Upper West Side, Riverside Drive at 106th Street

Mary Sargent © 2009 ……………………….. click to enlarge

This is the equistrian statue of General Franz Sigel, posing beautifully in the afternoon sun. You say you've never heard of General Franz Sigel? Me either. Let's look him up.

Hmm, quite a colorful character. Read about him here. For non-readers, here is the bare outline: he was born in Germany, moved to the United States in 1852, joined the Union Army when the Civil War began, rallied German immigrants to the Union cause (see song, I Goes to Fight Mit Sigel) but ultimately was relieved of his command for "lack of agression". X

Well, that changes things.


See map.

Upper West Side, Riverside Drive at 106th Street

Mary Sargent © 2009 ………click to enlarge

As promised last night, here is the "magnificent" River Mansion. River Mansion does not seem to be recognized on the web, nor does the John Mace Music School, which was in residence when the Commission Report was written. I did find a great NY Times story about this whole block of houses, the high point of which is a man having one leg removed in an attempt to save his life and then when that didn't work, having the second one sawed off so his body would fit in a trunk. Shady characters, all of them.

Also see the photograph looking down on the entire block.

Please note that this building fronts on 106th Street; we are looking at the side. Perhaps another time we can see the front.


See map.

Upper West Side, Riverside Drive Between 105th and 106th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2009 …….. click to enlarge

I took this photograph because the panels beside the door were glittering so much in the sun they looked like sequins (unfortunately, the camera didn't capture that – please use your imaginations). Then I crossed the street to examine those sequins and was pretty surprised by what they actually were.

Mary Sargent © 2009 ……… click to enlarge

There you have it. I wonder how they got that by the Landmarks Commission?

Yes, it turns out that this is part of the historical district, and the building is described, in part, as "a very formal limestone building preceded by an unusual entrance stoop composed of console bracket scrolls set on blocks. . . The house provides a dignified transition to the magnificent corner 'River Mansion' . . ."

Tomorrow night: River Mansion.

See map.

Upper West Side, Riverside Drive Between 105th and 106th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2009 ………. click to enlarge

Here on Riverside, right smack in the middle of our Beaux Arts Historical District is a bigger-than-lifesize statue of Shinran Shonin, a thirteenth century Buddhist monk.

I've seen this figure before but it was still a surprise to come upon him. So unexpected.

There were three nearly identical buildings here on Riverside, built at the same time and by the same architects and builders who worked on the corner building from last night. The edge of the building we see to the right of the photo is the first one, 331. You can see it has some similarities to the corner building. The second one, 332, was demolished and replaced by this Buddhist Church. And the third one, 333, must still be there, but I didn't notice because at the time I didn't know any of this and I was just looking at this monk.



Mary Sargent © 2009 …................................……. click to enlarge

This just shows you a little more of the next door building.




Mary Sargent © 2009 …................................……. click to enlarge



Mary Sargent © 2009 …................................……. click to enlarge

And here are closeups of the two stone plaques on the wall underneath the monk. One is beautiful and the other is readable. If enlarged.

See map.

Hamilton Heights, Riverside Drive Between 153rd and 155th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

There's the George Washington Bridge. And there's the sky. Do you ever think how lucky we are to have clouds? I used to live in a town of 7,000 in flat Illinois and I spent a bit of time thinking about clouds.



Mary Sargent © 2008 ……….. click to enlarge

Not so pretty here. This is the western border of the cemetery where they are doing some kind of construction work. Yes, even here!



Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Another view over the wall, this at the northwest corner. See how dark it's gotten? That's because I had paused to talk with the woman below after she noticed me photographing her. Strictly friendly!


Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

She grew up in this neighborhood and we talked about changes and such.

See map.

Upper West Side, Riverside Drive at 93rd Street

Mary Sargent © 2008 ………. click to enlarge

Remember how you've seen that Riverside Drive sometimes splits into two streets, one the main two-way Riverside Drive and the other a local one-way northbound Riverside Drive? When it does that, there's something between the two streets. Well, there has to be, or it wouldn't be two streets. There is a three block split between 92nd and 95th Streets and in the middle is the Joan of Arc Island.

Joan, of course, was a 15th century French heroic figure and I'm not sure why we wanted to commemorate her, but you can read all about it here and figure it out for yourself. I think we used to have affection for the French. Lafayette, we are here, for example.

The statue, by the way, was the work of Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington, yes, a woman.

And now I've shown you two monuments on one walk. I know it's excessive, but sometimes it just comes out that way.

See map.

Upper West Side, Riverside Drive at 89th Street

Mary Sargent © 2008 ……………………………………. click to enlarge

I walked around the monument (see last night) and ran into this couple sharing his i-pod.

Then as I approached the back, I began hearing what sounded like declaiming, and lo and behold, it was a theater group rehearsing Much Ado About Nothing.


Mary Sargent © 2008 ……………………………………. click to enlarge

I watched for a while from the stairs. One of the actors told me they would be presenting it at the end of July in this space, but unfortunately, I have forgotten the name of their website, and though I have googled much, I can't come by any information. Maybe there will be a notice as the time draws close.

See map.

Upper West Side, Riverside Drive at 89th Street

Okay, everybody, vacation over. It was lovely, weather perfect, and oddly, I did not gain any weight. We're resuming the June 25 walk.



Mary Sargent © 2008 …………click to enlarge


Wow. Before I took this walk, if you had asked me if I'd ever seen the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, I would've said, yeah, I think so. But, no, I certainly had not. I recommend you go to the nyc-architecture site for some great old photographs and all the information you'd ever want. But at least go for the pictures. By the way, this is for soldiers and sailors of the Civil War, union side only.

See map.

Upper West Side, Riverside Drive Between 87th and 88th Streets

LAST POST UNTIL SUNDAY, JULY 6

I'm going to North Carolina to visit my brother and sister-in-law. Love that southern hospitality.



Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Guess it's just the outlaw in me that likes to see a dog free of the leash.

See map.

Upper West Side, Riverside Drive Between 84th and 85th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………….. click to enlarge

Well, look what we have here: a beautiful shiny turquoise car. And there's a bench just opposite it. I bet if I just sit on this bench for a while, a tall man wearing a bright blue shirt, walking a fluffy white dog will walk right in front of it.


Mary Sargent © 2008 ……….........…………………….. click to enlarge


See map.

Upper West Side, Riverside Drive at 83rd Street

Mary Sargent © 2008 ………cclick to enlarge

See those tiny people on top of the rock at the top of the picture? If they had looked down, they would have seen a tiny person pointing her tiny camera at them.

See map.

Upper West Side, Riverside Drive Between 108th and 107th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2008 ………. click to enlarge

See the plaque beside the door? That teeny little dark rectangle there on the right side of the tree? It says "This House (1899-1901) is listed in the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior". Sometimes it's obvious why a building would be listed, but in many cases, like this one, it's not apparent why this one would be listed and, for example, the one next door (see below) would not be.



Mary Sargent © 2008 ……. click to enlarge.........Mary Sargent © 2008 ………. click to enlarge


[Wow, look at that - side by side]

I looked up the National Register on the Web. It's not user friendly, but one can find a specific listing by scrolling through all of the listings. The address of the house with the plaque is 352 Riverside Drive. I did not find that listing, but I did find a listing for 351 Riverside Drive, which is the address of the building next door (above) (which has no plaque). And the dates on this listing are 1875-1899.

Another Manhattan mystery. I'll investigate further as soon as I have time. You bet.

See map.

Upper West Side, Riverside Drive between 108th and 109th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2008 ……………….. click to enlarge

Now I'm back on the local branch of Riverside Drive, walking up to 109th and back to Broadway.


See map.

Upper West Side, Riverside Drive Between 110th and 108th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

There, that's better. I don't know what I was thinking last night.

Upper West Side, Riverside Drive between 110th and 108th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

See map.

Morningside Heights, Riverside Drive at 110th Street

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

What do you notice about this photo? A wider shot than you've ever seen on this blog? Yes! I got a new zoom 10-22mm – can go much wider than my standard 18-55mm BUT not so tight. Soooo. I guess I'll have to tote two lenses around. Or shoot wide one time, tight another? Still sorting it out.

See map.

Morningside Heights, Riverside Drive Between 111th and 110th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

This is the local splitoff of Riverside Drive where drivers can exit the Drive and enter the city fray.

And below is the street I had to check out to see if it was walkable. It leads from 110th Street into Riverside Drive and has no sidewalk, but it turns out you can walk down the left side. So I did.



Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

See map.

Morningside Heights, Riverside Drive Between 111th and 110th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

This photograph is out of order but I wanted to show you what a gorgeous spring day it was today. It was the kind of day when strangers passing you on the street say, isn't it a beautiful day? Well, one did. It was the kind of day to edge your photowalk over into the park.

Happy Spring everyone.

See map.

Upper West Side, 103rd Street at Riverside Drive

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………………………………….. click to enlarge


Riverside Drive is a broad street alongside Riverside Park which is alongside Riverside-- no, I mean alongside the Hudson River.

But in a few places, it splits into two and the split off is a more local street, not heavily traveled. That's what you're looking at here, looking south.

See map.

Washington Heights, Riverside Drive Between George Washington Bridge and 165th Street

Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

And here you have an entrance to a parking garage; I think it's the garage for the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Hospital which is across the street.

Notice the two people behind the green mesh. I have no idea what that is or why they're there or how they got there, and I didn't even know they were there until I got a closer look at the photo on my monitor. It is not unusual for me to discover things later in my photographs that I wasn't aware of at the time. It's also not unusual for me to want to go back to the site to check out things I learned after I got home. But that'll have to wait until I finish the first complete walk. Ten or fifteen years or so.

See map.