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Statue of Liberty
Next to the flag, it’s America’s most famous symbol for freedom - an icon for the immigrant, Liberty Enlightening the World as it is officially titled is familiarly the Statue of Liberty. The statue was a gift from the French government for the 100th birthday of America’s Independence. The statue was built in France and brought across the Atlantic Ocean in pieces in 1886 to mark the alliance between the two countries during America’s revolution against England. Written on the tablet in her left hand is the date the United States formally declared independence.
The Statue of Liberty is 155-feet-tall and stands on a 150-foot base on Liberty Island (called Bedloe’s Island until 1956) in New York Harbor, and can only be accessed by ferry. If you’re passing through and only have time to visit the Statue, and not take in the sights of New York City, the best way to get there is from Liberty State Park in New Jersey, which is a quick hop off of the New Jersey Turnpike (Interstate 95). There is plenty of parking, but some people stop at the first pay parking lots they come to, not realizing that closer to the statue the parking is free. The statue’s torch was displayed in Madison Square park for six years in an attempt to spark interest and attract funds. But it was only after publisher Joseph Pulitzer published the names of those who donated money for the project that the funds started flowing in. Eventually, the statue was erected 10 years late, in 1886. It used to be possible to take the staircase inside the statue and walk all the way up the 354 steps to the head from where you have a nice view on New York City, but for security reasons it was not allowed anymore for some time after sept 11.
Physical Details:
Winds of 50 miles per hour cause the Statue to sway 3 inches (7.62 cm) and the torch to sway 5 inches (12.7 cm).
There are 25 windows in the crown which comprise the jewels beneath the seven rays of the diadem. The tablet which the Statue holds in her left hand reads, in Roman numerals, “July 4, 1776″ the day of America’s independence from Britain.
Height from base to torch 151′ 1″ (46.50m)
Foundation of pedestal to torch 305′ 1″ (92.99m)
Heel to top of head 111′ 1″ (33.86m)
Length of hand 16′ 5″ ( 5.00m)
index finger 8′ 0″ (2.44m)
Circumference at second joint 3′ 6″ (1.07m)
Size of fingernail 13″x10″ (13x25.4m)
Head from chin to cranium 17′ 3″ (5.26m)
Head thickness from ear to ear 10′ 0″ (3.05m)
Distance across the eye 2′ 6″ (.76m)
Length of nose 4′ 6″ (l.48m)
Right arm length 42′ 0″ (12.80m)
Right arm greatest thickness 12′ 0″ (3.66m)
Thickness of waist 35′ 0″ (10.67m)
Width of mouth 3′ 0″ ( .91m)
Tablet, length 23′ 7″ (7.19m)
Tablet, width 13′ 7″ (4.14m)
Tablet, thickness 2′ 0″ (.61m)
Height of granite pedestal 89′ 0″ (27.13m)
Height of foundation 65′ 0″ (19.81m)
Apollo Theater
The Apollo Theater at 253 West 125th Street may create a performing arts center that encompasses the neighboring Victoria Theater. Meanwhile, it has closed for two months in the first phase of a $50 million renovation.
Another ambitious cultural project that is now taking shape is an Apollo performing arts center that might encompass the Victoria Theater, 233 West 125th Street, whose auditorium is only 15 feet apart from the Apollo on the 126th Street side.
“We’d certainly be in favor of any kind of expansion of the activities of the Apollo into the Victoria Theater,” said Charles A. Gargano, chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation, who said the matter was under negotiation. The state owns both the Victoria and the Apollo, which it has leased to the Apollo Theater Foundation for 99 years. One possibility, Mr. Gargano said, is a 3,000-seat theater on the Victoria site.
Foundation executives said it was premature to talk about reconstruction, demolition, restoration or even acquisition of the Victoria. They focused instead on the renovation of the 1,483-seat Apollo itself, by Davis Brody Bond and Beyer Blinder Belle.
“We’ve thought long and hard about the best way of holding on to the historical richness of the theater while at the same time bringing it current,” said Derek Q. Johnson, president of the foundation. The renovation is to occur in phases; staged so that the performance schedule is not disrupted unduly and also, Mr. Johnson said, “to allow our financial power to meet our real estate aspirations.”
Apollo executives see their project in terms of the overall vitality of 125th Street. “The issue is how you keep it busy after 6 or 7 o’clock at night,” said David D. Rodriguez, executive director of the foundation. “The key answer is to have a vibrant Apollo.”
In the first phase of the renovation, to be completed in October at a cost of about $12 million, the great yellow-and-red blade sign out front will be rehabilitated, the marquee will be updated with light-emitting diodes, the terra cotta facade will be restored, the roof will be repaired, seats will be fixed and carpeting replaced, power capacity will be increased, computer-assisted moving lights will be added and new dimmers, speakers and audio mixing consoles will be installed.
The second phase, costing about $38 million, is to begin next year. It will include the restoration of architectural details and ornament in the auditorium and the construction of a new lobby and gift shop. Seats will be replaced, dressing rooms renovated and restrooms increased. Fiber-optic lines will be extended inconspicuously throughout the theater. All three levels will be made accessible to the disabled.
It is the uncharted phase, involving the 84- year-old Victoria Theater, that concerns Michael Henry Adams, author of the forthcoming “Harlem Lost and Found, An Architectural and Social History: 1765-1915.”
Designed by the celebrated theater architect Thomas W. Lamb, the Victoria facade is ornamented with Ionic columns, anthemion leaves, lions’ heads, rosettes and rhytons — horn-shaped cups with animal heads. The Victoria is not a landmark but has been deemed eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, Mr. Adams said. “It is the most architecturally distinguished theater to survive in central Harlem,” he said. “It shouldn’t be necessary to destroy what is special and unique about Harlem.”
Battery Park
At the bottom of Manhattan, just below the financial district is Battery Park. With a decent yet distant view of the Statue of Liberty this park is visited by thousands. These many are comprised of tourists and local office workers in a New Yorkled state of mind, who might pass by for a quick outdoor lunch or just to get away from it all. Unfortunately there aren’t any trees or shelter on the walk closest to the water. All of the vegetation is within the park itself, away from where the docks are.
Carnegie Hall
Overview
Named after Andrew Carnegie who paid for the building, Carnegie Hall is one of the City’s oldest—and perhaps the world’s most famous—performance spaces. William Burnet Tuthill designed Carnegie Hall in a revivalist brick and brownstone Italian Renaissance style. It’s one of the last large buildings in New York built without a steel frame, and rendered in narrow “Roman” bricks of a mellow ochre hue with details in terracotta and brownstone. Construction began in 1890 and the official opening night was May 5, 1891, with a concert conducted by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Carnegie’s widow sold the building to a real estate developer in 1925 and by 1960, with the New York Philharmonic on the move to the Lincoln Center, there were plans to demolish the edifice and replace it with a commercial building. Under pressure from a group led by violinist Isaac Stern, the city of New York bought the site in 1960 for $5 million and leased it to a nonprofit corporation. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964.
Isaac Stern Auditorium, the 2,804-seat main hall, hosts many of the world’s premier soloists and ensembles, as well as visiting orchestras from around the world. The legendary and beautiful hall has brilliant acoustics and high seating. In fact, visitors to the top balcony must climb 105 steps; it cannot be reached by elevator. Carnegie Hall also contains the intimate 268-seat Weill Recital Hall, usually used to showcase chamber music and vocal and instrumental recitals, as well as the ornate, underground 600-seat Zankel Concert Hall.—Ginger Adams Otis
See It
• Rose Museum: As part of Carnegie Hall’s 100th anniversary celebration, a museum was created on the first tier level of Carnegie Hall. It houses special temporary exhibitions as well as pieces from the permanent collection drawn from the Carnegie Hall Archives.
• Rohatyn Room: This opulent dining hall (a glimpse of just how luxurious life was for the well-heeled elite of New York City before the Great Depression) is only opened occasionally for pre-concert and intermission bar service. It is also available for private events at steep prices.
• In-season only (not during the summer months). Tours are offered Mon-Fri at 11:30am, 2pm, and 3pm and depart from the main lobby. Tickets can be purchased at the box office from 11am–3pm on tour days. Call 212-903-9765 for more information.
Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine
The cathedral of St John the Divine is the world’s largest gothic cathedral. Art treasures include Raphael’s tapestries. Tours include a ‘vertical tour’ to the top of the Nave. In the Close is a Biblical Garden and the fanciful Peace Fountain. Located on Amsterdam Avenue at 112th street, the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City represents Medieval Architecture against the backdrop of one of the most modernized cities in the world. In 1888, the Board of Trustees initiated a contest for the Cathedral’s design. The firm of Heins & Lafarge won the contract with a Romanesque, Byzantine design. Their plan called for a cathedral 520 feet in length crowned at the crossing by a towering conical spire. It would be built in the customary cathedral shape – that of a cross.
The next challenge was finding a site for this extraordinary house of worship. One spring day in 1887, a devoted layman, George Macculoch Miller, glanced west on 111th Street while walking up Fifth Avenue. Within a few days, Mr. Miller had shown the site to Bishop Henry Codman Potter. Both of them perceived the heights rising above Morningside Avenue as a potential acropolis. The thirteen heavily wooded acres were the site of the Leake and Watts Orphan Asylum. The property was purchased for $850,000. On December 27, 1892, St. John’s Day, Bishop Potter laid the corner stone of the Cathedral. Bishop Potter struck the massive stone three times with a large wooden mallet, “Other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid which is Jesus Christ.”
Central Park
Central Park is one of those places that make New York such a great place to live. Joggers, nature lovers and bikers use the park daily. Kids young and old enjoy riding the Friedsam Memorial Carousel (near 65th Street), and the Belvedere Castle (near 79th Street) affords great views of the city. The Central Park Wildlife Center (Zoo) at 5th Avenue and East 64th Street (212-861-6030) is open daily year-round. The huge park, 843 acres large, is located in the center of Manhattan. Its design is an example for city parks around the world. The park boasts several lakes, theaters, ice rinks, fountains, tennis courts, baseball fields, many playgrounds and other facilities. It is also home to the Central Park Zoo and the Metropolitan museum of Art. Especially during the weekends, when cars are not allowed into the park, Central Park is a welcome oasis in this hectic city.
This plan featured an English style landscape with large meadows, several lakes and hills. Winding pedestrian roads were separated from main roads and the huge number of trees ensured the city’s buildings were not visible from within the park. To convert the swampy area into the park the designers had envisioned, several hundred thousand trees were planted, more than 3 million cubic yards of soil was moved, roads and bridges were constructed and a large reservoir was dug out. It took more than 15 years before the 20,000 workers had completed the park. Central Park immediately became a popular place for all New Yorkers, attracting millions of visitors each year.
Chrysler Building
Developed by auto tycoon Walter Chrysler, who had the building decorated with hubcaps and hood ornaments. At the beginning of the 20th century, the race for the tallest building in the world started and the Chrysler Building was the first building to top the then highest building, the Eiffel Tower in Paris. New York would keepthe highest building in the world until 1974, when the Sears Tower was built in Chicago. For Walter P. Chrysler, from the car manufacturer, building the highest building in the world was a status symbol. The Chrysler building was in a race with the Bank of Manhattan for obtaining the title of highest building in the world. It looked like the Bank of Manhattan would win the race, with an expected height of 283 meters against the around 230 meters for the Chrysler building. But the spire of the Chrysler buil
ding was constructed in secret inside the tower.
Just one week after the Bank of Manhattan had reached its top, the spire of the Chrysler building was put in place, making it 319 meters high, thus beating the Bank of Manhattan as the highest building in the world. It would not keep this title for long: one year later the Empire State Building was erected.
The Chrysler building is one of the last skyscrapers in the Art Deco style. The gargoyles depict Chrysler car ornaments and the spire is modeled on a radiator grille. It has been restored in 1995 and it glitters again like it must have in the thirties.
Ellis Island
Ellis Island is a symbol of America’s immigrant heritage. For more than six decades - 1892 to 1954 - the immigrant depot processed the greatest tide of incoming humanity in the nation’s history. Over twelve million people landed here; today their descendents account for 40% of the country’s population. Opened on January 1, 1892, Ellis Island ushered in a new era of immigration with each newcomer’s eligibility to land now determined by federal law. The government established a special bureau to process the record numbers that were arriving at the end of 19th century. More than 70% landed in New York, the country’s largest port.
In his book A Nation of Immigrants, John F. Kennedy writes, “There were probably as many reasons for coming to America as there were people who came. It was a highly individual decision.” Historians agree that three social forces were the chief motivators for the mass migration to America: religious persecution, political oppression, and economic hardship.
Overview:
Ellis Island is a small island in Upper New York Bay, although in New Jersey waters, it is under the political jurisdiction of New York. It was a major immigration station for the United States from 1892 to 1943 and an immigrant detention station until 1954. Since 1965, it has been part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument.
Early History:
The island was named for Samuel Ellis, who owned the island in the 1770s. It was purchased by the federal government from New York State in 1808 and was used as a fort. After the creation of the Immigration Bureau (1891), the immigration station was moved from Castle Garden
(at Battery Park, Manhattan) to Ellis Island.
Processing:
At Ellis, immigrants were examined and either admitted or deported; at the height of its activity, the Ellis Island station could process 1 million people a year.
Ellish Island Attractions
Ellis Island Museum
The Ellis Island Museum has beautifully restored rooms and hallways highlighting the island’s 19th-Century architecture. Visitors can stand in the restored Great Hall and envision thousands of immigrants waiting in line, clutching their children and everything they own, as they file through inspection lines for acceptance or rejection. The three-story museum in the Main Building has 30 rooms full of maps, photographs, exhibits and artifacts about the Ellis Island immigrant experience. The Treasures From Home exhibit features items donated by family members of people who came through Ellis Island.
American Family Immigration History Center
The American Family Immigration History Center helps visitors find information about their relatives. Set to be opened in the spring of 2001, the American Family Immigration History Center is using passenger data taken directly from immigrant ship’s registries. For a fee, visitors will be able to get information about their ancestors such as their arrival date, ship’s name, country of birth and point of departure from the Old World. The Wall of Honor allows visitors to have their family’s name inscribed on a wall for a $100 donation. The Wall of Honor is designed to commemorate the contributions of immigrants to the building of America.
Hours of Operation and Location
Ellis Island is part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument located in New York Harbor and can be reached only by ferry. Both Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty are open every day from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Both historic sites are closed on Christmas Day. The Circle Line Statue of Liberty Ferry sails from Battery Park in Lower Manhattan, New York City. For sailing times and the cost of tickets, call the Circle Line at 212-269-5755.
Flatiron Building
Not well known among those not from the area, or not into historic architecture, the Flatiron Building is a favorite of New Yorkers and admirers around the world. Perhaps because it symbolizes so much of how New Yorkers see themselves – Defiant, bold, sophisticated, and interesting. With just enough embedded grime and soot to highlight its details. The Flatiron’s most interesting feature is its shape – a slender hull plowing up the streets of commerce as the bow off a great ocean liner plows through the waves of its domain.
Fort Tryon Park
Fort Tryon Park is Best known for the beautiful tapestries on display, the Cloisters also offer architectural installations, a series of special programs, and fantastic views of the Hudson. The building incorporates elements from five medieval French cloisters–quadrangles enclosed by a roofed or vaulted passageway, or arcade–and from other monastic sites in southern France.
Fort Tryon Park sits atop a wooded hill that offers panoramic views of the Hudson River on one side and Upper Manhattan and the Bronx on the other. Named after the last British governor of colonial New York, Fort Tryon Park was a collaborative effort by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., philanthropist and heir to the Standard Oil fortune, and Frederick Law Olmstead, Jr., the son of one of the creator’s of Central Park.
Best See Attractions
• The Cloisters: A branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art that specializes in Romanesque and Gothic art and history. To give visitors a true “spatial experience” entire sanctuaries and courtyards imported from churches and monasteries in Western Europe were painstakingly rebuilt and integrated into the modern building, itself a tribute to architecture of the period.
Special Events
• Each October, the Washington Heights and Inwood Development Corporation and the New York City Dept. of Parks and Recreation hold the Medieval Festival at Fort Tryon Park. This half-day fair (noon-6pm) transforms the park into a medieval marketplace and introduces visitors to medieval customs, food, music and pageantry.
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