International studio (81.1925)

mceRHAcionAL

for a brief time a tavern, and then a theatre; but Bryant Park, at Forty-second Street and Sixth
it was still too far out o( the city to succeed in Avenue, became the buryang ground and Wash-
either capacity. ington Square became another aristocratic centre.

The houses shown on Hudson Street are not so It is the only one of these old squares that has

amusing as the Charlton Street row, but they are kept, on its north side at least, its earlier good

still an excellent argument against the defendant character.

of brownstone fronts. The doorways are, like The recent development of Turtle Bay, at

most Georgian doorways, fine; and the propor- East Forty-ninth Street and the river, recalls the

tions good. The two on the right were probably days of old New York more vividly than any other

built at the same time because they have identical section of the city. It was Deutel Bay under the

doorways and newel posts set on rather high Dutch and it acquired considerable historical sig-

pedestals; but the one nificance in the Revo-

on the extreme right
has a strange sightless
look due to the re-
moval of the original
sashes and their re-
placement by some
with larger panes.
The windows conse-
quently look too long
in their relation to the
size of the house. This
is the type of house
that fronted on St.
John's Park occupy-
ing the square between
Hudson and Varick
Streets, and Beach
and Laight Streets.
On this park such fine
old families as the
Schuylers, the Drakes,
the Mortons, the Ly-
digs, the Lords, Dela-
fields and Hunters had

Iution. In the late
eighteenth century it
was, of course, a wil-
derness where a few
people had country
estates. Turtle feasts
were given there to
which people from the
city came in Italian
chaises, a lady and a
gentleman in each
chaise. An English
traveler describes one
of these feasts and tells
how, on the return
trip, they passed over
the Kissing Bridge,
"where it is part of
the etiquette to salute
the lady who has put
herself under your
protection." This
bridge was on what is
now Fifty-third Street

their homes; and the pomander walk, new york between Second and

' king and campbell, architects

park itself was re- Third Avenues. There

served for their use. Bowling Green was another was another Kissing Bridge farther downtown,

private pleasure ground, guarded by an iron fence over a small creek on the Post Road close to

and a locked gate; and today Gramercy Park is Chatham Square. Its tradition, though not so

similarly restricted. This bit of green between sentimental, is quite as delightful. Travelers

Third and Fourth Avenues at about Twentieth leaving the city were conducted thus far by their

Street was donated in 1830 to the owners of some hosts and the final farewells spoken on Kissing

sixty-six adjoining lots by Samuel B. Ruggles, one Bridge.

of the founders of the Bank of Commerce, on con- Another successful modern attempt to make
dition that each lot be taxed ten dollars annually use of a small space and build a row of attractive
forever to keep it in condition. houses in the city is the development of Pomander
Just before the improvement of Gramercy Walk. This is a tiny lane running from Ninety-
Park and at the time that the aristocracy was fourth to Ninety-fifth Streets between Broadway
grouped about St. John's Park, Washington and West End Avenues. It is only twenty feet
Square was the parade ground upon which the wide and is bordered on each side by a row of two-
militia was reviewed. Union Square was still out story buildings of English design, half timber
of town. Before this time Washington Square had with slate and asbestos shingles. It was designed
been used as a burying ground for yellow fever as a reproduction of the original Pomander Walk,
victims and as a place of execution; but in 1823 near London, on the banks of the Thames.

one hundred six

may 1925