NYC Day 54: In Which I Go in Search of Pre-Revolutionary America

Three views of the Morris-Jumel Mansion
Click images to view full sized

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It may surprise you, dear reader, that in amongst the soaring skyscrapers that dot the New York City skyline, there are to be found numerous buildings and homes that reach back to before the American Revolution. I know that may seem preposterous; that a city as dynamic and as ever changing as New York City, somehow retains vestiges of it's revolutionary past.

One of those buildings is the Morris-Jumel Mansion, located on an acre or two of land in upper Manhattan, overlooking the East River (at 65 Jumel Terrace). I mention the acreage specifically because the former estate on which the mansion now stands once stretched across Manhattan from the Hudson River to the East River, and from approximately 168th Street down to 158th.

The Mansion today is part of the Jumel Terrace Historic District, a small historic district in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan.

It consists of 50 residential rowhouses built between 1890 and 1902, and one apartment building constructed in 1909, as the heirs of Eliza Jumel sold off the land of the former Roger Morris estate. The buildings are primarily wood or brick rowhouses in the Queen Anne, Romanesque and Neo-Renaissance styles. {Wikipedia...] 

An information sheet at the Mansion provides additional information:

The Morris-Jumel Mansion, Manhattan's only remaining Colonial residence, is unique in its combination of architectural and historical significance. Built as a summer "villa" in 1765 by the British Colonel Roger Morris and his American wife Mary Philipse, it originally commanded extensive views in all directions: of New York harbor and Staten Island to the south; of the Hudson and Harlem rivers to the west and east; and of Westchester county to the north.

Colonel Morris was the son of the famous architect Roger Morris, a fact which may explain the extremely innovative features of the Mansion such as the gigantic portico, unprecedented in American architecture, and the rear wing which was the first octagon built in the Colonies.

Above: Interior of the octagonal Drawing Room, and below items within the room,

 A painting of Aaron Burr, by George Hans Eric Maunsbach

Empire Sofa, c.1825

Painting of Eliza Jumel by an unknown artist.

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The house's situation and large size made it ideal as military headquarters during the Revolution, and it was occupied successively by Washington, General Sir Henry Clinton, and the Hessian General Baron Von Knyphausen. As the Morrises were loyal to Britain during the Revolution, their property was seized and sold after its conclusion. In 1790 Washington returned for a cabinet dinner at which he entertained Jefferson, Adams, Madison, Hamilton, and Colonel Knox, among others.

The later history of the house centers on the Jumels, Stephen Jumel was a wealthy French emigre who married, in 1804, his beautiful and brilliant mistress, Eliza Bowen. They bought the Mansion in 1810. In 1815 they sailed to France, and offered Napoleon safe passage to New York after Waterloo. although he eventually declined the offer, they did acquire from his family many important Napoleonic relics - some of which can be seen in the blue bedroom on the second floor. Stephen died in 1832 and Eliza married the ex-Vice-President, Aaron Burr in the front parlor a year later. On her death in 1865 she was considers one of the wealthiest women in America.

Above and Below: The kitchen situated in the basement.

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It should be said that today the Mansion is in dire need of an extensive (and no doubt expensive) upgrade of its exterior facade. The staff member I was taking to described a complicated arrangement with a government heritage department which divides responsibility for the buildings maintenance thus: the non-profit group managing the site is only able to renovate and fix the interior of the building, while the government agency is responsible for the exterior. This has led to a situation in which the interior is progressively being upgraded, while the exterior of the building appears run down, and in desperate need of maintenance, including and a fresh paint job.

I don't know how many of the fittings and items of furniture currently on display in the Morris-Jumel Mansion are original to the building, but as a 'work in progress', it was sobering to walk in the footsteps of George Washington, and some of the other leaders of the American Revolution for an hour or so, and to try and imagine the scenes playing out inside the Mansion more than 200 years ago..

Above and Below: A series of photos representing Washington's War Room.

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A special bonus for visitors who make the trip uptown to see the Morris-Jumel Mansion is the chance to walk along one of the most unique streets in the whole of New York City; and that is the incredible time warp that is Sylvan Terrace.

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Sylvan Terrace, located where West 161st Street would normally be, was originally the carriage drive of the Morris estate. In 1882-83 twenty wooden houses, designed by Gilbert R. Robinson Jr., were constructed on the drive. Initially rented out to laborers and working class civil servants, the houses were restored in 1979-81. They are now some of the few remaining framed house in in Manhattan. {Wikipedia...]

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Tuesday 8, August | Expenses $86.80 ($110.25)

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Any questions, comments or suggestions? How about complaints or compliments? Let me know via the comments box below.

NYC Day 53: In Which I Give Thanks For a Rainy Day Monday

The cover of my edition of The Bell Jar

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Unusually for New York City, it rained all day today. Unusual, because generally the storm clouds and the rain that accompanies them generally move on after a few hours, leaving the streets of the city washed relatively clean for a day or two, before they are once again covered with a layer - or layers - of the daily grime that never seems to get completely washed away, no matter how severe the downpour.

To be honest, I was grateful for the excuse the rain gave me to stay in. In fact, I did not step foot outside the apartment all day. I did consider going out for dinner, but in the end I couldn't be bothered making the effort to do even that. So I cooked my own (spaghetti, garnished with spiced Moroccan olives, and spaghetti sauce straight out of a jar).

I spent the day updating this blog, and reading. I finished my 29th* book for the year, Sylvia Plath's only full length novel, The Bell Jar. My delight in the book was tempered by the knowledge that Plath took her own life at the age of 31, and that with this final act, the literary world will never know just how many other great novels she may have written if she had chosen to live.

Sylvia Plath (October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. Born in Boston, she studied at Smith College and Newnham College at the University of Cambridge before receiving acclaim as a poet and writer. She was married to fellow poet Ted Hughes from 1956 until they separated in September 1962. They lived together in the United States and then in England and had two children, Frieda and Nicholas. Plath was clinically depressed for most of her adult life, and was treated multiple times with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). She committed suicide in 1963. Plath is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for two of her published collections, The Colossus and Other Poems and Ariel, and The Bell Jar, a semi-autobiographical novel published shortly before her death. In 1982, she won a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for The Collected Poems. [Source: Wikipedia...]

What a brilliant tour de force of a debut novel The Bell Jar is. The book is essentially a memoir of the first 20 years of her life. So personal is her writing, that it was not meant to be published in America until Plath's mother had herself passed away, which given her mothers relatively young age, would have potentially been many years after Sylvia had died. In the end, the book had become so popular in Britain (where Plath was living at the time), that when illegally imported copies of the book began turning up in the US, following Plath's death, the publishers had no choice but to release the book there, or face the prospect that some other publisher would do so.

One of the few available photos of Sylva Plath

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The Bell Jar is one of those books that seems to be name-checked by many other writers and artists, and it was way past time I got around to reading it. The book is beautifully written, with her prose reflecting her other great skill as a poet.

Plath spent a month in New York City when she was 19 as part of a placement with a women's magazine. She writes extensively about this period in The Bell Jar, and the following quotes, which capture aspects of New York perfectly, come from this time.

I have written in previous posts about the drenching downpours of rain that hit New York City from time to time, but none of my descriptions come close to this passage from Sylvia Plath:

"When we came out of the sunnily lit interior of the Ladies' Day offices, the streets were gray and fuming with rain. It wasn't the nice kind of rain that rinses you clean, but the sort of rain I imagine they must have in Brazil. It flew straight down from the sky in drops the size of coffee saucers and hit the hot sidewalks with a hiss that sent clouds of steam writhing up from the gleaming, dark concrete."

Or this spot on observation about another of my persistent complaints regarding the city's summer heat:

"I didn't realize Lenny's place had been air-conditioned until I wavered out onto the pavement. The tropical, stale heat the sidewalks had been sucking up all day hit me in the face like a last insult."

Noting that she had been the same weight for ten or more years, Plath writes that she had no problem eating as much as she liked compared to her associates:

"I made a point of eating so fast I never kept the other people waiting who generally ordered only chef's salad and grapefruit juice because they were trying to reduce. Almost everybody I met in New York was trying to reduce."

After a wild night out with fellow interns, Plath and one of the other females throw up in a taxi on the way back to the hotel, causing Plath to observe:

"There is nothing like puking with somebody to make you into old friends."

Like Jean Rhys's book, Wide Sargasso Sea, this book too is a real 'keeper'. Not only will I make a point of reading it again, but I will also seek out copies of her collected poems when I next visit Strand Books or the Housing Works Book Store.

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Monday 7, August | Expenses $00.00

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*29th book. With regard to counting the number of books I am reading: I began the year with a self-imposed 52-Book-Year Challenge, the goal of which is to read an average of one book per week during 2017. Hence, Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar, is book 29.

Any questions, comments or suggestions? How about complaints or compliments? Let me know via the comments box below.

NYC Day 52: In Which I Delight in The Next Generation of Broadway Performers

Broadway's Next Generation take a well deserved curtain call

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Broadway Artists Alliance: Broadway's Next Generation Students
In spite of a general feeling of tiredness and subsequent lack of energy, I went out this afternoon to catch, Broadway Artists Alliance Presents: Broadway's Next Generation, at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre at Symphony Space (at 2537 Broadway, New York).

Overview: Broadway Artists Alliance: Broadway's Next Generation Students from all across the country have been hand selected to study with top Broadway Mentors throughout the summer here in the heart of New York City. In this fast paced showcase of Broadway's Best, enjoy your favorite Musical Theatre repertoire from traditional to current and upcoming works performed by Broadway's Next Generation of talented young performers ages 10-21.

As if to test my resolve and commitment to the event, I had to walk over the 191st Street 1-train subway station to make the run to the 96th Street station. On reaching the 191st station, I found that subway trains were not running that far this weekend due to the never-ending track work that plague's the city's subway system. There was nothing for but to either give up, or find another way of getting to the theatre. Not to be thwarted, since I had gone to the trouble of getting dressed for an outing, I caught an M100 bus to the 168th Street subway station from which I boarded a C-train to 96th Street. From there I walked the three blocks to Broadway, arriving at the theatre about ten minutes into the showcase.

I quickly settled in to watch the show, and was immediately delighted with my decision to persist in my attempt to reach the venue. In a fast paced series of performances, some lasting less than a minute, a string of young talent sang, danced, tapped, and performed short monologues that left me in awe of their fearlessness. That children as young as ten could walk out onto a huge stage in a darkened theatre, announce their names in clear strong voices, and then sing or recite their chosen monologues with the power and confidence of seasoned professionals, was quite simply, awe inspiring.

My only disappointment with the night was with the double-sided single sheet of program notes. While it include small photographs and the names of each of the approximately 140 performers, it did not include a complete list of the songs and the shows from which they were taken. Nevertheless, by looking carefully at the small images of each participant, and before my memory begins to fail me, here are some names that are definitely worth remembering: among the youngest performers were Michael Ross, Sammy Ramirez, Amanda Wylie, and Gentry Claire Lumpkin.

Among the teenagers and young adults, names to watch out for are Nicholas Biddle, Sofia Baturina, and Adrian Villegas. But why try and choose favorites when any one of these amazing young people will surely be staring on Broadway, or any one of a hundred other stages over the next few years.

This incredible two hour showcase of new talent was completely free, and as if to test the resilience of the young performers, two concerts were scheduled for the evening; one at 5:00pm, with a repeat performance at 8:00pm. Because I missed the opening ten minutes, I stayed for the 8:00pm show, but left at the intermission. While the major dance routines were repeated for the second show, some new songs and monologues were introduced to provide variety for the audience -- which consisted mostly of family and friends of the young performers, and no doubt industry professionals who had come along to check out the latest talent. And there was more than enough of that on show.

Sadly, my knowledge of the vast repertoire of Broadway musicals is, to be blunt, quite limited. However, of the musicals I did recognize, songs and dance routines came from A Chorus Line, Beautiful, School of Rock, Matilda, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, and Les Miserables.

Soloists were accompanied by a pianist placed not quite off-stage, while large ensemble dance numbers were performed to pre-recorded music, or music from Broadway soundtrack albums. In the more than three hours of live performance that I enjoyed, the only slip up occured when one of the tap dancers lost her footing and slipped on stage. However, she was up instantly and resumed her place in the line liked the true professional she is destined to become.

These Broadway Artist Alliance showcases are held each year following the intensive summer school the alliance organizes, and I have no hesitation in urging New Yorkers, or visitors to the city to attend one of the showcases when the opportunity presents itself.

Watch a video montage from a previous BAA Showcase via this link...

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