. The women selected fields such as Paintings and Drawings, Sculpture, Ceramics, Font, and Textiles, which they researched and cataloged for up to 50 years. Huntington's museum prompted a great advancement in the discipline of Hispanic studies. Huntington's greatest desire, as described in a 1920 letter to his mother, was to "prepare the way for others."

Riverside Drive, west side, south from but not including 155th Street, showing the Audubon Cottage a 3-story frame house at the northern extremity of the viaduct, ca. 1925. The fountain pictured here at Riverside Drive is referred to as "Music of the Water" in a 1913 newspaper interview with artist model Audrey Munson, who was supposedly the muse for the mermaid figure. The problem? Other than this one photo (circa 1925) which includes the statue and fountain, no other image of this location depicts the statue. While the statue is included in a circa 1910 rendering for the large apartment building at 788 Riverside Drive (likely the vantage point of this image), it is missing from photographs that date to 1913 and 1924. While possible that the statue was installed and then removed, it has been suggested that perhaps it was never installed at all, and this 1925 photograph was created with some early 20th century Photoshopping.

516-518 West 160th Street, ca. 1932.

This endangered two-story wood-frame house at Riverside and West 159th Street, is believed to have a connection to the Underground Railroad and upper Manhattan’s little-known Abolitionist history.