This spring, the New-York Historical Society debuts Lost New York, a brand new exhibition exploring the locations that when outlined New York City. On view April 19 – September 29, 2024, the exhibition invitations guests to expertise the metropolis’s misplaced landmarks, similar to the authentic Penn Station, Croton Reservoir, Chinese Theater, and river bathhouses. Throughout the exhibition, neighborhood voices convey these misplaced sites to life: a lady recollects attending the Old Met Opera House in 1939, a Broadway carpenter reminisces a few {photograph} of his father in entrance of the Hippodrome Theatre, and a choir director displays upon the demolished Harlem Renaissance monument Lift Every Voice and Sing. Curated by Wendy Nālani E. Ikemoto, vp and chief curator of New-York Historical, Lost New York showcases treasures from the Museum and Patricia D. Klingenstein Library collections and captures each the dynamism of an ever-changing metropolis and the significance of preserving items of our in any other case vanishing previous.
To welcome the new exhibition, pay-as-you-wish Friday evenings will broaden from 5–8 pm and embody stay classic music and specialty “lost” cocktails throughout the spring and summer season months.
“Lost New York invites visitors to wander through the echoes of a city unfamiliar to what they know now,” stated Dr. Louise Mirrer, president and CEO of New-York Historical. “We’re excited to welcome visitors throughout the run of the exhibition and especially on Friday nights when the galleries will be filled with vibrant music, nostalgia, and good cheer.”
“Lost New York delves into the many and deep layers of this city. I hope visitors will delight in discovering the landmarks that once defined the places they know but also consider the serious issues, like gentrification and environmental devastation, that drove their loss and reflect upon the importance of preserving our past,” stated Dr. Wendy Nālani E. Ikemoto. “It has been an honor to connect with members of our community and learn about their experiences with these lost places. Their voices enliven and personalize the exhibition and sustain the memory and meaning of these sites.”
Exhibition Highlights
Comprising greater than 90 work, pictures, objects, and lithographs, the exhibition provides fascinating glimpses into the metropolis’s wealthy architectural heritage and vibrant previous. Featured is Jules Crow’s vivid depiction of the Pennsylvania Station Interior in 1906, a masterful watercolor capturing the grandeur of the authentic Beaux-Arts masterpiece designed by McKim, Mead, and White. Opened in 1910, the constructing stood for under 54 years. Its demolition spurred the creation of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission two years later.
Capturing one other bygone construction is François Courtin’s lithograph displaying the grandeur of New York’s Crystal Palace throughout the 1853 Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations. Rising majestically in what’s now Bryant Park, this architectural marvel as soon as hosted technological wonders from throughout the globe, providing a glimpse into an period of innovation and boundless creativeness. Steps away was the authentic Croton Reservoir, constructed to extend the metropolis’s water provide, as depicted in an 1850 lithograph by Charles Autenrieth. Its large Egyptian-style partitions grew to become a well-liked promenade spot for New Yorkers. Parts of the authentic stone construction can nonetheless be seen on the decrease degree of the New York Public Library on forty second Street, which rose as a replacement.
While signal painter De La Prelette Wriley exhibits off his personal enterprise in the 1837 oil on wooden panel, No. 7 1/2 Bowery, the portray options one other antiquated hallmark of early New York—a pig roaming the streets. A low-maintenance and high-protein meals staple, pigs wandered freely by way of the metropolis till 1859, serving as New York’s first rubbish administration system by consuming scraps off the streets. Showcasing one other widespread animal of the metropolis’s early streets, William Seaman’s 1850 oil portray Knickerbocker Stage Line Omnibus depicts New York’s first kind of mass transit: massive horse-drawn stagecoaches that carried a few dozen folks at a time and ran alongside designated routes.
Complementing many of the works on show are observations from a spread of New Yorkers sharing their recollections of the locations depicted. These neighborhood voices embody an artist who, as an LGBTQ+ youth and aspiring artist, bought a t-shirt from Keith Haring’s Pop Shop; a lady from a self-described multigenerational household Yankee “fandom” who remembers watching David Wells and David Cone pitch excellent video games at the outdated Yankee Stadium; and a cultural employee who imagines the cross-cultural dialog that led Samuel Northcote to mistitle New York City’s first Chinese-language theater in his 1899 portray of it.
Programming
Starting on May 3 and persevering with each Friday by way of early summer season, pay-as-you-wish Friday nights broaden, starting at 5pm and lasting till 8pm. Visitors can take pleasure in a stay band taking part in traditional jazz and American requirements and a bar that includes traditional and forgotten NYC cocktails.
On May 20, New York Times author Brent Staples reveals the extraordinary story of Elizabeth Gloucester, who was born into slavery; as a free girl grew to become a well-connected champion of the anti-slavery motion in the metropolis; and owned property in Seneca Village, the Black neighborhood (featured in Lost New York) whose land New York City seized to make means for Central Park. Tickets for Elizabeth Gloucester: The Lost Story of New York’s Most Powerful Black Woman can be found on-line. Private group excursions can be organized all through the exhibition.
Exhibition-themed story occasions will even happen on weekends for younger guests, and on April 28, households can be taught extra about Seneca Village, the day-to-day lives of landowning Black New Yorkers, and the numerous group of folks they rented to. For extra particulars, go to the household packages calendar.
