19th-century asylums are often portrayed as sinister, but the Bloomingdale Asylum in upper Manhattan was different. Architectural historian Dr. Nina Harkrader reconstructs the site and buildings that from 1815 to nearly the end of that century were an important part of the treatment of thousands of troubled New Yorkers through the “Moral Treatment” approach to […]
What was in Central Park before it became our Central Park? Sara Cedar Miller, historian emerita of the Central Park Conservancy and author of "Before Central Park" offers a glimpse. We'll learn about the 17th and 18th c. Dutch and English landowners; the land divisions of the 19th century; New York’s Common Lands; the early […]
Architectural historian Jessica Larson will explore what previously existed on the site that is now occupied by the New York City Housing Authority’s Amsterdam Houses, as well as the history of the housing project’s development. In the first decades of the 20th century, the area that is today's Lincoln Square was a neighborhood called San […]
culptor and author John Belardo brings to LW! the fascinating story of “Piccirilli Brothers Sculptors,” a family of immigrants who gave their new country masterpieces to last a nation’s lifetime. Though their names are perhaps not familiar, we know them well through the elaborate Maine Memorial at Columbus Circle and the heartbreakingly beautiful Fireman’s Memorial on Riverside […]
The sinking of the Titanic in 1912 was one of the most dramatic events of the 20th century. Lost for over a century, the Titanic’s wreck site was finally discovered in 1985 and in 1998 a 20-ton fragment of the hull, the “Big Piece” was raised. This year marks the 25th Anniversary of the recovery of […]
In 1868, a spirit’s guiding hand led two sisters to New York City, to a home on beautiful Washington Square--an address reserved for the elite of the Gilded Age. Behind its doors lived the richest man in America, Cornelius Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt sized up the ladies, Victoria Woodhull and Tennie Claflin, as sophisticated and savvy and, […]
Old photographs have captured many stages of the city’s growth that would otherwise have been lost, and the best images from New York’s past can do more than just highlight what has changed—they can reveal stories about times that were different than our own and the people who lived, worked, and died here. You’ll be […]
Come inside the magnificent structure that is St. John the Divine in Manhattan with Laura Buchner, a Senior Conservator at Building Conservation Associates, Inc., a group which has been part of restoration efforts at St. John the Divine over the past 25 years. Through amazing historic photos of areas of the building no one but a […]
New York’s Fifth Avenue is one of the most remarkable thoroughfares in the world. By the end of the 19th century it had become synonymous with the most fashionable lifestyles and mansions (and all that accompanied them) of the wealthy. Aggressive arrivistes such as Alva Vanderbilt and Marietta Stevens used their "new money" to employ […]
