photo by Beyond My Ken
Born in Scotland in 1862, Henry Collins Brown arrived in New York City in 1871. With an unexpected interest in the city's history, he began accumulating articles and other information about New York City as a teenager. In 1913, he wrote one of his many books to come, Book of Old New-York, and in 1916 revived the 19th century Valentine's Manual of New York (tweaking the name to Valentine's Manual of Old New York). He additionally wrote articles on New York City history and architecture for The Sun.
Around 1920, Brown began lobbying support for a city museum. In 1923, he assembled a board of directors and incorporated the Museum of the City of New York. The Parks Commission loaned Gracie Mansion for its use. On April 30, 1924, the New York Evening Post reported, "the old mansion, which is to be known as the Museum of the City of New York, will eventually be fitted up in authentic furniture of the early days of New York, and contributions are being received from descendants of the original Gracies and other settlers of that period." The Museum published a monthly bulletin, The New York Gazette, the name of William Bradford's newspaper founded around 1725.
The New York Gazette, 1925 (copyright expired)
Brown's residency at the museum he envisioned and, essentially, created was turbulent and short-lived. In 1926, he was removed. The following year, a competition among five architects was held for designs for a permanent home for the museum. The city had provided the Fifth Avenue blockfront from 103rd to 104th Streets with the caveat that the museum would raise $2 million by June 1, 1928 for construction and continued maintenance.
On April 15, 1928, The Brooklyn Eagle reported that Joseph H. Freedlander had won the competition. Among the guidelines had been that the building "must not cost more than $900,000," said the article.
The Museum released Freedlander's accepted rendering in 1928. Brooklyn Eagle, May 17, 1928
The New York Times, on April 8, 1928, described the plans as, "a U type structure of Colonial design with a formal Colonial garden located between the wings, facing Central Park. On the north and south sides of the garden will be arcades suitable for outdoor exhibits of Colonial doorways and other works, and in the west ends of the structure there will be niches for statues of De Witt Clinton and Peter Stuyvesant."
A future addition to the rear, said the article, would complete "the H type layout [and] will double the capacity of the building and will include a rear courtyard." Freedlander told reporters that the future extensions were designed that they "may be erected without tearing down or remodeling any part of the main section."
The New York Times mentioned, "There will be a special carriage entrance for visitors on the 103d Street side of the building. This feature of the plans provides space for a ladies' retiring room, a smoking room and space for museum receptions."
The advent of the Great Depression was likely a factor in Freedlander's original design being tweaked. The three arched entrances on Fifth Avenue were replaced with a sweeping staircase, for instance. The construction cost $1.5 million, according to The Sullivan [Missouri] News on February 5, 1931. As the building rose, the newspaper described, "The building...is in Georgian Colonial style and the same style prevails throughout the interior. In the entrance hall is a circular staircase of solid marble construction without steel support."
The brick and marble structure was dedicated on January 11, 1932. The Brooklyn Eagle called it, "rich and impressive," and said, "It is a handsome building of a lavishness in material and detail not paralleled elsewhere among recent buildings." The critic, however, was unsure about Freedman's choice of architectural style. "The advisability of using a definite period for a museum which endeavors to be undated, that does not stress any particular period, is open to question."
photograph by Wurts Bros. 1932, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York
In addition to the paintings, maritime collection, and thousands of New York-related relics, period rooms (called "alcoves") were installed. On May 16, 1935, The Nassau Daily Review reported on the newly opened Cherry Street Alcove. The article said the "delightful alcove" was "furnished correctly with furniture and appointments dating from the year 1760 to the year 1770."
When John D. Rockefeller, Jr. demolished his father's former mansion at 4 West 54th Street in 1938 to make way for the Museum of Modern Art, two of its rooms and their original furniture were installed here. The following year, the Dutch Alcove opened. On November 28, 1939, The New York Times wrote, "The latest addition is a foreroom or living room of a New York Dutch house, with heavy beamed ceiling, Dutch door, casement window, and wide floor boards."
In 1938, The New York Times remarked that the museum's annual attendance topped 200,000 and the building was already no longer sufficient. Nevertheless, the expansion to the rear, most likely because of the ongoing Depression, was deferred.
Just over a decade after the building was dedicated, the bronze statues of Alexander Hamilton and De Witt Clinton, sculpted by Alexander Wienman, were placed within the marble niches outside. Mayor Fiorello La Guardia was the chief speaker at the unveiling on January 13, 1941.
The New York Times, January 14, 1941
By the turn of the century, the museum's collection had outgrown the building. In 2000, the Board of Directors voted to relocate the museum to the former Tweed Courthouse. Mayor Mike Bloomberg, however, upset those plans by designating the former courthouse as the headquarters of the Board of Education.
On November 6, 2005, Christopher Gray began an article in The New York Times saying, "The on-again off-again expansion project of the Museum 0f the City of New York is on again--and this time it seems to be for certain." The article said that construction "to build into its wide backyard, as was originally planned," would commence the next month. Simultaneously, work to renovate and modernize the interiors of the original building began. (The interior renovations would take a decade to complete.) Designed by James Stewart Polshek & Associates, the two-story addition was dedicated in February 2008.
Two years later, "as part of the ongoing expansion and modernization" of the museum, as reported by Antiques and The Arts Weekly on April 7, 2009, the two Rockefeller rooms were deinstalled and donated to two institutions--the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
photograph by Beyond My Ken
Joseph J. Freedlander's dignified Georgian structure was designated an individual New York City landmark on January 24, 1967. In its designation report, the Commission disagreed with The Brooklyn Eagle's 1932 assessment, saying, "the Late Georgian Style, employed for the Museum, is appropriate for a building whose contents depict the history of New York City, the first seat of the Capitol of the United States, when the English Georgian Style was still dominant in this City.
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