The Lighthouse Complex was built as part of the federal government’s efforts to provide an integrated system of navigational aids throughout the United States in the early 19th through 20th centuries. It is one of eight extant lighthouses in Staten Island and the second oldest in the borough. The Prince’s Bay Lighthouse Complex, historically known as the Red Bank Lighthouse, is located on the shore of Prince’s Bay near the southern tip of Staten Island and stands on one of the highest bluffs on the southern shoreline. The vernacular with Italianate style elements two-story brownstone Keeper’s House was built in 1868 next to the Lighthouse and connected by a 15-foot long passageway. An additional, one-story fieldstone Carriage House was built in 1869, just west of the Keeper’s House. The Lighthouse served as the primary navigational aide for the local maritime traffic, fishermen, and oystermen working the oyster beds along Arthur Kill and Raritan Bay.

Opened on March 18, 1905, the Port Richmond Branch of the New York Public Library is one of four Carnegie branch libraries on Staten Island and one of sixty-seven in New York City, built with Andrew Carnegie’s 1901 donation of $5.2 million which established a city-wide branch library system. The distinguished and prolific architectural firm of Carrere & Hastings designed the Port Richmond Branch as well as thirteen other Carnegie branch libraries and the Main Building of the New York Public Library. The library, prominently sited on a corner, is Classical Revival in style with a center entrance highlighted by a columned portico above a flight of stairs leading to an interior brightly lit by large arched windows.

The striking administration building complex of the College of Mount Saint Vincent is dramatically situated on a high hill commanding a sweeping view of the Hudson River and the unspoiled Palisades. Surrounded by a rolling seventy-five-acre campus in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, the buildings present a picturesque profile in keeping with their romantic setting. The site was acquired from Edwin Forrest, one of this country’s leading 19th-century actors, by the Sisters of Charity for their New York motherhouse and academy on December 20, 1856. Construction of the first building, designed by Henry Engelbert in the Early Romanesque Revival style, began the following May and took two years to complete.

The American Bank Note Company Printing Plant, was the leading producer of money, securities, and other types of printed and engraved products. The building features signature elements of industrial architecture, such as the saw-tooth roof and large expanses of industrial sash, allowed ample light into the interior spaces of the plant. The arsenal-like exterior of the plant, which is surrounded by a brick wall, embodied a sense of strength while also providing security for the specialized printing operation. The crenellated rectangular tower rising above the Lafayette Avenue wing and the articulation of the walls as massive brick piers forming multi-story arcades reinforced this fortress-like character. Such an expressive approach to industrial architecture would later be abandoned for a more severe, functional aesthetic. Upon completion, the American Bank Note Company Printing Plant was considered one of the most complete facilities of its kind, remaining in operation for nearly 75 years

The Rufus King Manor is one of the few 18th century American Colonial manor houses remaining in Queens. It is a two and a half story, single frame house with a gambrel roof. The cottage in the rear portion of the property dates from 1730 and it contains an original kitchen. King Manor is the historic home of founding father, Rufus King, diplomat and framer of the United States Constitution. The first-floor interiors of the Manor are a reflection of the several periods of construction of the house, and they represent both Georgian and Federal styles. Among the most distinguishing features are the staircase, the curved end wall of the dining room, and the many chimneypieces. The house is effectively preserved through its maintenance as a museum by the King Manor Association.

With its surrounding pool and fountains, The Unisphere was the centerpiece and visual logo of the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair. The theme of the fair was “Peace Through Understanding.” The Unisphere was constructed and donated to the park by the United States Steel Corporation. It is a steel cage 120 feet in diameter composed mainly of curving structural members, and remains one of the most prominent structural and landscape features of Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

Inspired by the growing popularity of civilian parachuting and towers constructed to teach the military correct technique, Commander James H. Strong’s Parachute Jump was erected for the 1939-40 New York’s World’s Fair in Flushing Meadow. As detailed by Elwyn E. Seelye & Company, the 170-ton tower stands 262 feet tall. After the closing of the fair, the Parachute Jump was purchased by the Tilyou brothers and moved to their Coney Island park. Still a prominent feature of the Brooklyn skyline, today the tower stands unused, but in fundamentally sound structural condition.

This charming Eighteenth-Century Dutch Colonial farmhouse replaced the earlier Lefferts Homestead burned by the Americans, while they were engaging the British in the battle of Flatbush in 1776. Built of wood, some of it salvaged from the Seventeenth Century house, it is a good example of post-Revolutionary war construction. Built by Lieutenant Peter Lefferts between 1777 and 1783, the house was presented by his descendants to the City in 1918, when it was moved to Prospect Park from its original location at 563 Flatbush Avenue.

An ecumenical church, with its roots in the Baptist faith, the history of this church reflects the modernist religious theology of its founding pastor Harry Emerson Fosdick. Financed with gifts from members of the church, including the industrialist and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr., the neo-Gothic style complex, built between 1928 and 1930, consists of three distinct sections: a five-bay nave and chancel extending north toward West 122nd Street; a mid-block twenty-two story tower housing the narthex, Christ Chapel, belfry, offices, and meeting rooms; as well as a one-and-half story “cloister” passage extending east to Claremont Avenue.

An individual landmark (and the site of our birthday celebration), the National Arts Club is a fine example of conservative Victorian Gothic architecture. It displays a wealth of unusual details and varicolored stones. It was once the home of an American distinguished both in the realm of politics and the world of culture and scholarship.