New York City was the seat of government for only the brief period between March 1789 and July 1790. Still, there is a long history of presidential interactions in the city: from presidents growing up here, to dying and being buried here, and visiting the city for social, financial, and political activities.

Morningside Heights is graced with the highest concentration of institutional complexes built in a relatively short period at the turn of the 20th century, both in the city and anywhere in the United States. It is home to monumental places of worship, higher learning and healing, which accentuate its backdrop of rowhouses and apartment buildings, culminating in streetscapes that are both elegant and eye-filling. Topographically, it is situated on a plateau historically known as Harlem Heights, while geographically it is bounded by West 110th Street to the south, West 125th Street to the north, and two Frederick Law Olmsted–designed parks to the east (Morningside Park) and to the west (Riverside Park). The first institution to move into the area was New York Hospital, which began purchasing land in 1816 to establish the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum (on the present-day campus of Columbia University) and the Leake and Watts Orphan Asylum (on the present-day campus of St. John the Divine) in 1821 and 1834, respectively. The stigma of an insane asylum, compounded by inadequate transit access to the area, hindered other development until the late 19th century, when the hospital auctioned off its real estate holdings and relocated to White Plains in favor of more space and fresher air. The asylum’s relocation prompted a flurry of development by other institutions intent on expansion, starting with the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in 1887 and followed by St. Luke’s Hospital, Columbia College and Teacher’s College in 1892. The introduction of the subway into Morningside Heights in 1904, coupled with the neighborhood’s magnificent parks and prestigious institutions, led to a frenzy of speculative apartment house construction, attracting middle-class residents who could now commute directly downtown to work. Even before the advent of zoning regulations for land use, developers erected rowhouses and modest apartment buildings on the side streets and grand apartment houses on the avenues, with particularly monumental examples on Riverside Drive, Claremont Avenue and Cathedral Parkway, and mixed-use commercial buildings along Broadway, giving the neighborhood a heterogeneous yet cohesive character. Morningside Heights’ unorthodox yet distinctive sense of place comes from the coexistence of residential and institutional clusters, as exemplified by elegant rowhouses and apartment buildings just steps away from renowned academic institutions and houses of worship. Today the neighborhood still enjoys this singular sense of place. Its institutions are impressive examples of Beaux-Arts planning and design, including the graceful approach to Grant’s Tomb, the entrance façades of St. John the Divine and Riverside Church aligned with the axes of 112th Street and 122nd Street, and especially Charles McKim’s plan for Columbia University, whose symmetry and axial layout emphasize the monumentality and unity of the surrounding architecture. The residential architecture, though sometimes grand, offers a human scale and balance to the whole neighborhood.

In the closing decades of the 19th century, New York underwent a profound physical and cultural transformation. Fueled by the wealth of the exploding financial and manufacturing sectors, the city rapidly evolved into a world-class metropolis. The bold ambitions of civic and business leaders, architects, and engineers of the era manifested in landmarks such as the vast Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the stately U.S. Custom House, the towering Municipal Building, and the original terminus of New York City’s first official subway line—the ornate City Hall stop. The sweeping interior spaces common to all of these structures, and hundreds of others, depended upon a venerable Mediterranean building technology adapted to contemporary American construction: arched tile ceilings—or vaults—that were not only self-supporting but could also bear the weight of floors or roofs above them. These vaults were designed and built by a single New York firm, founded by Spanish immigrant Rafael Guastavino (1842-1908) and later headed by his son Rafael Jr. (1872-1950). The Guastavinos’ patented system for building domes and vaults involved multiple layers of thin ceramic tiles bonded with quick-drying mortar. The resulting structures were not only exceptionally strong, but also lightweight, easy to build, and inherently beautiful, thanks to intricate patterns of exposed tile that formed finished, decorative surfaces. Guastavino vaults figured prominently in more than 1,000 projects across the nation, including 200 in Manhattan alone. During its 73-year history, the Guastavino Company helped build some of the most impressive interior spaces in America—veritable palaces for the people. This list based on MCNY's exhibition Palaces for the People, contains many of Guastavino's masterpieces in the five boroughs, both those that remain and those that have been lost to the wrecking ball.

Morningside Heights holds a very different ground than the Upper West Side - probably because it is home to Columbia University, Barnard College, the Manhattan School of Music, and other smaller schools. 🏫📚✍️ Explore the area between the Hudson and the Manhattan Schist…

West 122nd Street and Riverside Drive John Duncan, 1890–97 New York City Individual and Interior Landmark State and National Registers of Historic Places This Classical Revival mausoleum, the largest in the United States, is the resting place of President Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia Dent Grant. Its design is based on the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Once one of the most popular tourist destinations in the city, it is run by the National Park Service.

Grant's Tomb ca. 1898 This impressive Classical Revival monument at Riverside Drive and West 122nd Street replaced a modest temporary tomb at Riverside Park. Architect John H. Duncan's competition-winning design was influenced by Mausoleus's Tomb at Halicarnassus in Turkey. Construction began six years after Grant's death in 1885, and the tomb was dedicated on April 27, 1897. In 1902 Julia Dent Grant was laid beside her husband, where they continue to rest side by side in twin black sarcophagi.

General Ulysses S. Grant Tomb ARCHITECT: John H. Duncan DATE: 1891-97 STYLE: Monument The General Grant National Memorial, the work of architect John H. Duncan, is one of the most impressive monuments in the City. Located on a spectacular site overlooking the Hudson River and Riverside Park, it houses the earthly remains of Ulysses S. Grant, Civil War hero and eighteenth President of the United States, and Julia Dent Grant, his wife, in sarcophagi located side by side. The General Grant National Memorial Interior is dominated by a center crypt with twin sarcophagi holding the bodies of General Grant and his wife. It reflects the classic monumentality of the exterior of the building, and it is one of the most impressive monuments in New York City. The Memorial is a testimony to the devotion Grant inspired among the American people in the late 19th century, and it is a fitting monument to Grant as a Civil War hero and American president.

Between 1954 and 1957, the Municipal Art Society surveyed historic buildings in all five boroughs to create a database of potential landmarks to preserve. Local residents and MAS staff compiled individual sheets devoted to about 200 buildings. Each sheet outlined the building’s date, location, and style and provided a description and a small photograph. This is the list of Manhattan buildings.

My Archive Spring 2019 "My great uncle Louis Campbell was a professional photographer from western PA. At some point, he moved to NJ. This was a picture he took of Grant's Tomb, but not sure of the year. He was 20 years older than his wife, my Aunt Helen, who I only have vague (but cherished) memories of." —David Goldberg

Dedication of Grant's Tomb, 1897. President Grant and his wife Julia are buried in this memorial and mausoleum. (It is the largest mausoleum in the United States.) The structure was in part funded by donations from more than 90,000 people worldwide. They raised more than $600,000. Designed by John Duncan, who was awarded the commission after a series of design competitions, the massive granite and marble structure was completed in 1897 after more than six years of slow construction. The dedication ceremony, which accounts say included a million attendees, was held on April 27, 1897, on what would have been Grant's 75th birthday.

This Presidents Day, we wanted to take a look back at some of the most iconic places that the nation's executives have occupied in New York over the years. Here is a list of a few of our favorites!

On September 29th, 1899, a two-day land and sea parade welcomed Rear Admiral George Dewey (1837-1917) home. Dewey had become the nation’s great naval hero, the first and only admiral to be titled “Admiral of the Navy”, after his 1898 victory at the Battle of Manila Bay, in the Philippines, during the Spanish–American War. Take a virtual walk into the Manhattan of 1899, and see the celebrations with the photographs of amateur photographer Thomas W. Kennedy (active ca. 1890-1915.) The Spanish–American War ended with the 1898 Treaty of Paris, and the US took possession of several former Spanish colonies including Puerto Rico, the island of Guam, and the Philippine Islands. The US occupation of the Philippines would lead to the brutal Phillipine-American War.