Entrance to the apartment complex at 658-666 West 188th Street, ca. 1995.

My Archive Spring 2019 "A photograph of my grandmother Martha Shallek Wallenstein, on some occasion, in front of a car across the street from the entrance to 250 Cabrini Boulevard. Perhaps she was about to enter the car behind her?" —Ellen Wallenstein

Entrance to apartment complex at 45 Wadsworth Terrace, ca. 1980. 45 Wadsworth Terrace is an Art Deco apartment house built in 1929. Prominent is the decorative brickwork of the facade. Designed by prolific (he is said to have designed more than 4000 buildings) but largely unknown architect, H. I. Feldman, the lobby of the building entered through this main doorway retains many of its original murals.

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Our Saviour's Atonement, 1930. Our Saviour's Atonement Lutheran Church was created from the merger of two smaller congregations: The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Atonement, and the Lutheran Church of Our Saviour. The building that is used by the church today was in fact constructed as the parish house. Constructed in 1928 just before the stock market crash, the planned Gothic style sanctuary was scrapped in the financial crisis. The parish house became the church building. In the 1970s, the structure was transformed into the Cornerstone Center, a multi-use facility that provided space for a video studio, dance and performance space, a kindergarten, and a church for the deaf.

My Archive Spring 2019 "A photograph of my brother (John S. Wallenstein) & myself on our tricycles, circa 1955, taken by my father, Herbert J. Wallenstein. Seems to be winter as I am bundled up." —Ellen Wallenstein

Hebrew Tabernacle of Washington Heights ca. 1994 The Hebrew Tabernacle of Washington Heights was founded in 1906; its first home was at 218 West 130th Street. The congregation relocated to 161st Street in 1923. In 1973, it relocated again, this time to a former Christian Science church at 185th Street and Fort Washington Avenue. The domed ceiling in the sanctuary remains from the building’s days as a Christian Science church. It has been updated with a Star of David to represent the congregation that now prays in that space. The ceiling is quite impressive, and it gives the sanctuary a very open feel. In the 1930s and 1940s, Washington Heights became the home to German Jewish refugees and Holocaust survivors. Many of them joined the Hebrew Tabernacle, swelling its congregation. German Jews continue to be the lifeblood of this Reform congregation today. In 2002, the Hebrew Tabernacle consolidated with Beth Am, the People’s Temple, and now offers various service styles to reflect its diverse congregation.

Survey photograph of 656 Ft. Washington Ave. for the construction of the IND Eighth Avenue Line. Shows a large frame house. Original photographic logbook notation reads: Camera at Sta. 1071/50, on west side of Fort Washington Avenue, looking east, showing frame building No. 656. 11:52 A.M.

Tryon Hall, 1913. Although Cornelius Kingsley Garrison Billings, a wealthy industrialist, already owned a home on Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street, he fell in love with northern Manhattan while visiting the Harlem River Speedway, a dirt, horse-racing track. Already retired at age 40, so as to devote himself to his passion for horses, Billings decided to construct a summer home in the area. He purchased 25 acres and built a 25,000 square foot horse stable and mansion. The mansion sat on the highest point of his property, just above the Hudson River on land that had once been Fort Tryon. Called Tryon Hall, the extravagant residence was designed in a Louis XIV chateau style and completed in 1907. It featured a heated indoor swimming pool, a two-story squash court, a bowling alley, and numerous formal gardens. The home was reached from Riverside Drive via a 1,600 feet long driveway that had a 6-degree grade. The Billings moved on to other (more exorbitant) living spaces in 1916 and sold Tryon Hall and its surrounding property to John D. Rockefeller Jr. Initially Rockefeller planned to demolish the buildings and donate the land to the city for a park. Architects protested the anticipated loss of the house and the city actually turned down the land. The mansion was then lived in for some years by the president of a large realty company, but burned to the ground in 1926 (no lives were lost but artwork valued at $1 million was destroyed). The ruins were removed and Rockefeller finally got the city to accept the land for a park. Fort Tryon Park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. Of the mansion, a few features remain, including the gatehouse, entrance pillars, and original S-shaped roadway.

As a museum, the Cloisters is unique in New York as its collection extends to include the architecture of the building that houses it. The second of the Metropolitan's museums, the structure is an ensemble of four cloisters and three chapels brought to New York from Europe. The collection is founded on American sculptor George Gray Barnard's personal holdings of medieval objects. Barnard had established a medieval art museum in Upper Manhattan, but constantly prone to financial mismanagement, he was forced to sell his preliminary medieval museum to John D. Rockefeller in 1925 to avoid bankruptcy. Rockefeller established the Cloisters as part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1938 on the newly purchased land of Fort Tryon Park. This story takes us through the history of the four cloisters that make up the museum.

Before Olmstead sculpted Fort Tryon Park, the land was the grounds of a luxurious estate.