At the southeast corner of Madison Square Park stands a statue marked by a laconic plaque: Roscoe Conkling. A towering figure in 19th-century politics, Roscoe Conkling owes this monument to a mighty nature calamity that led to his untimely demise. March 12, 1888, started as an ordinary spring day but ended as a major climate…
Category: Hidden Spots
A Renaissance Lobby in a Jazz Age Hotel
The green roof belonging to The Sherry-Netherland Hotel is visible from across Central Park and Fifth Avenue. But if one walks past it along Fifth Avenue, one could easily miss its entrance. Even though the hotel does not feature a grand entrance, its lobby is one of the most spectacular interior spaces in the city….
Merchant House–a home saved by a love story
There is a lonely 19th-century house on East 4th Street. The only relic from the by-gone era, it owes its survival to a women’s broken heart. The house was bought in 1835 by Seabury Tredwell, a wealthy New York merchant. Mr. and Mrs. Tredwell oversaw a lively household consisting of their eight children, many relatives,…
Block Beautiful—Mediterranean in Manhattan
The perfect rhythm of adjacent brownstones forming one solid street facade define the character of 19th-century New York. These streets posses the romantic quality of the old New York and attract us with their stately yet reserved uniform presence. By the end of 19th century, however, their uniformity was loosing its charm and to some…
City Beautiful Blog 