From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between)
A Self-Guided Tour of Morningside Heights This self-guided tour features highlights of a popular two-hour guided tour offered by the Cathedral of St. John the Divine called “The Cathedral in Context.” It showcases some of the architectural gems and interesting historical facts found near the Cathedral.
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) This tour was written by Bill Schneberger, an educator and guide at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine on Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan. This self-guided tour features highlights from a popular two-hour walking tour he conducts called “The Cathedral in Context.” We hope that you will be inspired to join him on a tour in the future.
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) STOP #1: Amsterdam Avenue Overview (on the stairs of the Cathedral – 112th Street and Amsterdam Ave.) STOP#2 St. Luke’s Hospital (113th Street between Amsterdam Ave. and Morningside Dr.) STOP #3 Eglise de Notre Dame Locations (114th Street and Morningside Dr.) & STOP #4 Morningside Park (116th Street and Morningside Dr.) Directions STOP #5 Carl Schurz Statue (116th Street and Morningside Dr.) STOP #6 President’s House (116th Street and Morningside Dr.)
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From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) Having spent a good deal of time in and around Morningside Heights as a university student and cathedral educator and tour guide, I have come to know much of its history and character. It may be hard to believe, but well into the 19th century this area was still fairly rural, with farmland, woods and marshes. The fact that it is topographically one of the higher areas on the island also made it one of the last New York neighborhoods to be developed. However, over the Introduction years, it has become a mecca for students, tourists, and residents. Although it is rather small in area, it does contain seven schools and colleges, a number of churches (including a cathedral), and many apartments and commercial buildings. It is bordered on the east and west by two lovely parks with the Bloomingdale neighborhood to its south and Manhattanville to the north.
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) Many famous people have lived here, including three U.S. Presidents, famous writers such as Allan Ginsberg (536 W. 114th Street), F. Scott Fitzgerald (200 Claremont), Saul Bellow (333 Riverside Drive), actor Dustin Hoffman (West 109th Street), movie director Cecil B. DeMille (West 114th Street), comedian George Carlin Introduction (West 121th Street), to name just a few. And President Barack Obama lived at 142 West 109th Street when he was a student at Columbia University.
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) Stop #1: Our walking tour will focus upon a few of the streets, buildings, people, and events that comprise the Amsterdam neighborhood and give it its unique character. Avenue Let us begin with the street directly in front of the Cathedral Overview of St. John the Divine. (112th Street and Amsterdam Ave.)
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) Earlier in the 19th century, Amsterdam Avenue was also the route for the Croton Aqueduct system that brought fresh water to the city. Initially, raised pipes ran down the center of the street, but they were later buried beneath. Look across Amsterdam to the odd stone building on the Amsterdam southeast corner of 113th Street. It is one of the few remnants of the aqueduct system still in existence. It Avenue served as one of the “gatehouses” that regulated the Overview water flow through a series of valves and chambers. It is now part of the Amsterdam House Nursing Home. Another gatehouse exists just north on Amsterdam and 119th Street. The aqueduct system was later abandoned, but some of the original piping still remains below street level.
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) Today everyone knows it as Amsterdam Avenue, but it had a different name originally. One of the main north- -south avenues of the 1811 Commissioners’ Plan that established the city grid pattern, Amsterdam Avenue was called 10th Avenue. The lower portion below 59th Amsterdam Street is still called 10th Avenue, but in 1890 the section from 59th Street to 193 Street became known as Avenue Amsterdam Avenue. Overview In an effort to increase residential and commercial development, city planners renamed it in honor of the original Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam. At first, they considered calling it Holland Avenue, but Amsterdam was chosen, perhaps because it had a bit more “cachet?“
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) Stop #2: St. Luke’s Hospital (113th Street between Amsterdam Ave. and Morningside Dr.)
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) Constructed in the 1890’s, St. Luke’s began with a bit of controversy having to do with the selection of Ernest Flagg as the chosen architect. Numerous well-known architects competed for the commission, but the relatively unknown and inexperienced Ernest Flagg was the search committee’s choice. Like many architects of the day, Flagg had studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in St. Luke’s Paris. Overview However, his education was financed by the Chairman of the Hospital’s Executive Committee, Cornelius Vanderbilt II. Was favoritism involved? Perhaps, but Flagg did design quite a remarkable building. Done in French Renaissance and Beaux-Art style, he incorporated both tradition and innovation in St. Luke’s.
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) Designed to have nine separate pavilions, each to treat different maladies, Flagg ‘s concept was to include more windows in the belief that fresh air and light would help in the healing process – a relatively novel idea at the time. Directly in front of you is the main entrance, which originally housed the administrative offices, and above the clock was an operating arena. It was covered with a dome that held a water tank. The dome was removed in St. Luke’s more recent times due to deterioration. Overview A worthy example of the Beaux-Arts and French Renaissance styles, the building incorporates classical features such as balconies, balustrades, columns, pilasters and cornices, and Mansard roofing. Although it was one of Flagg’s most significant early achievements, the hospital was modernized in the 1950’s by removing sections without regard for the architectural integrity of the building. This is quite evident as you can see to the left of the main entrance.
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) In the 1970’s, St. Luke’s became affiliated with Columbia University and then merged with Roosevelt Hospital in 1978. Most recently, it underwent further reorganization and is now called Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital. In St. Luke’s 2015, a large portion of the 20-story building sold for approximately 29 million and underwent a $13 million Overview renovation. Referred to as 30 Morningside, it boasts 96 luxury residential units.
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) Stop #3: Eglise de Notre Dame (114th Street and Morningside Dr.)
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) Like the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and St. Luke’s Hospital, Eglise de Notre Dame is another example of the revival architectural styles popular during the Gilded Eglise de Age. Done in a centrally planned Neo-Classical style, Notre Dame Notre Dame’s symmetrical façade features a triangular pediment, dental moldings, and four fluted columns Overview topped with Corinthian capitals that support a central portico. Garlands and festoons decorate the upper margins of the building, also.
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) Designed by Daus and Otto in 1910 and Cross and Cross in 1914, this Roman Catholic Church had a very Eglise de interesting beginning. A rich socialite named Geraldine Redmond took her sick son to Lourdes in France after Notre Dame failing to find a cure for him here in the U.S. It was after their visit to the grotto at Notre Dame de Lourdes that Overview his sickness was cured. In a gesture of gratitude to God, she financed the building of Eglise de Notre Dame.
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) Although the church was never quite completed (note the empty niches to the left and right of the door and the blocks of uncut stone in the pediment, along with the modern shingled roof), it does contain a completed replica of the grotto at Lourdes behind the high altar. As shown in the photo, it was supposed to be taller, with a dome similar to Les Invalides in Paris. Today, it serves the diverse Morningside Heights community, and is also a New York City Landmark and listed on State and National Registers of Historic Places.
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) Stop #4: Morningside Park (116th Street and Morningside Dr.)
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) Morningside Park forms the eastern boundary of the Morningside Heights neighborhood, as does Riverside Park to the west. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, architects of Central Park, the park consists of approximately 30 acres. Constructed on a strip of land from 110th to 123rd Streets and described as “inconvenient for use” by the city surveyor in 1867, it was Morningside not conducive to residential or commercial development. Park Beyond the park is the Harlem Plain, first called “Muscota” by the Lenape indigenous people, meaning Overview “flat place.” It was there that Governor Peter Stuyvesant established the town called East Haarlem. Olmstead and Vaux completed construction of the park in 1895 and the area has gone through various alterations during its 125- year history. Basketball courts and softball diamonds were added mid-century, as well as a pond and playgrounds in the 1990’s.
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) Columbia University proposed building a gymnasium in the park in the early 1960’s that provoked a major student riot in 1968 and forced the college to abandon the idea. Given the racial tensions at the time, the gymnasium was seen as an affront to the African-American community living nearby and was dubbed “Columbia’s Gym Crow” incident, since it was to be open to Columbia students only and not East Harlem residents. As a result, the gymnasium was never built in Morningside Park.
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) Stop #5: Carl Schurz Statue (116th Street and Morningside Dr.)
“My country when right, keep it right; when wrong, set it right”
“Our ideals resemble the stars, which illuminate the night. No one will ever be able to touch them. But men, who like sailors on the ocean, take them for guides, will undoubtedly find their way.”
-- Carl Schurz
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) At the center of the viewing pavilion, facing Morningside Drive, stands a bronze statue of Carl Schurz, a German immigrant from Cologne. As a student in Germany, Schurz took part in the failed 1848 German revolution and was forced to flee to Switzerland and then to Carl Schurz England to escape incarceration. In 1852 at the age of 23, he immigrated with his wife to New York and eventually Statue settled in Wisconsin. Overview Carl Schurz was active in support of universal suffrage and got involved in local and state politics. As a leading member of the Republican Party, he eventually became a great supporter of Abraham Lincoln and the anti- slavery movement.
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) After his election, President Lincoln appointed him United States Envoy to Spain. When the Civil War broke out, Schurz joined the Union Army and helped recruit German-American soldiers. He was given the rank of Brigadier General and participated in campaigns at Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. Carl Schurz After the war, he returned to New York City, where he became a correspondent for the New York Tribune Statue newspaper. Overview Returning to politics in 1869, he was elected to the United States Senate as the first German-American to hold a Senate seat. When Rutherford B. Hayes was elected in 1877, he appointed Schurz to be the Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs. During his tenure as Secretary, he worked diligently to root out corruption and promote more humanitarian policies.
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) He lived out his remaining years with his wife, Margarethe, at their cottage in Lake George, New York. Margarethe is remembered as instrumental in establishing the German Kindergarten system in America. Carl Schurz died in 1906 and is interred at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Westchester County, New York.
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) This Carl Schurz Statue was made by the Viennese sculptor, Carl Bitter, in 1913, who saw himself as a successful German-speaking immigrant. Dressed in a long overcoat as if out for a walk, Schurz looks west with Carl Schurz a determined countenance. Statue Alongside and to the left and right, Bitter created two idealized allegorical relief scenes honoring Schurz’s Overview humanitarian accomplishments and objectives. Done in gray-black granite, the left side facing the statue illustrates two Native American figures and a helmeted Roman Centurion breaking the chains of bondage.
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) In 1968 Rock and Roll history was made in front of the left relief sculpture, when the soon-to-be world famous British rock band, “The Who,” selected it as the background for the cover of their first album, “The Kids are Alright.”
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) Stop #6: President’s House (116th Street and Morningside Dr.)
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) A year after Columbia College attained university status in 1896, President Seth Low promoted the idea that the president “should ultimately live on the grounds,” President’s although he lived off campus in a townhouse on 64th Street and Madison Avenue. During the ensuing years, House focus was upon the construction of teaching and dormitory buildings and the President’s House was put Overview on hold. In 1901, Nicholas Murray Butler succeeded Low as president and further delayed the President’s House, calling it “a luxury rather than a necessity.”
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) In 1909, the university acquired more east campus property with the intention of building a medical school; however, the first building constructed was the President’s President’s House. It was designed by William Kendall, a partner in the McKim, Mead, and White architectural House firm. Completed in 1912, the rather austere looking residence contains three floors with eight bedrooms, six Overview bathrooms, and seven servants’ rooms. It boasts fine brickwork with alternating bands of limestone.
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) In 1912, President Butler moved in and lived there until his retirement in 1945. He was succeeded by the World War II Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe, Dwight D. Eisenhower and his wife, Mamie. Eisenhower served as University President from 1948 until 1953, when he was elected the President’s 34th President of the United States. House An interesting caveat to the story of Eisenhower’s selection as Columbia University President is a rumor Overview that emerged claiming that the university trustees mistakenly asked Dwight rather than his younger brother, Milton, for the position. Dwight Eisenhower did not have the traditional academic background expected of a university president; however, Milton did. The rumor has been proven false but makes for an interesting story.
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) In order to enclose the campus and ban city traffic, Eisenhower purchased from the city of New York the portion of W116th Street between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway for $1,000.
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between) We hope you enjoyed introduction to Morningside Heights and are inspired to learn more about its history and fascinating architecture. And please do stop by the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. It is open daily for prayer, reflection, and sightseeing. Visit www.stjohndivine.org to learn more.
From the Cathedral to Columbia (and what’s in between)