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.

Riverside Drive, north from 165th Street, ca. 1915. Washington Heights’ wooded, bucolic character would soon be disrupted by development. In 1921, the Harkness family donated a 22-acre plot between 165th and 168th Streets for what would become the campus of the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. Today, the Milstein Hospital Building, built in 1988, occupies 165th Street between Riverside Drive and Fort Washington Avenue.

“West 165th Street, north side, west from Fort Washington Ave., across Riverside Drive to the North (Hudson) River and showing across the latter the Jersey highlands and the George Washington Bridge. The property on the right is a part of the Columbia University-Presbyterian Medical Center and partially shown thereon is the Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing. June 15, 1937.”

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.

“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."

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.

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.

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.