Roberts - A History of New York in 27 Buildings

1661

The Bowne House: Construction probably began this year, because in 1662 the Quaker meeting held there resulted in the arrest of its owner, John Bowne.

1766

St. Pauls Chapel: It opened as an outreach chapel of Trinity Church and survived the Great Fire of 1776 and the collapse of the World Trade Center.

1804

21 Stuyvesant Street: Known as the Stuyvesant Fish House, it was built by the grandson of Peter Stuyvesant as a wedding present for his daughter and son-in-law.

1811

City Hall: Far uptown at the time, it replaced the century-old seat of municipal government, which had been converted into Federal Hall and razed in 1812.

1842

Federal Hall: Constructed on the site of the nations original Capitol, where Washington was inaugurated, it served as the U.S. Customs House and Subtreasury Building.

1845

The Marble Palace: Built for the self-made retailer A. T. Stewart, this architectural gem grew into what was arguably Americas first department store.

1848

The High Bridge: Originally called the Aqueduct Bridge, it is the citys oldest. Built to transport water from the Croton River, it was opened to pedestrians in 1864.

1855

123 Lexington Avenue: Once one of nine identical brownstones, it is the only existing building in New York City where a U.S. president was sworn in.

1865

134 East Sixtieth Street: Typical of thousands of nineteenth-century brownstones, it survives because of a woman who became a shaker, but refused to be a mover.

1881

Tweed Courthouse: Justice was blind when the vastly overbudget Italianate landmark became a monument to the corruption of Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall.

1882

Domino Sugar Refinery: The original complex dated from 1856, the current one from a generation later. Once the worlds largest sugar refinery, it dominated the waterfront.

1884

Pier A: The last surviving historic pier in Manhattan, it was the headquarters of the dock commissioners. Its clock has been described as the first World War I memorial.

1901

The Asch Building: Prophetically named, the fireproof ten-story stack of lofts was in a district crowded with garment manufacturers. It is now part of New York Universitys campus.

1902

The Flatiron Building: Who knew? The name of one of the favorite subjects for artists and photographers in the former Theater District actually preceded its construction.

1903

The Lyceum Theater: Commissioned by David Frohman, who, with his brothers, dominated show business, it is the oldest continually operating legitimate theater in New York.

1904

The IRT Powerhouse: Stanford Whites industrial colossus generated electricity to drive the subway system for a half century while paying homage to the City Beautiful.

1906

Sixty-Ninth Regiment Armory: Home to the Fighting Irish, as they were nicknamed during World War I, the Beaux-Arts drill hall broke ground architecturally and for the art inside.

1909

The Bossert Hotel: Called the Waldorf-Astoria of Brooklyn, it was built by the lumber baron who supplied the timber for Ebbets Field and became a Dodgers hangout.

1909

The American Bank Note Plant: This impregnable complex in what became a notorious South Bronx ghetto was, to the cognoscenti, a veritable moneymaking machine.

1913

Grand Central Terminal: The construction of the citys greatest public space ushered in a glamorous era of rail travel and the elegance of Park Avenue. It also kept the Vanderbilts out of jail.

1914

The Apollo: I May Be Wrong (But I Think Youre Wonderful) became the theme song of this originally whites-only, fifteen-hundred-plus-seat showcase built for burlesque.

1921

Bank of United States: No plaque or tablet marks this site in the Bronx, another transformative setting that survives, but whose rich history has been all but forgotten.

1923

The Coney Island Boardwalk: Not to be outdone by Atlantic City, Brooklyn coupled the subway with a communal promenade to democratize a former playground for the wealthy.

1930

60 Hudson Street: Heres where the metaphysical internet converges into a tangible mass of lasers, cables, tubes, generators, and servers. You can almost hear the building hum.

1931

The Empire State Building: New York developers played Race to the Roof in a contest for the worlds tallest building. This one kept the title for decades and remains the most iconic.

1935

First Houses: The name wasnt original, but the concept was. It became one model for solving an ongoing challenge: how to define, create, and replicate affordable housing.

1936

The Hunter College Gymnasium: An earlier effort to achieve what finally happened here in 1946 proved to be an exercise in futility. And what happened here was brief. But it produced a global legacy that endures today.