Walking Around New York: Battery Park

Photo: Tatiana Borodina

Trips to new places always imply an encounter with surprises. New York, perhaps can lead the list of cities of surprises.

Do not try to find in it the canons of beauty and harmony familiar to the European eye.

It does not have the charm of Paris, the charm of ancient Rome, the grandeur of Vienna or the sophistication of Barcelona. He is not like everyone else - this is his strength and charm.

Try to look at it with a fresh look, and then another love will appear in your life - love for New York.

Battery Park and its surroundings

In 1524, the Italian navigator Giovanni da Vérezano, in the service of the French monarch Francis I, opened to Europeans нNew York Bay and proclaimed this territory the property of the King of France. It is interesting that in the future the French never laid claim to these lands.

On the southern shore of Manhattan Island, in the bay where the Hudson and East River meet, the history of New York began. Here settled its first inhabitants, and probably therefore from here it is customary to begin acquaintance with a city unlike any other in the world.

Of course, the place where the first European landed on the land of Manhattan landed is not exactly known, but it was probably not far from the current Battery Park. Founded in 1785, it is considered one of the oldest New York relics and the second oldest city park after Bowling Green (1733).

In the 17th century, a farm and the residence of the governor of the island, Peter Styvesant, offices and warehouses of the Dutch West India Company were located in its place.

In the 18th century, an English fort was built here and an artillery battery was based, from which the name Battery came. Gradually, the southern cape of the island was built up with city streets, and at the water's edge, the townspeople chose a place for rest and walks.

Here is located Castel Garden is the oldest surviving fortification in the city. The fort was built to protect Manhattan during the war with Britain in 1811. It was erected on an embankment island in 60 meters from the coastline and connected to land by a pontoon bridge. Its round shape provided a reliable defense, and the artillery battery placed in it made it almost impregnable. But it was not possible to verify in practice his military power - the fort was never used for its intended purpose.

But his role in the life of the city turned out to be very significant, and his fate was multifaceted and colorful. 4 years after construction, the fort was renamed Castel Clinton in honor of Witt Clinton, the former mayor of the city and governor of the state. For almost 200 years there has been some confusion in the names - both names of the fort are still used.

Photo: Tatiana Borodina

Further history of the Fort

In the second decade of the XIX century, Castel Garden became the centerpiece of the city, where residents gathered for ceremonial receptions and festive ceremonies. It was here in 1824 that New York met and honored General Marcus Lafayette, the celebrated hero of the American Revolution.

It was a grand celebration, which brought together more than 6000 guests. A year later, there were great celebrations around the opening of the Erie Canal, which connected the Great Lakes with the Hudson. And in all subsequent times Castel Garden held concerts, exhibitions, festivals and sports competitions - this place remained the favorite center of leisure and social life of the city.

Over time, the fort was covered with a roof and another 1 floor was erected on it in the form of a covered rotunda. In 1850 Castel Clinton was turned into an opera house for 6000 spectators with a sophisticated interior and good acoustics. Many celebrities from the theater world came to it, including European opera stars. The townspeople loved this theater, which rose to a high degree. on the island and considered one of the most beautiful places New York.

In 1848, the area of ​​Battery Park was enlarged due to artificial mounds, so that coastline, pushing the waters of the bay, shifted almost at 100 meters. Since Castel Clinton has ceased to be an island.

After the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815, mass emigration from Europe began. By the middle of the century arises the need for a special immigration checkpoint in New York. And in August, 1855, the Castel Garden, becomes the first immigration station in America. There was not only a checkpoint, but also an employment office, a money exchange office, a restaurant, a baggage delivery office, transport agencies, a railway ticket office, a telegraph office and religious missionary services. From 1855 to 1889, more than 8 of millions of immigrants who arrived in the New World passed through the gates of Castel Clinton.

The flow of immigrants continued to grow, and in 1889, Ellis Island was used for receiving new arrivals, and Castel Clinton has opened its first city aquarium in America. This turned out to be a good idea, the aquarium was a great success - over a million people visited it in 45 years.

Next to Castel Garden, there is another building that you should pay attention to. This is Pierce A - the last pier of the lower port West Side from the past. Previously, here was the Manhattan River Management Docks. The building was built in 1886 year. The clock tower decorating the pier was added to the pier in 1919. It became the first national memorial dedicated to the memory of the participants of the First World War. Now, after many years of desolation, the pier and tower are being renovated to become another tourist site of Betteri Park.

Photo: Tatiana Borodina

In the first quarter of the twentieth century, the area of ​​Battery Park gradually fell into disrepair and, in fact, turned into an abandoned industrial zone. And by the 50 years, Castel Clinton threatened to demolish: it was necessary to make room for the Battery tunnel under construction connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan. But 20-year-old "civil war" for the preservation of the historical place, fortunately for the city, ended in success - the fort continued its life, becoming a small museum of the history of emigration and a ticket office for excursion ships departing from the berth park. Now you can go on a small trip around New York Bay or on an excursion to the Statue of Liberty and to Ellis Island, the place where immigrant control and quarantine passed to New York for 1889 to 1954.

Walking along the alleys of Battery Park, besides the old fort, you can find a lot of interesting memorial sites. Not far from the entrance to the park is a stele with a flagpole, installed in memory of the first Jewish refugees who arrived on the land of Manhattan in 1654. Fleeing religious persecution in Brazil, 23 man chartered the ship, intending to go to Holland, but fate decreed otherwise. The ship was captured first by the Spanish and then the French pirates. Having given all their possessions to the corsairs, the refugees begged them to land on the first piece of land that they would see from the ship. That place was Manhattan. The governor of the island accepted the refugees rather coldly, but allowed him to stay. The history of the Congregation of Sheerith Israel began with this small group of Sephardic Jews, and the foundation of the largest Jewish community in the world, the New York, began. The flagpole stella is also remarkable because the inscription on its bas-relief reads: “It was here that the historic deal to purchase Manhattan from the Indians took place.”

In 1626, Peter Minuit, the first governor of New Amsterdam, made an unprecedented deal. Finding a tribe of Algonquin Indians on the island, he buys Manhattan Island from them for a batch of axes and blankets for a total of 60 guilders (approximately $ 24, as later historians have calculated). The piquancy of this historical fact is that the sellers were not the locals, but simply the successful and adventurous Indians who were passing by and finding themselves at the right time in the right place. So, to mutual pleasure, this was the first real estate scam in the history of New York, initiating the entrepreneurial and adventurous spirit of the city.

After the September 11 terrorist attack, 2001 was moved to the park with the sculpture The Sphere, a polished bronze ball that stood on the square in front of the World Trade Center towers. During the fall of "Twins", "Sphere" suffered greatly, they did not repair it - with its mutilated appearance, it reminds of the tragedy of 2001 of the year.

At the west end of Battery Park there is the Jewish Heritage Museum and the Holocaust Memorial. The museum not only contains a lot of interesting exhibits, but also is made according to all the rules of a multimedia information center: everywhere from televisions and hidden speakers voices of immigrants from different years sound about life in Europe, the Holocaust, and their move to America.

Across the street from the museum stands the tall building of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, from which beautiful views - not only for guests, but for all visitors to the bar on the 14 floor. The building has a Museum of Skyscrapers, which is curious to look through the album 1922, with photos of the construction of the Empire State Building, as well as view list of skyscrapers with their rating, compiled on the basis of a survey of a hundred well-known and knowledgeable people in the architecture of the city. The first place in the ranking belongs to Chrysler Building (1930), the second - Seagram Building (1958), the third share Woolworth Building (1913) and “Iron” (1902).

Photo: Tatiana Borodina

In the summer of 2015, a novelty appeared in Battery Park - “Underwater World Carousel”.

Not an aquarium (although it looks like it), but a whole “underwater” world appeared in Battery Park in Manhattan. The SeaGlass project was planned to open back in 2011, but was delayed for as much as 4 years. But now a huge carousel made of metal and glass with glowing fish inside is completely at the disposal of New Yorkers. Now everyone can ride one of 30 fish that “swim” under the dome of a giant nautilus and change color. True, they “float”, periodically stopping and rotating much faster than ordinary carousels: at a speed of 2,5 revolutions per minute. Studios with experience in stage design Acme Professional and Architects Weisz + Yoes, as well as theater artist Georgy Tsypin, had a hand in creating SeaGlass, so it’s not surprising that the attraction looks more like a mini-performance. By the way, the “underwater” skating was accompanied by works by Mozart, Prokofiev and other classics, reports buro247

At the Better Park originate urban areas, completely different from each other. In the north-east direction begins the historic city, which will be discussed later, and if you go from the park to the north-west along the Hudson, you will find yourself in a beautiful modern area, which has become especially popular in the last 10 years.

Battery Park City is recognized as one of the most successful modern housing projects in America. Just a few decades ago it was a rather dull and unappealing place. The coast bristling with the piers from the second half of the 19th century was built up by gas plants, and in the 20th century the coastal region finally cut off the high-speed highway from the rest of the city, which replaced the elevated railway. Only in the early eighties of the last century, the piers going to the Hudson River were covered with earth. In their place, a residential area was set up with a view of the river, surrounded by linden avenues, fencing off new quarters from the noisy highway. Nowadays, the district has been developing intensively and gaining popularity because of the picturesque waterfront, good infrastructure, proximity to business center and historic neighborhoods. Now this residential area extends from Battery Park along Hudson, past the World Financial Center and further north. Here is the unique tiny and most expensive ocean marina in the world, directly adjacent to the World Financial Center. Along it are cozy restaurants; sitting at their tables you can admire the luxurious yachts that come to New York from around the world.

On the north side of the Battery Park is adjacent to the Battery Place, which stops almost all sightseeing buses and which offers a beautiful view of both New York Bay and the lower part of Broadway. In New York, not a lot of space, in the European sense their there will be no more than five, and the Battery Place is perhaps the most beautiful of them. Let's stop our attention on several houses in this place, we will tell about the rest in the following routes.

Right at the end of the square, facing the bay is the White Hall Building, built in 1904, by Henry Herdnerberg in the neo-Renaissance style. The house was named after the residence of the first governor of Manhattan, Peter Styvesant. The building can be seen from almost all points of the bay, both from the water and from land. This unique location inspired Henry Hördnerberg to build a house at the same time in a refined and daring style, using contrasting colors to finish its facade. It was built as an office building - the first in New York. The project is quite risky, but it was so successful that already in 1908, the house was decided to be completed, which was successfully made by the architectural company Clinton and Roussell. Behind the back of the first 20-storey building in 1910, the second height of the 31 floor grew. The two houses are interconnected by a common ground floor and a suspension bridge. Thus, visually they form a single architectural ensemble. After the construction was completed, this office complex turned out to be not only the very first, but also the largest in New York.

Photo: Tatiana Borodina

A few steps from Battery Place, West Street is a spectacular skyscraper built in 1930 by the architectural firm Starrett & Van Vleck. The 35-storey, 162-meter City Athletic Club is interesting not only from an architectural point of view, but also for its purpose. The skyscraper, built on a small plot of land in the American Art Deco style in the form of a narrow 4-sided cliff of dark red brick with uneven ledges, amazed the imagination of contemporaries. This huge club was created to demonstrate how it can and should be modern urban sports facility. He became a kind of personification of the heyday of America, preceding the onset of the Great Depression. Everything was done here in a big way: several floors were reserved for gymnasiums, boxing rings, on the 7 floor there was a covered golf course, on 12 there was a tennis court and a swimming pool. Only high-income white men were recorded at the club - mostly, they were lawyers, bankers and businessmen from the offices of the business center of Manhattan. The narrow upper part of the building - 15 floors - was reserved for restaurants and bedrooms for gentlemen who, having worked well on their physical form and refreshed with oysters, did not want to return home. Women began to be allowed here only from 1972 year. The club existed 72 of the year, in 2002-m it closed due to the decline of the area after the terrorist attack 11 September 2001 of the year. True, in 2005-m he came to life again, but already as a multi-apartment elite residential building, in which many New York celebrities now live.

Entrance to the subway at the station Bowling Green

In the easternmost corner of Battery Park is the entrance to the Bowling Green metro station, which has its original name - BOWLING GREEN IRT CONTROL HOUSE. The entrance to the metro is also an urban historical relic. It is one of the oldest surviving in New York, more than 100 years old. This small building was built in 1905 by Heins & LaFarge in the Flemish Revival style.

Old Customs

Along the Battery Park stretches, repeating the coastline, State Street, at the beginning of which stands a huge building of the Old Customs. It was built in 1907 by one of New York’s most famous architects, Cass Gilbert (1859-1934). The majestic neoclassical building occupies an entire block. The architectural design of the building is made with a deep symbolic meaning, emphasizing the power and might of America as a trading and maritime power. The Eaves of Customs adorn 12 statues personifying the centers of the world trade: the UK, Venice, Genoa, Germany, Holland, Greece, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Rome, France and Phenicia. Above each window in the main rotunda are depicted the faces of people of different races, symbolizing the fact that goods flow to America from all over the world.

The main facade is decorated with figures - symbols of 4 continents, allegorically reflecting the character of each of them. Europe is a royal, but devoid of energy, resting on its laurels, with a sluggishly lowered right hand. America is young and active, aspiring to the future, with a torch in hand. Asia is self-absorbed, meditating with the Buddha on his knee. Africa is deceased and dormant, surrounded by artifacts of ancient civilizations. Sculptures are very interesting and certainly deserve attention. Their author Daniel Chaster Franch is well known all over the world, his best work is the statue of Abraham Lincoln (1920) at the Lincoln Memorial Center in Washington. Now in the building of the old customs is the Museum of the Indians.

The steps of the old customs overlook Bowling Green Park Square. It was the first square of old New Amsterdam. And when, with the arrival of the English, the city was called New York and the park began to play bowling (bowling), it received the status of the first city park. The cast iron fence surrounding it was built in 1771 year and is considered to be a historical relic. In the middle of the park in the 18 century, there was a statue of King George III of England, but after adopting the Declaration of Independence in 1776, it was overthrown by residents of the city and symbolically smelted into bullets.

Photo: Tatiana Borodina

Historical information

1524 - Italian navigator Giovanni da Vérezano, in the service of the French monarch Francis I, opened to Europeans New York Bay and proclaimed this territory the property of the king of France. It is interesting that in the future the French never laid claim to these lands.

1609 - went to America The expedition of the West India Company, founded by the Netherlands, that Add newly discovered territories to the Netherlands. She headed English explorer Hudson, after whom the Hudson River got its name.

1613 - The first Dutch trading posts appeared on Manhattan Island.

1615 - built the first fortress on the very shore of the Hudson.

1624 - the first groups of settlers arrived.

1625 - the fort was founded New Amsterdam, which in 1653 year after the official receipt of municipal rights became known as the city.

The founder of the city is Willem Verhulst, the head of the West India Company, who chose in 1625, Manhattan Island as the best place to lay a fort. According to his plan, a well-fortified fort in the southern part of Manhattan Island in the Hudson Delta was to provide the safety of the courts of the West India Company, trading in the upper river furs with local Indian tribes. New Amsterdam became the largest settlement New Netherlands and remained dominated by the Dutch Republic until August 1664.

1626 - Peter Minuit, the first governor of New Amsterdam, bought Manhattan Island from the Algonquian Indians per batch of axes and blankets for a total of 60 guilders ($ 24).

Dutch the colony existed on the island a little more 50 years. During this time, a city with a developed trading system, hospitals, shelters for the poor, 2-3-storeyed houses, taverns, hotels and shops appeared on the site of a virgin forest. The population spoke 18 languages, although all residents were considered subjects of the Dutch Republic. New Amsterdam residents were united quickly rooted on the island pragmatic and business outlook, religious and national tolerance, ability to make and value money. In addition, it seems they all had a special adventurous “crazy spirit”, which all together later became the essence of modern New York. It’s not for nothing that they say that everything is important in character laid in childhood as well New York's childhood passed in the Dutch cradle.

1664 - English ships captured the city without meeting resistance from the governor of Styvesant. New Amsterdam It was renamed New York in honor of the Duke of York’s initiator. The subsequent reign of the British, which lasted more than 100 years, Not many people have enriched the city, perhaps, only in English and street names.

Great Britain viewed the American colonies as an inexhaustible source of money, replenishing the treasury without much effort on the part of the mother country. Taxes increased every year, and the rights and powers of local authorities were practically reduced to zero. Such a policy could hardly be called wise, and soon enough it led to the formation of the radical organization “Sons of Liberty” in the American colonies.

Under her leadership, the first street anti-government demonstrations began to arise, gradually developing into clashes with British soldiers. The Sons of Liberty had nothing in common with the urban poor and anarchists. Coming from a large and middle bourgeoisie, they would be happy to remain law-abiding, but prohibitively high taxes and restrictions on rights did not allow them to peacefully go about their business. Faithful sons of the Enlightenment, they were greedy for ideas and very soon turned out to be “revolutionaries in perfumed wigs.” It was the Sons of Liberty organization that became the basis for the first rebellious American Congress. The war of independence became inevitable.

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