^«5Vf F .5 4-3. ;ii! k ^iSSf^^"-'- Glass. Book. 3^ - Seeing New York A BRIEF HISTORICAL GUIDE AND SOUVENIR OF AMERICA'S GREATEST CITY PUBLISHED BY American Siirht-Seeing Boat (S: Transportation Co. American Sight-Seeinir Car 6c Coacli Co. American Sight-Seeing Coach Co. OPERATING Seeing^ New York Coaches Seeing New York A u t o ni o biles Seeing New Yo rk Steam Yacht Seeing Chinatown and B o w e r >■ ( li >■ night) A u t o m o b i 1 e s Seeing \\^ a s li i n g t o n Cars Seeing Wa .s h i n g t o n Automobiles Seeing Kansas Cit\' Cars Seeing Philadelphia Automobiles Seeing Denver Automobiles Seeing Den\er Cars Seeing Salt Lake C i t >• Cars Seeing Boston Cars Seeing Boston Automobiles Seeing Jacksonville, Fla., Automobiles HKNRY J. MAVHAM, Pkisidim J. T. RICHARDS, Vkk-Prksident J. ASPINWAl.I, HODGK, Sfcrktarv E. K. SOMBORN, Trias, and C^ks'l Mcjr. General Offices, Flap Iron Blilding, New York Copyrighted. 1906. by AMKRICAN SICHT-SEEING COACH CO. \ Jjuh /^>,/f- T!'f''niff B ■ ■ tf ^ «f B India Company, made the -i^^rT ■■231^8 original purchase of Manhat- tan Island from the Indians. He paid only $24 for the property, but that need not be remembered to his discredit. It was a fair bargam, as prices of real estate ruled in 1626: to-day's valuation is $6,000,- 000,000. The present area of The Battery is 2 1 acres, — Bowling Green much larger than is was origin- ally. About three-quarters of the present park is made ground. The site of the first fortification. Fort Amsterdam, built in 1 626, was on the spot where now stands the Custom House. That the land originally lay very near tide-water was proven recently when excavations for the Subway un- earthed a "monument stone," fixing the latitude and longitude of New Amsterdam. This stone has been set up anew opposite the south-west corner of the Custom House. Fort Amsterdam fronted directly upon the waters of the Bay. At that particular point, all the land between the stone and the sea wall is artificial. This change is of comparatively recent date. The Aquarium, still best known as "Castle Garden," was built in 1811, — its present site standing originally in the water, 300 feet from the shore, with which a draw-bridge connected it. Many men are living in this city who recall a time when that bridge was lined with fishermen, angling for the finny dwellers in the harbor waters. A very large part of the material used 5 to fill in the shallows came from the earthworks of the old fort. Therefore, nearly every shovelful of the ground between the fort and Castle Garden came from the ramparts of the first protection the old Dutch town enjoyed. It was not the Indians the Dutch feared but the English ! The Britons were "pushing," then, as they have been since that time. A whole book could be written about The Battery, because of the long succession of events in National as well as local history that have occurred there or have been celebrated under its trees. Here the Dutch settlers laid the foundations of a metropolis for the New World; and, although they agreed upon a name, "New Amsterdam," they didn't settle upon the exact site until many pipes of schnapps and countless disputes had been heard. Many of the worthy men preferred to accept the site of "Spuyten Duyvil," sheltered by a range of hills and backed by level meadows TKe Canals of , i i ■ i i 1111 i^i i r^ ^ L Ki V 1 through which canals could be dug. 1 hey sought to Dutch New York ° ., . hide behind what we now call "the Heights of Fort Washington" (so admirably comprehended during the tour upon the "See- ing New York" Yacht). Of course, they didn't need the canals, but they were so accustomed to them in their native land that artificial waterways had become a part of their existence. The Battery site was finally chosen and to carry out the illusion that the burghers were still in Holland, a canal was digged in what is now Wall street. It made the colonists feel at home. Although the first dwelling house was built upon the crest of the rise, at a point now No. 41 Broadway, the citizens of Nev/ Amsterdam gathered at The Battery, under the whisper- ing leaves, with orioles and blue-birds for com- In the Beginning j .l r . j ^ ,1, ■ c ^ ^ i „ _, _ panions and the rippling tides at their reet, to smoke of The Battery t-r- » and dream ! But they never dreamed of a mighty metropolis that has grown upon the place of their selection! Later, during Colonial days, the citizens of young New York took the air on the Battery Common and exchanged gossip, every pleasant afternoon. Then came journalism. Peter Zenger's "New York Weekly Journal" was first issued November 5, I 733, and his denunciations of British rule be- came so stinging that he was arrested for libel and thrown into jail, where he was refused the use of pen, ink or paper. His dungeon was in the base- ment of the City Hall, which then stood on the site of the Sub-Treasury, at the head of Broad Street. Zenger edited his paper through a chink in the door, dictating his articles to one of his assistants on the outside. He wasn't able to furnish the 400 pounds bail. The Grand Jury refused to indict Zenger; but the Attorney-General filed "an information" that kept him in jail. None of the prominent lawyers in this city at the time dared to under- take his defence and Zenger's friends brought from Philadelphia the venerable lawyer, Andrew Hamilton, then aged eighty years. 6 Court assembled on August 4, I 735, in the City Hall. DeLancey was Chief Justice, Philipse was second Judge, and Bradley was Attorney- General. John Chambers, appointed by the Court as attorney for the prisoner, pleaded not guilty and obtained a struck jury. The first vindi- cation of the freedom of the press followed. Hamilton boldly admitted the publication of the articles, but claimed that "printing" and "libehng" were not synonymous terms. He read many pass- ages from the Bible, which, with an interpolation of contemporaneous names, would have been admittedly libelous. His argument was sophistical; but it captured the jury and a unanimous verdict in favor of Zenger was rendered. A public dinner was given to Hamilton by the whole city. In Beaver's Lane, now called a street. Admiral Peter Warren had the final roll-call before sailing to capture Louisburg ( 1 745). When the Revolution came. The Battery was the point at which the "liberty pole," flying its quaint flag, was set up. A stone marks the event, but not the exact locality on which the famous flag-staff stood. Another historical incident associated with the spot was the nailing of the British colors to the top of the same staff and the greasing of the pole, when the English evacuated the city on November 25, I 783. It was an act comparable only with that of the Spaniards at Santiago in sinking their ships after surrender. America was free and the last act of the war occurred right here. The evacuation of New ^ ork practically ended the Revolution, although Niagara The First Liberty Pole I 3! •! t 1 Fraunce's Tavern The Sub-Treasury was garrisoned by the British for several years thereafter. The flag of St. George was torn down from its greased pole by David Van Arsdale, aged 28, born at Cornwall, Orange County, (Jan. 5, 1756). The nails with which young Van Arsdale fastened cleats to the pole and ascended to the top of the staff were obtained from Goelet's hardware shop in Hanover Square. This Goelet was the founder of a very wealthy family. A daugh- ter of the present generation has reconquered a part of Great Britain by be- coming the Duchess of Roxburgh. Always remember that the British Colonial and Revolutionary memories are more interesting than those of the Dutch period. From the Kennedy House, which stood on the site of the present Wash- ington Building, No. I Broadway, Sir Henry Clinton made his plans to profit by the treachery of Benedict Arnold, who had agreed for ten thousand pounds sterling ($50,000) and the post of brigadier-general in the British army, to deliver West Point, the key of the American possessions, to the enemy. From this building. Sir Henry sent his instructions to the unfortunate young Andre, including the commission for the traitor, Arnold, that proved to be the Englishman's death warrant. Andre met the ignoble doom of a spy; but, in contrast to the treatment accorded to Nathan Hale, his last hours were soothed by every attention that humanity could inspire. Arnold, hav- ing received the price of his treachery, took residence in New York, branded with universal scorn. He lived in desolate loneliness in the Verplanck house, in Wall street and then at No. 9 Broadway. An earnest effort was made by the Americans to capture Arnold. A soldier named Champe, staking his reputation and his life on the hazard, feigned to desert to the British army. He swam the Hudson, where he was warmly welcomed by ^j t- •' ^ Narrow Escape Arnold. The supposed deserter gained free access to Arnold's house on Broadway. An alley at one side of the garden, in the rear of the Arnold house, was to afford the Americans access to the grounds. Champe loosened several pailings of the fence and a boat's crew was to row across the river, seize Arnold, gag him and take him away. A mere accident prevented the success of the conspiracy. On the day preceding that fixed for the capture, Champe was ordered to embark for the Chesapeake and Arnold removed to a house near the point of sailing. The crew came, penetrated to the grounds but returned to the camp unsuccessful. Champe deserted from the British army at the earliest opportunity and cleared the stam that had rested upon his name. General Arnold remained in the British service until the end of the war, then went to England and died, in 1801, shunned by everybody. A visit to the Aquarium, which, as "Castle Garden, " sheltered the in- auguration of Grand Opera in this country, should be made before leaving New York, more for its historical associations than for the display of fish to be found there. When the round stone building ^ 1 I f 1 • c tlistoric ceased to be a rort it was converted mto a oummer Ca^stle Garden garden, and used for civic ceremonials. There the Marquis de Lafayette was entertained with a grand ball on the occasion of his last visit to the United States, in I 824. Public receptions were also given to President Andrew Jackson, in 1832; and President John Tyler, in 1843. Then followed the memorable arrival of the immortal Jenny Lind, under the management of P. T. Barnum, on which occasion fabulous prices were paid for seats. The New York Herald of Sept. 1 2, 1 850, con- tains an account of Jenny Lind's first concert. She gave her share of the receipts on that occasion, declared to be $ 1 0,000, to twelve charities in this city! She founded the Fire Department Relief Fund, by a gift of $3,000. She sang "Casta Diva;" the scena and cavatina from "Norma; " Meyer- beer's concertante for voice and two flutes, "Camp of Silesia," composed ex- pressly for her; a Swedish "Herdsman's Song," with echo; and a prize poem by Bayard Taylor. She responded to every recall, and was in girlish spirits. Tickets were, nominally, $3; but the auction sales reached a total of $25,000. 9 The building was converted into an Immigrant receiving station in 1855 and so contmued until the last day of I 890, when it was transferred from State control to the City of New York. While used for the Immigration service it appeared ample in size, but space for an aquarium is very in- adequate. Proceeding to South Ferry and thence to the beginning of Broad street, we plunge into a region filled with Revolutionary memories. This wide street was used as a drill ground for Continental recruits. At Fraunce's Tavern, still preserved, Washington took each of his generals by the hand after he had delivered his historic Farewell Address. As a State Paper, that speech, uttered with tearful pathos, is second only to the Constitution of the Republic: every suggestion of policy therein made is part of the un- written law of our land. Washington's farewell toast, uttered with tearful eyes, is very memorable: — "With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you, and most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable." Raising his glass to his lips, the Father of His Country added: — "I shall be obliged if each one of you will come and take me by the hand." The officers obeyed in silence, — none could speak owing to the emotion he felt. General Knox, commander of the City of New York, was first; the others, in turn. Not a word was spoken. , ,,, , Washington passed from the room, walked to the of Washington r ^v/, • , „ , i root or Wriitehall, where a boat was waiting to con- vey him to Paulus' Hook, whence he went to Annapolis and surrendered his commission to Congress. Thence, he proceeded to Mount Vernon and be- came a private citizen. The tavern of Samuel Fraunce stands, exactly as it did in Washington's time, at the corner of Broad and Pearl streets. Before the Father of His Country took farewell of his officers (Dec. 4, 1783), he had been living at the De Peyster house on Pearl street, opposite Cedar. One can cross the sacred portals of Fraunce's Tavern and stand upon the exact spot at which the chief hero of the American Revolution against British oppression siood. Looking up Broad street, toward the Sub-Treasury, during the hours of trading, the shouts of the curb-stone brokers recall the cheers of the "Liberty Boys," who had this thoroughfare for parade ground. At the corner of Beaver, a tablet commemorates the seizure of many muskets from British guardians. Almost across the street, the types of a royalist printer were "pied. " Several signers of the Declaration lived in the neighborhood. Alexander Hamilton had his law office on the opposite side of Broad street. The triangle between Broad, Wall and the East river is the general locality 10 The New Stock Exchanse The Chamber of Commerce of the "Great Fire of 1835," although it spread to the northward in isolated places; it caused a loss of $20,000,000 and was the greatest American con- flagration until Chicago's (1871). A tablet at 88 Pearl street, on the South side of Hanover Square, indicates where the con- flagration started that de- 1 "\!ir'*v^ A'^'^'a^^ stroyed 650 houses. Han- over Square, at 81 Pearl street, was the home of the first American newspaper, printed by Wm. Bradford. John Jacob Astor, first, subsequently lived at No. 81 Queen (now Pearl) street (1786), and sold musical instruments. It is a curious fact that the founder of another wealthy American family, the Drexels, began his career as a dealer in such goods. The first City Directory was printed (1786) at 111 Queen street, near the "Tea Water pump." This is the proper place to say that the great Astor fortune wasn't gained by accident. New York was a century old when the first Astor came here from his father's home in Baden, with a settled conviction in his mind that the town of his adoption had a great future and that he would link his destiny with it. Young Astor had fifteen guineas ($75) and a suit of Sunday clothes when he set out. He voyaged in the steerage, because he needed all his capital. On the sea, he made the acquaintance of a fellow-countryman who had been here and had made enough money in the fur trade to revisit his native land. Astor wrote down in a memorandum book (which exists in the family archives) every suggestion regarding the fur business that he gathered from his un- known traveler. The ship was caught by the ice in Chesapeake Bay and its loss seemed inevitable. Every other traveler put on his oldest clothes, but Astor ap- peared in his best suit. When asked a reason, for this act, he answered: — "If I'm saved, I'll have my good clothes; if I'm drowned, it will not make any difference how I'm dressed." 12 When the young man reached New York, he began as a journeyman baker, — being too proud to accept a clerkship under his brother Henry, who was the head of the existing "Beef Trust." He was an excellent baker and "Astor rolls" are known to this day. After trying several trades, he became a clerk to Robert Brown, a fur dealer, at $2 per week and board. He was sent up the Hudson to buy skins from the hunters and trappers. He learned the languages of the Mohawks, Senecas and Oneidas. At last, he started in trade on his own account, with $500 borrowed from Henry Astor and a dowry of $300 from his bride, Sarah Todd. He organ- ized his business and, within ten years, had a regiment of Indians and white men killing wild game for him. Then he began his explorations, personally and by proxy. He became the pioneer American in the China trade. One of his ships visited the Sandwich Islands and carried a cargo of sandal-wood to China that netted nearly a hundred thousand dollars profit! Meanwhile, his interests had been pushed to the mouth of the Columbia River, to Puget Sound and to Hudson's Bay, in the far North. He began to buy real estate, not farms but buildirtg sites. Then it was that he laid down the principle, adhered to with very slight deviation, that "Astor bought property, but did not sell!" And so the financial giant grew until he became the man of his century ! He left to the people a marvelous heritage in the Astor Library and the first good hotel, opposite City Hall Park, and, to his heirs, $20,000,000, which has grown to-day to fully half a billion dollars! In the Hanover Square region, lived Jacob Leisler, the first martyr to Constitutional liberty. He was a wealthy shipping merchant and, because of his popularity and high character, was called by his fellow citizens to act as Governor during the "^®* Con- . J , , . , .„..,,. tinental Congress mterregnum occasioned by the accession of William and Mary. His rule, which did not have royal sanction, lasted from I 689 to 1691. Upon his summons, in May, 1690, the first Continental Congress assembled in the old Stadt Huys, in Coenties Slip. The colonies of New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Plymouth, and Maryland were repre- sented. New Jersey and Philadelphia, fearful of disloyalty, — the successors of Penn were opposed to war, — sent only their "sympathies." The Con- gress voted to raise an army of 850 men "to drive the French from Canada." When Colonel Sloughter, the new Governor, arrived from England, Leisler was deposed, tried for treason and hanged on Park Row, in front of the General Post Office. 13 Wall Street Curb Broker Nassau Street WHFRK MILLIONS ARK MADE |ODERN Broad street saw the first of the large office build- ings when D. O. Mills put up the ornate structure of red brick that bears his name. When completed, it was thought to be so vast in its proportions that it was pointed out as a wonderful creation of architectural art; now, it has been excelled by a score of structures on Broadway and Park Row. A handsome structure of more than 20 floors stands across Exchange Place. The new Stock Exchange is a replica of the best period of Greek archi- tecture, AV'ith a facade of Cormthian columns, each 52 feet high, and it cost more than three million dollars. The mterior is a room of vast height ; its gallery for visitors is small and admission is had only by card from a member. (The Board of Governors extends this courtesy to our patrons.) American finance is comprehended in the words "Wall Street," a name that includes Broad, Nassau, Pine, and Cedar streets. Exchange Place and six blocks of Broadway. Wall street, with Gothic Trinity Church at its top, is more given up to lawyers than brokers. In this maelstrom of money, called "The Stock Exchange," the trading hours last from ten till three. Here is the centre of the financial world. The exchange of a million and a half shares of stocks during that brief time is not unusual: its business is three times as large as Chapel Court, in London, and five times greater than on the Pans Bourse. A half hour may be very profitably spent watching the "bulls and bears," if the trading be brisk. Seats that cost $5,000 each in I 875, now sell for $97,000. As one stands in the gallery, watching the surging, noisy crowd of brokers upon the floor below, and remembers that a seat in this Exchange recently sold for $97,000, one ceases to wonder that so few of the traders can afford to sit down. The "Open Board" or "Curb," in the middle of Broad street, (where "unlisted securities" are dealt in), is composed of a highly interesting group of frantic traders. Some of the highest priced and ..111 . J J • " iL r^ L " A Stock Market most staple stocks are traded in on the Lurb, as , _ .».,,,,■ *" t^'e Street well as many shares of the "wild-cat variety. For instance, if you want to buy Standard Oil stock, the purchase must be made "on the Curb." In fi\e hundred brokers' offices of this locality, capitalists, principals, agents and customers stand watching tickers or blackboards for quotations, and thousands of clerks are busy checking "margins" or "commissions," and sales or purchases. They form the mechanism behind the activities the visitor beholds upon ihe floor of the Exchange! IS This region may also be described as the banking district, although several strong financial institutions are located further uptown. The private bank- ing offices of J. P. Morgan & Co., in a marble building facing the Sub- Treasury, are the most famous in the Street. The City Bank, which, with the Bank of Commerce on Nassau street, handles most of the millions of the Standard Oil Company, is an insignificant looking structure on the north side of Wall street. By a curious coincidence, it occupies the site of Capt. Kidd's house. At the corner of William street is the Bank The District of of New York, which was organized by Alexander Sky-Scrapers Hamilton and, as the first bank after the Revo- lution, began business at the old Walton House, on Franklin Square. The banks in the locality are so numerous that they cannot be enumerated. The slave market was at the foot of Wall street in 1 709. Before returning to Broadway, the fine Greek temple facing Broad street and standing upon the site of the second Stadt Huys or City Hall, should be examined. Upon the spot indicated by J. Q. A. Ward's heroic statue of Washington, the First President took the oath of office. The structure then standing was known as Federal Hall. The vaults of the Sub-Treasury, wherein are many millions in coin and gold ingots, are shown to visitors at regular hours, daily. The Assay Office, adjacent, is where gold and silver ingots are tested and stamped. Those of the latter metal are cast in large sizes, for safety in handling, and are carted through the streets upon open drays, like pig iron. While in this locality, a visit should be paid to the beautiful Chamber of Commerce building on Liberty street, near Nassau. This dainty and highly ornate structure, amidst surrounding skyscrapers, is a treasure-house of historic paintings. The Chamber of Commerce was founded in I 768 and held its first meeting in Fraunce's Tavern. It is a mint-mark of commercial stability to have one's name upon its roll of mem- bership. The Clearing House, nearby, is also worthy of external inspection. Back on Broadway, the tall granite structure of the Standard Oil Com- pany, at No. 26, forms one of a broken series of great office buildings that stretches northward for two miles. Aldrich Court was the site of the first houses, dwelling houses, in New York. At No. 62 were the original offices of "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt. Trinity Church has been the pride of the metropolis for more than three- quarters of a century. It will remain the Prostestant Old Trinity a.nd Episcopal Cathedral Church of New York until its Millions tj^g completion of St. John the Divine, on Morn- ingside Heights, fifty years hence. Trinity Parish contains nine chapels and churches. It was founded in 1 696 and possesses property of fabulous value. Most of its millions come from Anneke Jans (see a tablet at 23 Whitehall street), a widow who i6 Tomb of Alexander Hamilton Trmity Church owned a farm of 63 acres, extending from Warren street to Canal, west ot Broadway. Colonel Lovelace, Second English Governor, acquired this farm, in 1670, "for a consideration," generally believed to have been "af- fection," and it was added to "the Queen's Farm," which, thirty-five years later, Queen Anne ceded to Trinity Church. A generation subsequent, some of Anneke's descendants began law suits to recover all or part of the estate. This litigation has continued for 200 years, but the church wardens always win. The present Gothic structure of brown sandstone is the third that has stood upon the spot. The superb bronze doors at the main front entrance are replicas from the basiHca in Florence and are the gift of William Waldorf Astor, in memory of his father, John Jacob Astor. The reredos and altar are a memorial to William B. Astor, erected by his sons. The churchyard contains many graves of famous men; but the single slab, lying 17 Brooklyn Bridge flat upon the earth, that marks the resting place of Charlotte Temple excites more sympathetic mterest than do the elaborate monuments to Alexander Hamilton or Captain Lawrence, of the Chesapeake, who shouted with his last breath, "Don't give up the ship!" Charlotte Temple's home, according to the best authorities, was in a little court off Doyers street, at the beginning of the Bowery. In Trinity yard also are the graves of William Bradford, printer; Robert Fulton, inventor; Bishop Hobart, a pioneer of the Cross; and Gen. Phil. Kearney, a hero of the Civil War. The Martyrs' Monument, facing Pine street, commemorates the American patriots who died in British prisons and prison ships during the Revolution. The vestrymen of Trinity Parish are generally distinguished citizens of New York. The red-brick bank building upon the opposite corner of Wall street is known to the financial world as "Fort Sherman," because of the close as- sociation that existed between its directors and John Sherman, Secretary of the Treasury under President Hayes. Temple street, which Trinity Parish has tried to close, lies directly behind that part of the west side of Broadway, and it originally was a lane that led into the churchyard. It was the scene of the ludicrous "Doctors' Riot." Between the evacuation by the British troops in 1 783 and the organiza- tion of the Federal Government in I 789, the most sensational local inci- dent was a riot known as "the Doctors'." Body-snatching, for the use of the dissecting-room of King's College had been frequent. As long as these desecrations were confined to the burying ground of the negroes, the white citizens did not manifest resentment; but when one of the private cemeteries was finally invaded by the ghouls, the people i8 manifested a most violent antipathy to the medical profession. The New York Hospital was regarded with superstitious horror. An attack was made upon it; its doors were broken down and a costly collection of articulated skeletons, imported from abroad, was destroyed. Several cad- avers were found upon the dissecting-tables and borne out for interment. Many terrified physicians hid themselves, but were dragged out by the populace and were only saved from lynching by obliging magistrates who committed them to the jails. A street fight occurred the following day, in which five people were killed and many wounded. The final incident was the attack upon the house of Sir John Temple. "While the excitement was at its height," says Mrs. Booth, in her "History of New York," a group of the rioters" (doubtless recruited from the waterside and very unlettered men), "chanced to pass the house of Sir John Temple, the resident British consul; and, mistaking the words 'Sir John' upon his door-plate for 'Surgeon,' the rioters almost wrecked the house before they could be stopped." The street was named for the offended consul, as a balm to his lacerated feelings, and the city authorities made proper apology and recompense. "*&."?, General Post Office St. Paul's Chapel 19 Hark K. Turning North on Broad- way, we shall follow the his- toric thoroughfare to Wash- ington Place, where, turning to the westward, we shall proceed, by way of Fifth avenue, to Central Park. Broadway is the most in- teresting street in America. With the single exception of Broad street, Philadelphia it IS the longest. Measured from the Bowling Green to the city line, its length is 1 3 miles. The first Beef Trust in this country was created by a butcher named Henry Astor, who had a shop in the Fly Market, Maiden Lane, and used to ride out the Boston post road to meet the drovers coming into town with cattle, which he bought at the best spot cash prices and resold at higher figures to the retail tradesmen. There was a revolt against this Beef Trust during the Revolution and its chief narrowly escaped summary vengeance from butchers and their patrons. At a stream that ran down the middle of what is now Maiden Lane, — the centre of the wholesale jewelry trade of the United States, — the Dutch girls did the family washing. Nassau street of to-day was then "Pie Woman's Lane " (about I 700). Cortlandt street runs through land purchased in 1671 by Brewer Oloff Stevenson Cortlandt, who had come here from Holland as secretary to Governor Kieft and become commissioner of cargoes for the West India Company; he soon started in business on his own account and laid the foundations of an immense fortune which his descendents have enjoyed. Cortlandt means "little land." Looking to the right, down John street, we see the locality known as Golden Hill, where, on Jan. 18, 1770, a fight occurred between British soldiers and "Liberty Boys" because the former had destroyed a liberty pole. The first blood of the Revolution was shed there, some time before the Boston Massacre. The old John Street Methodist Church, wherein White- field thundered his anathemas against the unconverted, stands beyond the first street east of Broadway. 20 HOW NEW YORK SPENDS ITS LEISURE jARK ROW marks the divergence of the old Boston turn- pike. It is the busiest corner in New York, — only rivalled by the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge at the rush hours of the morning and afternoon. At Ann street now^ stands the St. Paul building, where, until recently, was the office of the New York Herald. That and the Park Bank sites were occupied by Barnum's Museum, destroyed by fire in 1 866. This "museum" contained a marvellous ... r I 1 I I " 11 " 1 1 Pioneer Museum CO ection of rubber whales, woolly horses and . * ^ • ^ ■^ ot AmericaL Wild Men of Borneo. Mr. Barnum possessed the war club with which Captain Cook had been killed by South Sea islanders, — or one as terrifying. There it was that "General" Tom Thumb, the first of the famous midgets, held court for nearly a generation. There it was the "Liliputian Wedding" of Tom Thumb and Miss Lavina Warren, afterwards solemnized at Grace Church, was arranged by Mr. P. T. Bar- num. The exterior of the building was decorated with oval pictures of impossible birds and beasts, forming a scenic effect that nobody, once be- holding it, ever forgot. The interior was described as "a temple of wonder;" but the most curious exhibit was Barnum himself. He was in evidence every day, and took great pride in walking upon the stage to introduce his dwarfs, giants or living skeletons. St. Paul's Chapel is as famous as Trinity, although it is only a chapel in the parish. St. George's was the first offshoot of the Parish church, and stood at the corner of Beekman and Cliff streets; o r-. M 1111 11 "^he Oldest Church Ot. Paul s was the third, its corner stone was laid j^ New York in I 764 and it fronted upon the Hudson, the rear being on Broadway. As a matter of fact, it is the oldest religious structure in New York. The tablet upon the rear wall to General Richard Mont- gomery attracts the notice of the busiest pedestrians on Broadway. There is a suicide's grave under the street pavement, outside the church gate. The son of a rector of St. Paul's took his life and, as the wardens would not per- mit his burial in the yard, his bones rest under the feet of the passing multi- tude, unknown and unnamed. Inside the churchyard, south of the chapel, is the monument to Thomas Addis Emmet, the Irish patriot, remarkable for the fact that the exact latitude and longitude of the stone (40, 42', 40" N.; 74, 03', 21", W. L. G.) is inscribed thereon. The churchyard sur- rounding St. Paul's is open every day and is an excellent place for visitors to the city to rest. It is in the heart of throbbing activities. In this chapel Lord Howe worshipped during the British occupation. Washington came 21 City Hall after him and his pew is pointed out. Upon the sounding-board over the pulpit is the coat of arms of the Prince of Wales. The pulpit is the same as that from which the priest then addressed his congregation. In the Astor House, not long ago, a costume ball was given at which de- scendents of many old families of New York appeared in the costumes of their own grandparents of the early part of the nineteenth century. The General Post Office, at the junction of Park Row and Broadway, is one of several structures of similar composite architecture constructed in various cities during the second term of President Grant, from drawings made by an architect named Mullett. This one is the least offensive of them, because its splendid site hides many of its technical and architectural defects. Its architecture is a combination of the Doric and the French Renaissance, than which nothing could be more incongruous. Its domes arc- imitations of those that surmount the Louvre in Paris. The five storied structure is of light gray Maine granite, is fire proof and cost $6,500,000 — the city contributing the ground from the City Hall Park. More than one million and a half let- ters and parcels, — not including newspapers, — are handled every week day by its 4,000 employees. Looking toward North River down Barclay street, St. Peter's Church is noticed. It is the home of the oldest Roman Catholic congregation in the city. The first church was erected in 1 786 and rebuilt as it is now in 1 839. Broadway, between the General Post Office and Chambers street, has Arv Architect- ural Blunder The City Ha.ll a^nd its Setting changed little during the past thirty years. The Underwood I ypewriter Company's show-room at No. 24 I supplies machmes for the United States Navy. Therefore, we may truthfully say that, bemg upon our ships in all parts of the world, the sun never sets where the Underwood is at work. Many historic memories cluster about City Hall Park. The head- quarters of the municipal government is in the handsome edifice known as the City Hall. When it was finished, in 1812, at a cost of half a million dollars, it was in the northern suburbs. It is a perfect specimen of the Italian style, the front and two ends being of white marble. It is 2 I 6 feet in length 1 05 feet in depth, and contains the Mayor's Offices and the Aldermanic Chamber. The most interesting room in the building is at the head of the winding staircase and is known as the "Governor's Room." Notice the portrait of Henry Hudson. This line apartment is the scene of official re- ceptions. There is the desk upon which Washington wrote his first Message to Congress and the chair in which he was inaugurated President. Directly east of the City Hall stood, until recently, the old British prison, in which several hundred Continental patriots died during the Revolution. It was used as a Hall of Records, until the deeds were transferred to the new building on Chambers street, when it was removed to make way for a station of the Subway. In front of the entrance to City Hall upon the pave- ment is a large bronze tab- let marking the place at which ground was broken for the splendid system of underground rapid-transit. The first spadeful was lifted by Mayor Robert A. Van Wyck. On the Broadway side of the Park, is the fine bronze statue of Nathan Hale, by Macmonnies, set up by the Society of the Sons of the Revolution. This figure is that of a youth, and his pinioned arms indicate that the mo- ment chosen was that i.i which the hero-martyr ex- NathaTi II..I- s M..1U claimed: — "I regret that I have only one life to give for my country!" Hale w^as executed at a point near what is now First avenue and Forty- fifth street. He was the only editor ever hanged in New York. Where Temple Court now stands, on Beekman street, was a theatre in which "Hamlet" was first produced in America (1 761 ). Printing House Square, with its newspaper offices, and its statues of Benjamin Franklin and Horace Greeley, is on the eastern side of the Park, in front of the Tribune and Sun offices. The tall dome of the World building was for several years the loftiest structure in the city. The entrance to the original Brooklyn Bridge is at the side of the World structure. Upon the site of the granite building of the Staats-Zeitung, soon to make way for an extension of the Bridge terminal, stood Storm's Hotel, with which the name of John Jacob Astor was curiously associated. A faithful clerk in his employ was retired at the age of 60 and the fur merchant asked him whether he would choose free board at Storm's for the rest of his life or $1 ,000 in cash. The clerk chose the former offer and lived there, in one of the best rooms, for twenty years, much to Astor's chagrin at his own liberality. The tall Scott & Bowne building near by Is , , „ the headquarters of Scott's "Emulsion," exten- Life Preserver . ,., . sively used to sustain life in cases of consump- tion. Its fame is world-wide. Cherry Hill, now the "toughest" locality in the city and easiest reached from City Hall through Frankfort street, was for more than half a century the centre of wealth and fashion. Its name was derived from the fine house and grounds of a wealthy English maltster, Richard Sacket, which he had christened Cherry Gardens. As such it was afterwards known as a place of entertainment. The first Presidential mansion was in Franklin Square. A bronze tablet upon one of the Brooklyn Bridge arches marks the site. The Walton house stood across Pearl street from the Harper & Brothers establishment until 1881, when it was demolished. A lavish dinner that William Walton gave to a party of British officials had much to do with bringing on the war for American Independence. Representations were made to the home Government that the American colonists were rolling in wealth and ought to bear heavier burdens. Then followed the increased taxes that led to the revolt. The first New York bank was organized at a social gathering of Mr. Walton's wealthy friends. The first house in New York to be lighted by gas stood at No. 7 Cherry street. At No. 27, the first American flag of stars and stripes was made (1818). Captain Samuel C. Reid, hero of Fayal, suggested the thirteen bars and a star for each state. Turning off Broadway at Ann street, into Park Row, we must remem- ber that Chatham street is no longer in existence, — the name was changed 24 Reading from top— The Ghetto, Chinatown, The Bowery in 1 886. The title is found at the Square upon the hill-side, at the end of the crowded thoroughfare. But the Earl of Chatham will never be forgotten by New Yorkers. The Square and Pitt street show recognition of the friend of the American colonists. Chatham died on April 7, I 778, uttering a last protest against the repression which the King had undertaken to inflict upon the colonists. The scene is historical in which he was borne into the House of Lords, in order to say: — "You cannot conquer the Americans! Your powerful forces may ravage; they cannot conquer! As well might I talk of driving them before me with this crutch. ^ ou have sent too many men to make peace; too few to make war. We are the aggressors. We have waged war for unconditional submission ; let us try what can be accomplished by unconditional redress." The earliest Kissing Bridge spanned a small creek where Bayard street now begins. This little thoroughfare recalls Nich- _, , „ , olas Bayard, Peter Stuyvesant's nephew, whose Career of Bayard r r- i i 'i i ■ knowledge or English made him persona grata with the British when his uncle surrendered New Amsterdam to Colonel Nicholas for the King of England in 1 664. Never did a man suffer more vicissitude fortune. When the Dutch recovered the city, he became Secretary of the Province, but was thrown into jail when the English came back in the fol- lowing year; subsequently, he was forgiven and made Mayor of the city, but became a fugitive when King James abdicated, was caught by Leisler and imprisoned ; again he rose, after Leisler's downfall, but was soon charged with treason and convicted. Before sentence could be approved by the home Government, Bayard died of illness and chagrin. All these changes came to him in forty-seven years. A mound raised over his grave was used after the Revolution to fill the Collect Pond, located where the City Prison now stands. Therefore, it is probable that his bones rest under a prison, instead of inside one. Opposite No. 166 Park Row (formerly called Chatham street) was a historic well known as "Tea-Water Pump," because the old women who indulged in that decoction thought the water had special "drawing" prop- erties. Between James and Roosevelt streets, on the East side, stood the Chatham Theatre, at which "Uncle Tom's Cabin" had its initial perform- ance, in I 852. The slang phrase: — "Wake me when Kirby dies!" comes from this locality. About 1839, a young dramatic prodigy .r^. . «, ^ ,?" 'r^ appeared at the Chatham Theatre. He wasn't an Old New York i i i i »> i actor, according to present standards, but he drew crowds," because J. Hudson Kirby reserved his strength for the climax of the tragedies in which he invariably appeared, depicting death and blood- shed. He would walk through the parts of Richard III. or Virginius, for 26 example until the then he'd roar and parry, ad- treat in ways York heart par- hght. As a very quence, half the "killing" began: and rant, slash vance and re- that gave New oxysms of de- natural conse- audience would Mulberry Bend Park City Prison deliberately go to sleep during the first acts of his performance asking to be awakened for the death scene— always worth the price of ad- mission. Chatham Square has been destroyed by the elevated railroad structure. What IS a hillside now was in early days a pasture with fine trees. Near the point where Doyers street enters the Square stood the house in which Char- lotte Temple died. Recent investigation shows that the career of this young lady was quite different from that so romantically set forth in Mrs. Susanna Rowson's novel. A visit to Chinatown should not be omitted by the stranger to New York. It lies to the eastward of Chatham Square and is seen to admirable advan- tage upon the automobiles of the "Seeing New York Company" which make tours thereto every night and, by a special arrangement, secure ad- mission for their patrons to the Joss Temple, and furnish a Chinese "chop- suey" supper at the best Mongolian restaurant. Chinatown proper comprises a triangular part of the city bounded by Mott and Doyers streets and Paradise Square. It is teeming with life. Natives of the Middle Kingdom in their home garb throng the streets; shops confined exclusively to the sale of Chinese goods are seen upon all sides. 27 Curious Customs of CKina.towr\ A visit to the Joss House, on the north side of Mott street, where the disciples of Confucius go at regular periods for seasons of prayer and in- cense burning to their gods, is exceedingly interesting. Great sheets of fiery, red placards are at the door. This is Chinatown's bulletin board, — - or, speaking more exactly, newspaper! Here the Mongolians learn what is going on. During the recent war between Japan and Russia, this spot was thronged every hour of the day. The Chinese recognized the importance of that contest to their mighty Empire. After ascendmg two flights of steps, the home of the sacred joss is entered. The chief idol is under a canopy. Silent priests, in silken robes, are tending the lamps and keeping the incense tubes aglow. One lamp is never allowed to go out. If the stranger be in New York during the week's "Feast of Lanterns," Chinatown should always be visited. This is one of the most romantic of all Chinese myths. Two stories exist regarding its origin. One is that a beautiful girl, daughter of a great mandarin, got lost, and her father offered all his fabulous wealth to those who should find her. The whole Chinese world turned out with lanterns to make the search. The poor child never was found, so the hopeful Chinese have perpetuated the custom for 3,500 years, in hope of coming upon the beautiful creature, in some re-incarnation, and getting the millions of "cash" that will now have multiplied by com- "^V? Aslor Place Aslor Library 28 pound interest into a sum sufficient to buy this earth and every planet in the solar system. The other myth declared is that a great king shut himself up in his palace for three weeks, illummatmg every window and by successfully excluding all earthly strife made a heaven within the castle walls. But he forgot his subjects and they grew enraged, tore down his palace and amputated his head. Therefore, is the Feast of Lanterns a rebuke and a warning to self- ishness and too much happiness. The Chinese observe it with never-flag- ging religious fervor. Havmg visited the Chinese shops and restaurants, a few hundred feet takes us into the Ghetto, — the home of the foreign Jewish element in this cosmo- politan city. Especially notice the street lined with push-cart venders, striv- ing to sell all manner of notions to the poverty-stricken populace that swarm out of the tall tenements to handle the wares upon his "bargain counter." Upon the region which Jan von de Laet, the Dutch traveler who visited New Amsterdam in 1 626, described to his country- men as the "schoonste landte om te bouwen" The Origin of (finest land for tilling), the name of Bowery soon ^® owery became engrafted. New comers set up a bouwerie, or farm, and registered as a bouwer (or boer), — a tiller of the land. Governor Stuyvesant ulti- mately claimed 1 ,000 acres, through which ran the "Bowery road." Now, we are back at the City Hall and directly behind it is the Court- House of New York County (which is coequal with Manhattan Borough). It will always be known as "Tweed's Court-House," because it cost the taxpayers about $12,000,000, or fully six times the actual outlay. Begun in 1861, it languished during the Civil War, and its dome is still uncom- pleted. The interior is finished in the cheapest, shabbiest fashion. The stairways are of iron. The exterior is of Massachusetts marble and the style Corinthian. The Criminal Courts have recently been transferred to an ornate stone and red-brick structure on Centre street, adjoining the City Prison. The latter was known as "The Tombs" before the Egyptian struct- ure was replaced by a replica of the Paris gaol from which Marie Antoinette was driven forth to execution. These city institutions stand where was a pond in early days. Chambers street, at the northern side of City Hall Park, was the site of Palmo's opera house and Burton's theatre. The new Hall of Records, at Centre street corner, is the most imposing modern municipal edifice in Greater New York. It has already cost $7,500,000; the columns that support the cornice are handsome monoliths and cost $30,000 each. It is separated from all other buildings and its vaults, for the preservation of copies of the title deeds to the billions of real estate upon Manhattan Island, are absolutely fire-proof. 29 Fleischmann s Grace Church Broadway is filled with memories. In a show window, near Duane street, the first sewing machme was exhibited, with a young woman working it. The curiosity excited was great, but sales were not stimulated. Like the telephone at the time of its introduction, the sewing machine was regarded as a toy ! On the left, opposite Pearl street, stood the old steel-blue stone structure of the New York Hospital, now removed to West Fifteenth street. On Thomas street, since that time opened through to An Unsolved n i i i i r i i Murder Mystery Broadway but then starting at the rear of the hos- pital grounds, occurred the mysterious murder, never cleared up, for which Edgar Allen Poe offered a logical but fanciful solution in his famous tale, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue." Horace Greeley, when a journeyman printer, lived there in a boarding-house. The old Broadway Theatre stood on the east side of Broadway, near Pearl street, and on the next block above was the first of the series of Broad- way Tabernacles, that after moving to Thirty-fourth street, (Herald Square), has culminated in the ornate, white structure at Fifty-sixth street. It was the rostrum of the Abolitionists from which for two generations American slavery was constantly denounced. To the right, down Worth street, is Paradise Park, where was the Five Points, a slum centre of crime for a 30 century and a half. During the slave insurrection, fourteen negroes, suspected of incendiarism, were burned at the stake on the present site of Paradise Park. The Five Points House of Industry, sustained by volun- tary contributions and some city help, is seen on the north side. Looking westward, on Worth ^" ^'^ Haunt street, we find at the corner of the first street, the mammoth dry-goods warehouse of the H. B. Claflin Company, the largest wholesale warehouse m America. Here on the right, at No. 400, are the warerooms of the Herring-Hall- Marvin Safe Company, the safes of which were the only ones that with- stood the heat of the terrible fire in Baltimore and protected from injury the valuable books they contained. Canal street is the widest thoroughfare on Manhattan Island. An open canal once extended from the North river to the foot of the hill beyond Centre street. Tattersalls was on the east side of Broadway above Howard street, and The Olympic Theatre, where Geo. L. Fox delighted our fathers, was adjacent, and the first of the Tiffany jewelry shops stood on Broadway, east side, above Spring. St. Thomas's church was at the corner of Houston ; it is now on Fifth avenue, at Fifty-third street. Dr. Chapin's original church was at No. 548; and Christy's Minstrels at No. 728. The Metropolitan Hotel, built by A. T. Stewart, was at the north-west corner of Prince street. Within it was Niblo's Garden, world-famous as the home of the "Black Crook." The Ravels, Lydia Thompson and other memorable names were associated with it. At the little hotel on the corner of Houston street, the defender of Ameri- can prowess against Tom. Sayers, champion of England, Mr. John C. Heenan, the "Benicia Boy," spent his last days. He was buried from a house near by. Police Headquarters stands on Mulberry street, two blocks to th^ eastward of this corner. Looking eastward on Bond street, at No. 31, is the site of the most famous murder case that ever occurred in this city, that of Dr. Burdell (185 7) for which Mrs. Cun- ^^^""f.^^^ ^W^. "The Bells ningham was tried : she was defended by Henry L. Clinton, and prosecuted by A. Oakley Hall, the youngest District-At- torney New York City ever had. In the battered, old, four-story dwelling at No. 47 Bond street, where the Shaw family lived in the Forties, the poem of "The Bells" was written by Edgar Allan Poe. The Shaws were friends of Mrs. Poe and when the poet was kept in town too late to get to Ford- ham, he generally went to the Shaws' to sleep. The inspiration for the verses was given by the clanging of church bells which awakened him there one Sunday morning. Great Jones, the next street up-town, was the property of Samuel Jones, 31 grandson of Chief Justice David Jones, ( 1 782), described for a half century as "the father of the New York bar." Astor Place on the right, is historic ground. The large building front- ing the plaza is Clinton Hall, a new structure owned by the Mercantile Library standing on the site of the original building, named in honor of De Witt Clinton, who contributed the first library book in 1 820. This open square was the scene of the Macready-Forrest riots in 1 849. To the south, on Lafayette Place, is the original foundation of the Astor Library, now Union Square Church of the Ascension transferred to the beautiful building at Fifth Avenue and Forty-second street. In Colonnade Row lived Washington Irving. At a western corner of Ninth street is the establishment of Arnheim, the Tailor, who has created one of the largest trades in his special branch of manufacturing existing in the metropolis. The beautiful white spire of Grace Church is not more imposing than is the Fleischmann Vienna Bakery at the corner under its sympathetic and 22 benign light. At this corner, as long as the name of Fleischmann endures, will form at midnight. Summer and Winter, the famous "Bread Line." This good man's practical sympathy for suffering human hearts has been charmingly de- scribed by John Alden, a descendent of the young Puritan who "spoke for himself" and married Pris- cilla. Of Fleischmann, Alden wrote: — The Washington Arch "He did not pay big salaries to investigate the poor; That's why his light above the rest shines like a Kohinoor — Remembering, in simplicity, just what the Master said. He simply found the hungry, and he simply gave them bread." The noble Louis Fleischmann recently died ; but his charity is continued by special provision in his will and with the hearty co-operation of his two sons. Grace Church, after Trinity, is the wealthiest Protestant Episcopal con- gregation in New York, and strange to say, its first edifice stood on Broad- way where the Empire building rises to-day, — cheek by jowl with Trinity. The present building was finished in 1845 and, until the completion of St. Patrick's Cathedral, was the best specimen of the pure Gothic in the city. From a strategic view-point, its position is marvellously fine. Situated at a deflection in Broadway, it is distinctly visible from the Bowling Green and, from that point, apparently closes the great thoroughfare, just as Trinity ends Wall street's further progress. The rectory, of recent construction, is a delightful example of the subordinated treatment of a difficult architectural proposition. Do not fail to notice a colossal terra-colta jar in the front yard: it was found fifty feet below the surface of the pavements of modern Rome. Miss Catharine Wolfe gave the money to build the exquisite little chantry, at the southern side of the main edifice. When you visit the Met- ropolitan Museum of Art, you will see her greatest thoughtfulness for the American people in the collection of paintings this charming lady gave to that institution. One of the most interesting practical charities in this great city is in the rear of Grace Church, — the day-nursery, erected by former Vice-President Levi P. Morton, as a memorial to his wife, where working At the Bend of Broadway 33 Madison Square Dr. Parkhurst's Church women can bring their children to be cared for while they are earning a living. Union Square is worth a special visit. Its statues of Washington, Lafay- ette and Lincoln are among the best in America. Around this oval, at one period or another of the city's growth, lived many famous men. The park itself is about three acres in extent and, since the removal of a tall iron fence that formerly surrounded it, gives a fine vista into upper Broadway. Daniel Drew lived until his death in a house at the south-west corner of Seventeenth street. East on Fourteenth street, beyond Union Square, is Steinway Hall, headquarters of the Steinway pianos for nearly forty years. The value of a good name in trade is such that its possessor does not have to move every time a commercial centre shifts. The Steinway pianos are exactly what they have always been. At this Hall, Mme. Christine Nilsson and many other world-famous singers have been heard in concert. It was the seat of music in America for many years. Beyond Steinway Hall, to the eastward and on the south side of 34 Fourteenth street, is a famous restaurant, the especial pride of the German- American element, — "Liichow's." Visitors to the Pan-American Ex- position, at Buffalo, will recall Liichow's "Alt Niirnberg," where its pro- prietor gave a memorable dinner to the chief officials at the close of the Fair. Liichow's "Tyrolean Alps" was an equally distinctive feature of the St. Louis Exposition. This New York restaurant is much frequented by the musical element. Not long ago, Paderewski thereat accompanied Jean de Reszke in a solo, and Edouard de Reszke joined in the refrain. Liichow controls the American output of the famous Wiirzburger and Pilsener beers. THE SOCIAL HFART OF NKW YORK N order to see the social side of modern New York, let us return to Broadway and turn westward at Waverley Place to the historic parade-ground known as Washington Square. This eight acres of land was once the Potter's Field of the young city and the bones of 1 00,000 nameless citizens of a century or more ago lie there guarding their griefs and disappointed ambitions. The large white building ' of stone and brick, at the University Place corner, oc- cupies the old site of the New York University, — now removed to Morris Heights, north of the Har- lem, — although some de- partments still occupy this building. It was made more famous by Theodore Winthrop's posthumous novel, "Cecil Dreeme, ' than by any scholastic achievement. The young author, while living, suf- fered the same neglect and non-success as the unfortu- nate Bizet, composer of Lord & Taylor Building 35 ' JB^=^ Reading from top — Astor Residences, Havemeyer House, Carnegie Residence "Carmen," who died of chagrin: but Winthrop was vouchsafed a glorious death in battle. He was killed at Big Bethel, one of the first combats of the Civil War and his rejected manuscripts were then published under the patronage of the late George William Curtis. In this Square stands the Washington Memorial Arch, an ornate and chaste architectural reminder of the celebration, in April, 1 889, of Wash- ington's inauguration as First President of the Re- public. The white marble structure is 70 feet m "^'"'^ Washington , . , , , Memorial Arch height, and is yet to be surmounted by an equestrian statue of the Father of His Country, facing toward Fifth Avenue. It has cost $128,000, up to date, raised by voluntary contributions. The city accepted the gift in May, 1895. From Washington Arch, Fifth Avenue stretches northward six miles to Mount Morris Square, where its continuity is interrupted; but, resuming its course, the avenue continues to the Harlem River, at One Hundred and Forty-third street. For fifty years, it has been the most fashionable residence street of this continent! Business is rapidly invading it; nearly all the prom- inent clubs are on Fifth Avenue or adjacent thereto. Some of the most costly residences in America will be passed between this Marble Arch and the Ninetieth-street entrance to the Central Park. Originally, brown stone was the building material most employed, but exquisite variety has lately been given to the avenue's architecture. The "American basement" is supplanting the "high stoop" residence. Especially to be noticed during our drive are the French chateau of the late Cornelius Vanderbilt, the beautiful house of W. K. Vanderbilt, that of the late C. P. Huntington, the twin Astor dwellings, that of Elbridge T. Gerry, and the palaces of Yerkes, Whitney, Senator William A. Clark and Andrew Carnegie. A tour along this famous avenue takes the visitor through the social heart of New York. The first house on the left, fronting upon Washington Square, is the seat of the Rhinelander family; upon the opposite corner is the residence of William Butler Duncan, who comes of a race of bankers. Lispenard Stewart dwells at No 6. General Daniel ,,. . „, , M TO I I L Historic Wash- E. Sickels has his home at No. 15: he has been ington Square statesman, soldier, diplomat and Sheriff of New York. He inherited a fortune from his father. Cyrus W. Field, who laid the first Atlantic cable, lived at No. 45 ; Robert B. Roosevelt, an uncle of the Presi- dent, has his home at No. 57. Much of the property on Fifth Avenue between Eighth and Tenth streets is owned by "Sailors' Snug Harbor," a splendid charity founded on Staten Island by Captain Robert Richard Randall in 1801, for aged seamen. Its rent roll exceeds $500,000. The Episcopal Church of the Ascension contains the largest ecclesiastical painting in America. Upon a canvas about 40 feet square, John La Farge The Famous La Farge Painting has represented "The Ascension of Christ." The work occupied two years, cost $30,000 and is a gift of the Misses Rhine- lander. The First Presbyterian Church, standing in a full block front, on the west side, is the alma mater of Calvinism in this part of the world. This church was founded in the old State House in 1717 and Rev. Dr. John Rogers, called "the Father of Presbyterianism in America," was one of its early pastors. It is a hand- some Gothic structure m brown-stone. Fourteenth street is to-day the Grand street of thirty years ago. Its retail shops are large and crowded from opening until closing hours. At the north-east corner, stood the Delmonico's of thirty years ago. A small, red- brick dwelling of the Countess Leary was on the opposite side of the avenue. To the west, on Fourteenth street and in the same block, still stands the Van Buren house, a three story structure in large grounds, which was long ago the seat of New York hospitality. Directly opposite was the original location of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which stands to-day in Central Park and is rapidly taking rank among the great collections of the world. On Broadway, near Nineteenth street, is a business house, which has the The Holland House 38 Collegiate Church Public Library unique attractiveness of a museum — that of Vantine and Company. It contains treasure gathered from every corner of the earth, the greater part being Oriental bronze, ivories, porcelains and other Eastern curios. The enormous Broadway building is supplemented by a huge warehouse at Eighteenth street and Broadway, and the house has branch establishments in Boston and Philadelphia. Lord & Taylor's great dry goods house at Twentieth street is one of the institutions that has redounded to the commercial glory of the Amer- ican metropolis. The business started in Catherine . ^, , ■ 1 ILL ^^ ^^^ street eighty years ago and when that region was Business House the shopping centre of the city, and by progressive steps has reached the florescence of success in this large structure which is thronged daily with the best class of purchasers. Everything purchased over those counters has with it a personal guarantee of excellence from which there never is any deviation. One of the oldest business houses in New York, which has grown UD from a small establishment incorporated seventy years ago, is the Grocery House of Park & Tilford, at the southwest corner of Broadway and Twenty-first street. The firm has four other houses in this city, besides its warehouse. After the death of the original members of the firm of Park & Tilford the business was carried on by the sons of the house, and Mr. Park having recently closed out his interest, the concern continues with Mr. Tilford as President and Mr. J. R. Agnew as Vice-President. 39 Jewish Synagogue Bryant Park Up FihK Ave. from Forty-second St. The business machinery of the Presbyterian and Methodist Churches is managed from the two buildmgs on opposite sides of Fifth Avenue at Twentieth street. At Twenty-first street, on the two northern corners stood the Union and the Lotos Clubs, until they moved up-town, where we shall see them. Upon the next block stands the architectural wonder of the New World, the Flat-iron building, — so called because the plot of land covered by it 40 Hotel Woodward suggests that useful article of domestic life. It is twenty- two stories in freight and is visible from the East and North Rivers. The first modern soda foun- tain in New York was estab- lished soon after the Civil War by Alexander Hudnut, under the old Herald building at Broadway and Ann streets. The son of this pioneer, Mr. Richard Hudnut, is nov/ America's largest importer and manufacturer of perfumes; and his present store is near the Flat-iron building on Broad- way. We are now emerging from old New York into the modern city. Here is Madison Square, the social centre of forty years ago. Its "fashionable set" of that time felt the keen lash of ridicule when William Allen Butler, then a young lawyer, published in an early number of Harper's Magazine, his poem "Nothing to Wear." In those days, "Miss Flora McFIimsey of Madison Square" ran a close second with Longfellow's "Hiawatha." An afternoon can be very profitably spent about Madison Square. The Fifth Avenue Hotel, where the late Paran Stevens accumulated a large fortune, is one of the oldest of modern structures, having been opened in 1856, upon the site of the city's first "Hippodrome." The widow of Mr. Stevens, who insisted upon calling herself "Mrs. n o '. I • II I 111 How the Four raran-Stevens, ultimately became the social leader M.,„jr„^ n^ <.^ „ of this metropolis. She it was who made the mem- orable declaration that there were "only Four Hundred families in New York" worthy to be on her visiting list. With the help of an old beau, the late Ward McAllister, the "Four Hundred" families were designated. Her residence at that time was near by, upon Fifth Avenue, facing Madison Square. This hotel was regarded as an architectural wonder for more than a generation; but, from the Seward monument, contrast it, to-day, with the Flat-iron ! Broadway crosses here at an obtuse angle. Directly in front of the Fifth Avenue Hotel stood the Dewey Triumphal Arch, one of the most artistic 41 temporary structures ever erected in any land. Directly north of its site is a fine monument over the grave of Major-General William Jenkens Worth, a hero of the Second War with England, the Seminole war ( 1 84 1 ) and of the Mexican War. His body was buried here, with imposing civic and military ceremonies, on Nov. 25, 1857, and the granite obelisk was erected by the municipal government. He was a native of this state, born at Hudson. Madison Square contains less than six acres. Its shade trees are the finest and its fountain is remarkable for an intermittent flow. It mildly resembles a spouting geyser! Its benches have been resting places for many social reformers and modern philosophers. Here on every pleasant afternoon, for a quarter of a century, might be found one of the most interesting and unique sociologists of the Nineteenth Century, George Francis Train. He thought himself the re-incarnated Socrates; and, during the last years of his life, he lived at the Mills Hotel, in Bleecker street, (although possessed of large fortune), among the disappointed and worried men of his day, and came here to meet everybody who sought his counsel or sympathy. The statues in this Square are not remarkable. Seward's is the best, Tui. ^ , . that of Roscoe Conkling, fair; and Admiral Farra- Statuary gut's commonplace. The latter is a companion piece to the Cox statue in Astor Place, the Dodge figure in Herald Square and the Morse bronze at the Seventy-second street entrance to Central Park. All of them ought to be removed. The Peter Cooper statue, in front of the Institute, is as bad ; but it was exactly what the philan- thropist wanted and the wishes of so noble a man must be respected, — even though he knew less about art than glue. Now, we make another start up Fifth Avenue. The Cafe Martin, at which French cooking has been domesticated to American palates, occupies the third up-town site of Delmonico's. It will be remembered that the first northward move was made to Chambers street; thence to Fourteenth, next to Twenty-sixth street and now the abode of the Jkvesio-viicmool ii- World-Wide Fame famous restaurant is at rorty-hfth street and this avenue. The Cafe Martin is very popular. The Collegiate Marble Church, at Twenty-ninth street, houses the oldest con- gregation in New York, dating back to the church in the "Fort" (1626). Notice the bell in the yard, which was the first that called to religious con- ference in the young city. The Holland House, at the corner of Thirtieth street, is probably the most exquisite hotel in the world. In its appointments, nothing better can be de- sired. Its main entrance is finished in alabaster and no two of its rooms are alike in size, shape or decoration. At Thirty-second street, north-east corner, is the Knickerbocker Club, 42 ^-c^ f; ^ '' .-H- • >v/* r-« '* J \v^ 4 • /A St. Patrick's Cathedral the most exclusive social organization in town. To be eligible for mem- bership, one's ancestors must have belonged to the original Dutch settlers. Across Thirty-fourth street stands the new marble building of the Knicker- bocker Trust Company. It is a Greek temple, A Mayniiicent • i r i i • i • r B, . D -u- < viewed rrom the avenue, and occupies the site or \isiness Building ^ . . A. T. Stewart's famous million dollar palace, — torn down to make way for business. The house occupied by Henry Hilton, who got most of the Stewart millions, at the time adjoined the merchant's dwelling on Thirty-fourth street. The estate and the great business have been scattered. The store at the north-east corner of the next street occupies the site of the residence of the first James Gordon Bennett. The famous Union League Club, with 2,500 members, is on the same corner at Thirty-ninth street. It is a very rich corporation and the comforts of the house are many. Its dining room is at the top. The building of Knox the Hatter, on the south-west corner of Fortieth street, occupies one of the most valuable lots in this part of the avenue. He has another store under the Fifth Avenue Hotel, one on Broadway near Fulton street and one in Brooklyn. This is an American business that long An American can buy Knox hats on Regent or Bond streets, London, just as readily as he can those of the best English makes. The American article competes with the best London-made hat. The beautiful Public Library, upon the site of the Croton Distributing Reservoir, is the central structure of three that will comprise the Astor- The Famous Knox Hats ago invaded England. Sherman Statue 44 Lenox-Tilden Library toundations. The building is 366 feet long and 246 deep. The principal stack-room will contain seven fire-proof floors and ac- commodate 1 ,300,000 volumes. The Astor Library, in Lafayette Place, will be maintained ; likewise the Lenox, on upper Fifth Avenue. The build- ing owes its existence to the intention of the late Samuel J. lilden, who, dying in 1886, b3queathed his entire fortune of $7,000,000 to form "The Tilden Trust," for the purpose of building the handsomest library edifice in the world. After years of litigation, the highest courts declared void the clauses in the will relating to the Trust. One of the Tilden heirs, desirous that his uncle's intentions should be carried out, surrendered his entire share, (amounting to $2,500,000), and rendered possible the creation of the Trust. By judicious investment, this amount has been almost doubled during the period that has intervened. The City of New York is erecting the building and the Tilden fund ^^^ Growth of II 1 1 1 f 1 • *he Library will be used as an endowment ror the maintenance of special departments. Boston has heretofore had the best public library in this country; but New York will be without a rival when these three great foundations are consolidated. Bryant Park, named after the founder of The Evening Post, author of "Thanatopsis," is directly behind the new Public Library building. There stood the iron and glass structure in which the only World's Fair ever at- tempted by New York was held (1856). The locality was out of town at that time and was a day's journey to visit. The building was destroyed by fire several years later. The fine brown-stone residence at the corner of Fortieth street was long the home of the late William H. Vanderbilt; it is now occupied by John R. Drexel. Crossing Forty-second street, under which the Subway seeks the upper West side of the city, the Grand Central station of the Vanderbilt system is seen two blocks to the eastward. Thence, one can leave for Boston as well as all points in the West and Southwest. About five hundred trains arrive and depart daily. The high-stoop brown-stone house on the east side of the avenue next to the open corner lot, is the home of R. T. Wilson, the banker. Mr. Wilson made a fortune in cotton down in Tennessee during the Civil War and has since lived in New York. This family is remarkable for the matrimonial al- liances it has contracted. A son married into the Astor family; one daughter is the wife of Cornelius Vanderbilt IV; and another is wedded to one of the Goelets. The Jewish synagogue, Emanu-El, is the largest congregation of that faith in the city. There are 350,000 Jews in the metropolis and the journey up Broadway has shown what an important part they hold in the commercial 45 Reading from top— W. K. Vanderbilt's House, Rockefeller House. Vanderbilt Twin Mansions life of New York. Many of the most eminent and useful members of the community belong to the race of Judah. There are fifty-one temples and synagogues in this city and probably forty small meeting places. The charities of Jews are innumerable. Five clubs exist for their exclusive comfort. No foreign race shows so clean a record as respectors of law, for, out of nearly 1 4 per cent, of the city's population, the Jews contribute less than 1 per cent, to the criminal classes. Across Fifth Avenue is Sherry's. This splendid building is part of the Goelet estate. When Sherry was located lower down the avenue, his restaurant acquired an unfortunate notoriety on account of a dinner given by a young Seeley, one of the heirs of P. T. Barnum, the showman. The "couchi-couchi," an Eastern dance, was performed by a young woman known as "Little Egypt:" the police out of revenge raided the place and a scandal involving many well-known people followed. The tall marble building opposite is the only bank of its kind in the world, and does not cease business for an instant between 1 2 o'clock Mon- day morning and midnight of Saturday. The house with the green-marble pillars at its door-way, in the side street, adjacent to Delmonico's, was Richard Canfield's gambling establishment, in which Reginald Vanderbilt is said to have lost $100,000 at roulette during one evening's play. A Famous r^ , ^ Axi r I J iL I u Gambling Pla.ce District-Attorney Jerome entered the place by means of a ladder, after breaking one of the front windows. Upon the marble floor of the foyer, inside a circle of black stones, were three interlocking crescents, — a design exactly similar to the monogram upon several mysterious letters that formed exhibits in the unsolved poisoning case for which Molineux was twice tried, — once convicted, and then acquitted. The Church of the Heavenly Rest, famous as a haven for lovers who marry in haste and rarely repent, is in the next block, on the avenue. The Lotos Club, across the thoroughfare, is known throughout this country and Europe as the most hospitable social organization in America. It was organized 36 years ago by a group of authors, journalists, artists, painters, play-wrights and actors who desired to create a home for artistic and literary Bohemia. Its career began in Irving Place, adjoining the Academy of Music. "Lotos Land" soon changed its address to Fifth Avenue and Twenty-first street, where it remained until I 894, when the present house was purchased _, , Bohemia. and rebuilt. The club's collection of paint- ings is valued at a quarter million dollars; in addition, it possesses many valuable relics of the early American stage. John D. Rockefeller's church and Sunday School chapel is directly behind the Lotos Club, on Forty- sixth street. 47 " Millionaires' Club " A temporary structure upon the next block, called "Windsor Arcade," occupies the site of the stately Windsor Hotel, destroyed by fire on St. Patrick's Day, 1897, with terrible loss of life. The property belongs to Commodore Elbridge T. Gerry, and will be improved by the erection of a large fire-proof hotel. The double house of Miss Helen Miller Gould stands at the first corner to the northward. This was the home of the late Jay Gould, "The Wizard of Wall street," who was fond of standing at the window of his reception room, north of the entrance watching the throng on the Avenue. His wonderful office was in the corner basement. Into it led wires and cables from every part of the globe: "tickers" appraised Mr. Gould of every change in the stock market ; and private wires, from Wash- ington and Albany, kept him informed regarding every phase of legislation, in contemplation or under debate. An hour's advance information was often worth a round million to this remarkable man! His I ^^ ome o g^j^^ George, now the head of the family, lived in the Goulds i r i it- i the first house eastward on rorty-seventh street, and a passage-way connected the two dwellings. "Inspector" Thomas Byrnes, when Chief of Police, earned the lasting gratitude of the financier by rescuing him from a mob in the street between the Windsor Hotel and his home. The crowd was bent upon hanging Mr. Gould to a lamp-post that then stood at the corner. When the hotel fire occurred. Miss Gould turned her beautiful home into a hospital for the injured. 48 Fountain and Mall Metropolitan Museum OWi.k PALACES OF MODERN MILLIONAIRES NE peculiarity about the \vealthy class in New York is that its members are frequently changing their domiciles. This isn't for the old reason that it is cheaper to move than pay rent, but because the social centre shifts every four or five years and the "Smart Set " desires to be accurately located. At this time, the family of James B. Haggin, the copper millionaire and patron of the turf, lives at No. 587 Fifth Avenue; Mrs. Robert Goelet, w^ho inherited fifty million dollars from her late husband and whose daughter married the Duke of Roxburgh, dwells at No. 591 ; Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt, IV., at No. 608; Mrs. Ziegler, whose late husband fitted out two Arctic expeditions, at No. 624; Mr. D. O. Mills, practical philanthropist, at No. 634. The Democratic Club adjoins the Hotel Buckingham, and is headquarters of that political party. St. Patrick's Cathedral is an architectural pride to every citizen of New York. It is the most imposing church edifice in the United States and was twenty-one years in construction. It will not be finished until the Chapel of Our Lady at the rear of the cathedral is opened. The corner stone of the cathedral was laid in on Aug. I 5, I 858, and it was dedicated, on May 25, 1879, by the first American Cardinal, McCloskey. The architecture is of the 1 3th century geometric order, of which Cologne and Rheims furnish the best examples. A Latin cross furnishes the ground plan and when the chapel mentioned is finished the extreme length and the _, " , . , height of the spires will be equal, — 330 feet. The Ca.thedraLl r- r i a r i i rirth Avenue rront is very imposing, the central gable rising to a height of 156 feet. Especially to be noticed is the great rose window of latticed marble. When the grand doorway is finished, statues of the twelve apostles will stand within, — replicas of those placed by Michael Angelo upon the facade of St. Peter's, at Rome. Above the base course of granite, the building is of marble. The skill of the architect, James Renwick, is shown in the interior. Especially observe the groined ceiling, with its wealth of foliage-bosses, and its spring-line of 77 feet from the marble pavement below. Many of the chapels and all of the beautiful stained glass windows, 70 in number, are worthy of study. At the corner north of the beautiful cathedral stands the new home of the Union Club, ranking first among the social organizations of this city. It was organized in 1 836, and has grown to be very wealthy. Its membership IS restricted to 1 ,500 and the entrance fee is $300: the waiting list runs into hundreds. Directly opposite the Union Club is the Vanderbilt block. The two 50 Wdl' The Flat-iron Building palaces, — because no other word accurately describes the square, brown- stone buildings, — were built by the late William H. Vanderbilt. The one upon the corner of Fifty-first street was intended for the occupancy of the head of the family and is double the size of the other two. Originally, the entrance was in the centre of the block and all the houses could be thrown together for receptions. The first house has descended through his mother to Mr. George W. Vanderbilt, owner of "Biltmore," at Asheville, North Carolina : he has leased it for a term of ten years to Mr. Henry C. Frick, the Pittsburg multi-millionaire, at an annual rental of $50,000. Mr. Frick has expended several hundred thousand dollars in altering the interior and it is to-day one of the most palatial homes m America. The vast art gallery contains a Turner, several Corots, three Rousseaus, and many other valu- able paintings. The home of Mr. Andrew Carnegie, who gives away an income of $35,000,000 every year, was for a long while directly behind the Vanderbilt house in West Fifty-first street. The other two dwellings in the same block on the avenue are occupied by Mr. William D. Sloane and the widow of the late Elliott F. Shepard. The two ladies in these families were daughters of Mr. W. H. Vanderbilt. The most ornate dwelling upon Fifth Avenue is that of William Kissam Vanderbilt, — a white stone chateau in the French style at the next corner. Into its grand foyer, a coach and four can be driven and turned. For this exquisite structure, the widow of a California Senator recently offered $2,500,000. Notice the gargoyles and the fine gables. The house next door is the dwelling place of W. K. Vanderbilt, Jr.. who married a daughter of the late Senator Fair. Mr. Vanderbilt has been an automobile enthusiast and established "The Vander- bilt Cup," celebrated in a comic opera, as a world- trophy for motor-car speed. It is now held by a plucky -'^ chauffe ith a record or Senator Clark's New Ho nearly two miles a minute. Young Vanderbilt is a fear- less driver himself and has 52 :^:^^^' Libn narrowly escaped death in his racing machine on several occasions. Mr. Frederick Gallatin, the banker, lives at the corner above the Vanderbilts, — a descendent of the Gallatins of Revolutionary days. St. Thomas's Episcopal Church, at Fifty-third street, is the most fashion- able in New York. The interior was recently destroyed by a fire, in which an altar picture by La Farge perished. Two sons-in-law of the late W. H. Vanderbilt occupy the houses beyond the St. Thomas parsonage. Dr. William Seward Webb has the first and Hamilton McKay Twombly the corner house. Across the road, in the same block, at No. 677 lives Oliver H. P. Belmont; next to him, former Vice-President Levi P. Morton and, at the corner, Mr. Charles W. Harkness, one of the Standard Oil million- aires. Directly to the north of the latter, across Fifty-fourth street, dwells William Rockefeller. Looking westward on this street, the house of the richest man in the world is seen, — that of John D. Rockefeller. It stands in a large yard and its side walls are covered with vines. It is not as preten- tious as one would expect a man worth a billion dol- lars to occupy; but Mr. Rockefeller is frugal in all his habits. He dresses plainly and wears ready-made shoes that rarely cost over $3.50 a pair. His son and heir John D. Rockefeller, Jr., occupies the white-stone, American basement house directly across the side street. 53 The Richest Man in the World When we remember that Mr. Rockefeller could buy every house between the Washington Arch and Central Park without using more than half his funds, we comprehend the enormity of his resources. The Hotel Woodward, at Broadway and West Fifty-fifth street, is an exclusive hotel appealing to the highest class of American and European travellers. Mr. Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, present heir of the line, — not according to the rule of primogeniture, but because his father, the late Cornelius Van- derbilt, III., gave him $65,000,000 by disinheriting his eldest son Cornelius for marrying against his wishes, — lives on the north-east corner of Fifty-sixth street. The four corners of Fifty-seventh street are occupied by famous houses. The gray granite dwelling, modelled after the Pitti palace in Florence, was the home of the late C. P. Hunting- WKere the MilU j^n, of the Central and Southern Pacific railroads. ions are Spent . r-^f , , , , . Across rirty-seventh street are trie criaste white marble dwellings erected by the Jones estate, in the corner house of which the late Mrs. Paran-Stevens held social sway until the day of her death. She was born a grocer's daughter at Lowell, Mass., but married the widowed Paran-Stevens, who kept the Revere House in Boston and the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York. After his death, she became a social dictator. She could command the attendance of members of the oldest families on Manhattan Island : they were afraid to displease her, because her vengeance was relentless. The elder son of the late William C. Whitney, Harry Payne Whitney, who married Miss Gertrude Vanderbilt, lives in the pretty, red-brick chateau across the avenue from the Huntington house. The show house of New York, before Charles M. Schwab's pretty palace on the Riverside Drive was finished, was the Cornelius Vanderbilt French chateau occupying the block front and facing the Central Park Plaza. It cost $7,000,000 as it stands. Many of its interior decorations were done by the most famous mural painters of Europe, brought here for the purpose ne Vanderbilt without regard to expense. The "house-warming" was signalized by the greatest fancy-dress ball ever given on this Continent. Several hundred thousand dollars were spent upon costumes, decorations, music and wine. Mrs. Bradley-Martin afterward vainly attempted to eclipse the memorable event. Notice the carvings upon the porte-cochere at the northern, or main entrance. The Central Park, pride of America, stretches before us on the left for two miles. There are many larger areas of enclosed ground in other cities called parks; but nowhere upon earth is there such variety of hill, dale, lake and meadow as here. Frederick Law Olmstead, a famous landscape architect, gave the best thought of the best years of his life to the creation of this beauti- 54 Cathedral of Si. John The Divine ful pleasure ground. Two or three days should be devoted to this Park by the stranger in New York. The best way is to take an automobile of this company, in order to visit special features, such as the Mall, the Egyptian Obelisk, the Arsenal, the Terrace, with its superb fountain, and to enjoy a boat ride upon the large lake. The Metropolitan Museum of Art should be considered as a separate proposition, requiring several days. The east side of Fifth Avenue, facing the Central Park, has been called "Millionaires' Row;" but, with perhaps three or four exceptions, the houses are not superior to those we have passed on the avenue. After the Savoy Hotel, with its alabaster foyer, and the New Netherlands, with its fine "Rathskeller," the first architectural feature is the marble structure of the Metropolitan Club, called the "Millionaires." Its initiation fee is $1,000 and its annual dues double those of any other social organization in the city. Its entrance is upon East Sixtieth street, reserving the , ^, . , . , L L The Richest Club entire avenue front for windows at which mem- .^ J^cmv York bers may sit and watch "Rotten Row," as this en- trance to the Park is called, — after a driveway in Hyde Park, behind Knightsbridge Terrace. The new bronze statue of General William. Tecumseh Sherman, on a champing charger, preceded by a female angel bearing an olive branch, stands at the Park entrance. When the angel is called away, the statue will be much improved. The first noticeable dwelling above the Metropolitan Club is that of Mr. 55 ffmcsammmss , r^^lftfifCC^ U'i fu: s ,lcW ♦ * Jl.iiii iiiii .1 Columbia University St. Luke s Hospital Elbridge T. Gerry, called "Commodore" because he was in command of the New York Yacht Club. The house is a fine specimen of the modern French villa and has a glass-enclosed porte-cochere. The twm white-stone houses of Mr. John Jacob Astor and his mother, Mrs. Astor, recognized leader of society m the United States, are at the upper corner of Sixty-fifth street. Although separate buildings, they can be and are thrown together to form one palace on the occasion of large dinners, receptions or balls. Here several of the most brilliant social events in the history of this metropolis have occurred. It and the Vanderbilt house leased by Mr. H. C. Frick are the only two cases in which a driveway crosses a Fifth Avenue sidewalk. The quaint feudal castle, with its moat-like surroundings, standing at the upper side of Sixty-sixth street, is the home of "The Sugar King," Mr. Henry O. Havemeyer. Next door dwells Col. Oliver H. Payne, of the Standard Oil Company, whose sister was the first wife of the late William C. Whitney; and for neighbor he has his favorite nephew, Mr. Payne Whitney, who married Miss Hay, daughter of the late Secretary of State, John Hay. The pretty but unpretentious Gothic home of Mr. George J. 56 Two Magnificent Ma-nsions Gould, who controls the Western Union 1 elegraph Company and several thousand miles of railway, is at the next corner. Mr. H. O. Armour, head of the "Beef Trust," resides at No. 856, and Mr. Isaac Stern, merchant, at No. 858. The palaces of the late Charles T. Yerkes and of the late William C. Whitney occupy the lower and upper corners, respectively, of Sixty-eighth street. Each of these houses cost more than $2,500,000 and both are crowded with valuable paintings, rugs and works of art. By his will, Mr. Yerkes provided for the creation of a museum, the entrance to which is seen adjoining the house. Mr. Whitney's property has been sold to Mr. James H. Smith, known as "Silent Smith," who inherited $50,000,000 from an uncle in England. The main stairway in this house is the handsomest in New York. Mr. Whitney was Secretary of the Navy during the first Cleve- land Administration and had an important part in the creation of the new American navy. The superb Lenox Library building occupies the entire front between Seventieth and Seventy-first streets. It is a gift to the people of New York from the late Mr. James Lenox, one of the most distinguished philanthropists this country has produced. It was incorporated in 1870 and the building as now seen was opened in 1877. It is of Lockport limestone and, with its grounds, cost more than $2,000,000. Herein may be found the most valuable collection of rare books upon American and town history anj'where got together. Mr. Lenox's private collection of paintings, statuary and original editions of early books is almost priceless. It is now a part of the New York Public Library. Grant's Tomb 57 The costly, composite structure at the north side of Eighty-fifth street, with a tower and entrance on the side street, is the remarkable $5,000,000 palace of United States Senator William A. Clark, Montana, who is known throughout the world as the richest of copper mine _ ^, . owners. When completed, this house will con- Sena-tor ClaLrk r i i tam many of the best examples of modern art m America. Senator Clark cares nothing for established conventions in archi- tecture; for that reason he has changed the plans of this structure so often during the progress of the work that nobody can tell to what school it now belongs. The fine house of Henry B. Phipps, another of "the Carnegie million- aires," is in the block above Eighty-seventh street. Mr. Phipps is a large owner of real estate in New York and has given millions to Pittsburg. The large, red-brick and white-stone building at Ninetieth street is the home of the famous philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie. It stands upon what Carnegie has named "The Highlands of Manhattan" and from its upper windows overlook the large reservoir in the Central Park, having the proportions of a small lake. The great house fronts upon Ninety-first street at present, but an approach will be opened through the fine garden upon which the salon and dining-room look. The "Ironmaster's" library is one of the largest and most valuable private collections of books in America. Entering Central Park from Fifth Avenue, at the Ninetieth street gate, the course leads northward, around the base of the great Croton reservoir. This large lake holds 1,030,000,000 gallons of drinking water and the distributing reservoir, directly south, contains I 50,000,000 gallons. The total storage capacity of the various dams and reservoirs is 9,500,000,000 gallons, — enough, it is estimated, to supply Manhattan with drinking water for SIX months. The drive wmds gracefully across a fine bridge, thence by a slight in- cline to McGowan's Pass Tavern, a restaurant built by the city and leased to a caterer; round a sharp turn and down a steep declivity to a fine stretch leading to the Seventh Avenue gate at One Hundred and Tenth street. The old stone block-house upon the rocky heights to the left marks the site of a skirmish during the battle of Harlem Plains. The site of Fort Washington is indicated by a monumental tablet erected by the generosity of James Gordon Bennett, Jr., upon the land embraced in the homestead given to him by his father, the an Old Fort founder of the New York Herald, and now dedi- cated to a public park. It is a marble and bronze entablature, flanked by two pilasters rising from a granite base upon the Western side of Fort Washington Avenue. Upon a bronze tablet, above a wayside seat, is this inscription: 58 This memorial marks the site of Port Washington, constructed by the Continental troops in the summer of I 776; taken by the British, after an heroic defence, November 16,1 776; re-possessed by the Americans, upon their triumphal re-entry into the City of New York, November 25, I 783; erected through the generosity of James Gordon Bennett, by the Empire State Society of the Sons of the American Revolution,, November 16, 1 901 . Upon a concrete platform above the top of the entablature is a common of the Revolutionary period. SOME FAMOUS BOULEVARDS ETURNING to the exit from Central Park, the broad avenue leading northward is one of the most popular drives in the city. It leads to McComb's Dam Bridge, — or Central Bridge, as it has lately been re-christened for tho sake of euphony. The "Society of American Mothers" also petitioned the Board of Aldermen in behalf of the change of name. The best sight-seeing route lies to the westward, under "the Serpentine Bend" of the Elevated railway. The track is 73 feet above the pavement at its highest point. A station upon the curve is reached by elevators. We turn again to the northward at Morningside avenue, and pass the site of the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral, slowly taking shape. The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, is building upon Morningside Heights, "the Acropolis of New York." Fifty years will be required for its completion and the cost is expected to exceed $25,000,000. The final drawings by the architects, Heins & Lafarge, indicate that the vast edifice will combine the best feature of Gothic church building in the Old World. The massive central spire, 425 feet in height, that will be the dominating feature of the cathedral when seen from a distance, resembles Salisbury but is higher and more ornate. The imposing western f " 1 1 1 I I I 1 II The New Ameri= rront, overlooking the Hudson and surmounted by ^ .u j i *= •' can Cathedral two towers, will recall York and Lincoln. The chevet of chapels at the eastern end, — one of which (given by the Belmont family) is now finished, — is characteristic of the splendid cathedrals of Northern France, imitated at Westminster, Cologne and Toledo. Its deco- ration is intended to be as rich as that of the duomo at Milan. The pointed arch, keynote of the Gothic style, predominates exteriorly; the older form of rounded arch is largely employed in the interior. This cathedral has 59 been the life work of Bishop Henry C. Potter, whose diocese contains more than two hundred parishes. The great arch now standing in relief against the western sky will be one of four supports to the lofty central tower that will carry the spire. This cathedral site is the most remarkable one in the Christian world, — and, in Pagan lands, is only equalled by the Potala of the Grand Lama of Buddhism, at Lhasa, Tibet. The completed structure will be visible from nearly every part of town above Fifty-ninth street. St. Luke's Hospital, standing directly north of the cathedral site, is an endunng monument to the energy and heart of the late Rev. Dr. Muhlen- berg, of the Protestant Episcopal church. But the most romantic incident, connected with the up-building of this famous hospital is that it had its in- ception in the suggestion of a very poor woman who had been treated in a small retreat maintained by Dr. Muhlenberg's flock. When she was cured, this woman sent for the good man in order to say : "I have only $5 left in this world, but I wish to give that as the beginning of a fund that shall be raised to build and equip a large hospital." The money was accepted and from that small initiative the property of St. Luke's has grown until it exceeds $3,000,000! Money was raised by subscription and land was bought on Fifth Avenue and Fifty-fourth street, — opposite the large dwelling now occupied by John D. Rockefeller. The wisdom of a good location had been taught by the purchasers of the Catholic Orphans' Asylum block, between Fifty-first and ' . Fifty-second streets. Hospital and asylum property IS free from taxation ; but that does not prevent its rapid advance in price, if it be upon a fashionable thoroughfare like Fifth Avenue. The result was that the Roman Catholics sold their block to the Vanderbilts for $5,000,000; St. Luke's disposed of their Fifth Avenue holdings for more than $2,000,000, and in I 896, moved to the present site on Morningside Heights. It is one of the best equipped hospitals in this country. The splendid group of buildings devoted to the various departments of Columbia University stand upon the grounds of what was until recently Bloomingdale Asylum for the Insane. The imposing library building, with its magnificent approach, cost $1,000,000, and was a gift of Mr. Seth Low, formerly President of the Institution and last Mayor of New York before the consolidation. This institution was chartered in I 754 as King's College, and stood, facing the North River, almost behind St. Paul's Chapel, far down-town. It was a hot-bed of Toryism before and during the Revo- lution ; and in 1 784 the Legislature re-incorporated the college under the name of Columbia. The sale of the old buildings on College Place yielded so large a sum that the college was removed to Madison Avenue, above 6o Forty-ninth street, where a whole block was secured. This property, in turn, became so valuable that the present site was purchased in 1 892. The name was changed to Columbia University four years later. Nine colleges or schools are comprised in the University scheme. Its new athletic field, built mto the river nearby upon made ground, is a very expensive piece of property. The new dormitories south of the library building stand upon land that cost more than $2,000,000. Turning into the Riverside Drive, the stately and imposing tomb of General Ulysses S. Grant looms up, half a mile to the northward. Although incompleted, it is the finest mausoleum in the United States. In the centre of the marble paved plaza, at The Tomb of the foot of the steps leading to the tomb, will ulti- mately stand an equestrian statue of the Great Commander and upon five bases surrounding the open square will be placed equestrian figures of his principal generals. The mausoleum itself covers exactly 1 ,000 square feet of ground. Its height is I 60 feet from the base line, which stands I 40 feet above the Hud- son. In the architectural treatment of the interior, the open crypt at the Hotel des Invalides, Pans, — where Napoleon is buried, — has been imitated. The bodies of General Grant and his wife, Julia Dent Grant, repose in com- panion granite sarcophagi upon a pedestal in the centre of the crypt, below the main floor but visible from above. The walls of the interior are of white marble. The City of New York gave the site ; and the tomb, con- structed by private subscriptions, cost $500,000. Upon this height, Li Hung Chang planted a tree in memory of his deceased friend, who had visited him at Pekin. The hill at Claremont, beyond Grant's tomb, has been the location of several famous country houses that hold important places in the early history of New York. The city now lets for a restaurant the only remaining villa. One of the most pathetic features of the neighborhood is a funeral urn, mounted upon a base at the roadside where it has stood for more than a century, inscribed: — "To the Memory of St. Claire Pollock, an amiable child." The broad, steel causeway that stretches northward from Claremont to the beginning of the Lafayette Boulevard bridges Manhattanville gorge. The viaduct of the "Subway," — which is here an elevated road, — is seen two blocks to the eastward. Southward, from Grant's tomb, the splendid Riverside Drive stretches to Seventy-second street, a distance of two and one-half miles. This broad road is neither level nor straight; it winds along the hill-side with gentle undulations. Riverside Park contains 1 77 acres, upon which many of the original forest trees have been preserved. Its natural beauty of location, 6i high above and overlooking the majestic Hudson, and the embellishments added by landscape engmeers, combme to render this pleasure ground one of the most attractive in the world. The Riverside Drive has been compared to the famous Cornice road that runs from Marseilles along the Mediterranean coast into Italy ; but attractive as is the European thoroughfare, it does not combine the variety of scenery to be found along this two and a half miles of parkway. Real estate facing this park is held at fabulous prices. Another view is had of Columbia University, Barnard College and Teachers' College. On the riverside, beyond the railroad, Columbia is building an athletic field that will cost more than $1,000,000. A triangle of made ground extends into the Hudson as far as the pier-head line, upon which IS a stadium with a seating capacity of 20,000 people. This en- closes a large field, with a base-ball diamond, a foot-ball "gridiron" and a quarter running track. The two Queen Anne dwellings upon the corners of One Hundred and Eighth street were among the earliest on the new Drive. That on the north side IS owned by Henry S. F. Davis; the southern one by S. G. Bayne. This street is the chief point at which traffic diverges to upper Broadway. During the bicycle craze, it was thronged with followers of that sport. At One Hundred and Fourth street is the home of Richard Mansfield, one of the most prominent figures on the stage of to-day. Its bay front extends to the height of four of the five stories of the dwelling. Peter Doelger's large red-brick house, four blocks further to the south, is one of the landmarks from the river. A small herd of white deer is usually to be seen in a netted en- closure. John Matthews' large Swiss chalet and Mrs. Mary L. Parsons' ornate stone, ivy-covered chateau are at Ninetieth street. The Parsons house was built by Cyrus Clark, remembered as "the Father of the West Side." The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, erected in I 90 1 , surmounts a rocky height, opposite Eighty-ninth street. It is of Greek model and the granite base stands upon a terrace, furnished with seats from which, in pleasant weather, crowds of citizens watch the setting of the sun and the steamboats starting upon their night trips to Albany and Troy. Here, also, is the spacious Colonial mansion of the Rev. Dr. Henry C. Potter, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Diocese of New York. The Pompeian villa, at the next corner, is one of the most artistic dwellings in America. It is a replica of a house buried under the ashes of Vesuvius in 79 A. D., and only recently found. The materials employed are different from those of Pompeii, but the combination of red brick and Italian marbles is highly effective. The crowning glory of Riverside Drive is the exquisite French chateau, recently built by Charles M.Schwab, a protege of Andrew Carnegie and only 63 exceeded in philanthropic acts by his famous patron. A whole book could be devoted to this house, upon which, with the entire square of land upon which it stands, has been expended $5,000,000. Although not so costly as the Cornelius Vanderbilt mansion at the Fifth Avenue entrance to the Central Park, its splendid site and ample lawn combine to render it one of the most delightful objects that meet the eyes of a visitor to New York. This house belongs to the transitional period of French architecture (1500), in which the freedom, strength and boldness of the Renaissance became united with the rich and delicate ornamentation of the French-Gothic. The main structure is three stories in height, surmounted by red-slate roofs. Its riverward facade of limestone has a frontage of I 00 feet, approached by broad terrace and embellished by a porch with fluted stone pillars: its South facade, similarly composed, is 1 50 feet long and includes in its group- ing a grand dining-hall, conservatory and art gallery. A charming Gothic chapel, at the rear, completes the quadrangle. Observe the fine, white-stone porte-cochere, under which the driveway passes from Seventy-fourth street. Mr. Schwab's collection of paintings includes several famous masterpieces. Turning mto Seventy-second street, which has a strip of grass upon each side to show that it is part of the boulevard system and leads directly to the Central Park, we start southward along Broadway. This route passes Columbus Circle, with its fine monument to the Discoverer of America. Looming up ahead is the recently completed home of the New York Times. The Italian palace at Thirty-fifth street, occupied by the New York Herald, imparts a picturesque effect to the locality. It is a copy of an old palace standing at a similar junction of two streets in the city of Verona, built about I 350. A bronze statue of Horace Greeley, seated, ornaments Greeley Square. The Imperial Hotel, at Thirty-second street, is famous for the excellence of its cuisine. Its palm-room is very beautiful. No more desirable place exists for a stay in New York or at which to take supper, after the play. Thence to the Flat-iron building, in which are the offices of the "Seeing New York Company." The traveler has made a complete survey of the most cosmopolitian city in the world ; but the splendid collection of paintings, statuary and laces at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, (for which this company supplies guides and automobiles at short notice) ; the beautiful Central Park, with its Egyptian obelisk, its lakes, its cave and excellent restaurant, should be made the subject of a subsequent visit. When this has been done and the delightful yacht trip taken around Man- hattan Island, the guest within our gates will have formed a thoroughly com- prehensive idea of the American metropolis. JULIUS CHAMBERS. THE END Prominent places oj Pseuj Yorh. lUustratm^ thegrocutb of tbe^recit dry goods noase of Lord & Taylor #»■#- 'W '#'♦• 5' r r STEINWAY HALL— The Home of the Famous House of Steinway & Sons. Attractive Windows One of the most remarkable features of the busy hfe in down-town New York IS the frequency with which one of the large manufacturing concerns m the heart of the jewelry district at Broadway opposite Maiden Lane changes its windows. The New York Sun in commenting on one of the windows, a picture of which we were not fortunate enough to secure, says: — "A neat method of exchanging benefits in advertising has been devised by a down-town firm. It is simple and it certainly seemed satisfactory. The articles in which the concern deal are useful but hardly attractive, and for all that the firm has to keep them in the public mind or the public would be sure to get along without them. So anything that draws attention to the concern's show windows is welcome there. A few days ago it afforded hospitality to a large branch of an orange tree with the specimens of the ripe fruit still clinging to it. A notice attached announced that this was contributed by Blank, the celebrated fruit dealer, from his own particular orange groves. There was nothing wonderful about the exhibit and the cost was infinitesimal. But the contrast of the ripe fruit amid the green leaves drew crowds to the window to see growing oranges and incidentally to look over the proprietor's stock in trade." It will be noted, however, from the above picture that this article written by the editor of "Live Topics About Town" is applicable at all times. The windows change every week and always draw a crowd. It is well worth while stopping to observe at any time you may be in the vicinity. The above is a picture of August Liichow's Restaurant, perhaps one of the oldest family restaurants in New York City. The decoration of his house was in honor of the visit of Prince Henry of Battenburg to this country. SLF 10 iyut cC"^^ LER. without mV s^^ observation i