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A Walk Through Astor Land with East Village Building Blocks
…built on their land in the East Village. A clear testament to John Jacob Astor’s purchasing power, and to his son William’s legacy as the “Landlord of New York,” these…
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THE PUBLIC THEATER! The former Astor Library and the quest for a Public Theater
…The Astor Library had been a free public library developed primarily through the collaboration of New York City merchant John Jacob Astor, who bequeathed $400,000 for its establishment, and New…
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Historic Station Sequel
…John Jacob Astor. The Plaques are framed in green faience borders border decorated with scrolled and foliate motifs. At the top corners of each plaque are two tiles featuring a…
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The City’s First Public Library Becomes Its First Public Theater, via Preservation
John Jacob Astor was the wealthiest American by the time he passed in 1848, earning his fortune of $20 million (about $800 million in today’s dollars) first in the fur…
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How the New York Public Library got its start in Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo
…the German-born American fur merchant and real estate tycoon John Jacob Astor, it was originally located in a house at 32 Bond Street in NoHo, long-since demolished and replaced by…
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#SouthOfUnionSquare Tour — Libraries and The Formation of the NYPL
…John Jacob Astor, who died that same year, and New England educator and bibliographer Joseph Cogswell. It was meant as a research library, and its books did not circulate. It…
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Titanic Connections
…the 19th century John Jacob Astor I owned a house on Lafayette Street in the area now known as NoHo. Astor Place was named for John Jacob Astor I after…
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Kintecoying
…was used to connect the present‐day Bowery to a trading post on West 14th Street. When John Jacob Astor officially opened Astor Place as a street in 1836, he maintained…
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Village Cemeteries Part V, NoHo Edition
…renamed Astor Place following the death of John Jacob Astor in 1848. R-L 2-10 Astor Place now. The entrance path to the former cemetery lay right in the middle of…
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Beyond the Village and Back: New York Public Library Main Branch, Steven A. Schwartzman Building, Fifth Avenue
…estate baron John Jacob Astor. In 1854, the permanent home for the library was opened on Lafayette Place south of Astor Place, with knickerbocker scribe Washington Irving serving as its…
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Buy a Book Locally on Small Business Saturday
…the sanitation department); millionaires John Jacob Astor, Cornelius Vanderbilt, August Belmont, and William Randolph Hearst; and hundreds more who left their mark on this great city. Store Front II: A…
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New York Biscuit Stables
…the Astors from 1819 to 1919. It was first owned John J. Astor I, then the Astor Estate until partition in 1878, then John Jacob Astor III, and finally William…
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2017 Village Award Winner: The Public Theater
…wrecking ball. The Astor Library had been a free public library developed primarily through the collaboration of New York City merchant John Jacob Astor, who bequeathed $400,000 for its establishment,…
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Lafayette’s Local Legacy: A Street Brimming With Landmarks
…of the 9 buildings remain. And last, but certainly not least, is The Public Theater, originally built as the Astor Library. John Jacob Astor sought to leave a substantial legacy…
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The Libraries of Greenwich Village and the East Village
…Astor Library, now The Public Theater The former Astor Library was first established in 1848 and was named for John Jacob Astor, who provided the funds to build the library….
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From George Washington to Hudson Square: The history of the Charlton-King-VanDam neighborhood
…can be traced back to historical figures as esteemed as George Washington, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jacob Astor, but it’s just as deeply connected to Italian immigrants and…
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The Vice Presidents of the Village
…over by John Jacob Astor. However, Burr retained the right to buy back the house and part of the land anytime he wanted to within the next twenty years, and…
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NoHo Historic District Becomes a Reality
…district.” Begun in 1849 and completed in 1881, the early Victorian building that is now known as The Public Theater at 425 Lafayette Street was commissioned by John Jacob Astor…
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NYC Landmarks50 – Colonnade Row
…remain. Colonnade Row. Image via Wikipedia John Jacob Astor purchased the land on which the buildings were located in 1804 and leased the property to Vauxhall Gardens through 1826. He then…
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Beyond the Village and Back: The Empire State Building
…1981. The Empire State Building replaced the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. William Waldorf Astor opened the Waldorf Hotel on the site in 1893. His cousin, John Jacob Astor IV, opened the…
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Beyond the Village and Back: The Children’s Aid Society’s Fourteenth Ward Industrial School on Mott Street
…Italian community of the surrounding neighborhood. The new Fourteenth Ward Industrial School was donated by John Jacob Astor as a memorial to his wife Charlotte, who had died of cancer…
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Vice President, Villager Shoots and Kills Hamilton
…estate developerbof the day, John Jacob Astor.” It was the site of one of the most beautiful mansions in Manhattan’s history, the famous “Richmond Hill,” a great Georgian house built…
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A Building Blocks Tour of the Squats of the East Village
…sold his previous property to John Jacob Astor for the construction of the Astor House. This building was opened in 1986. Some of the squatters utilized oil drum wood burning…
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A Little Piece of London, France, and Greece Once Stood in NoHo
…site and as seen in the map, is the southern end of Colonnade row (also known as LaGrange Terrace), originally nine Greek Revival row houses built by John Jacob Astor…
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Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day
…Washington Square, developed in the 1820s by John Jacob Astor, a German immigrant. The neighborhood was a residential enclave for wealthy merchant families, notably the Tredwells on East 4th Street,…
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The Wit and Verse of the American Byron: Fitz-Greene Halleck
…Bryant, James Fenimore Cooper, and Washington Irving. Photograph of Fitz-Green Halleck By 1832 Halleck was working as a clerk and later as an aide to John Jacob Astor, one of…
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Alexander Hamilton and the Village
…a piece of, “’instant city’ developed from one large country estate, by the great real estate operator of the day, John Jacob Astor.” It was the site of one of…
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Landmarks of New York: First Houses
First Houses today On December 3, 1935, First Houses were dedicated and opened, the first housing project undertaken by the then-recently established New York City Housing Authority and the first…
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Ithiel Town: It’s All Greek (and Gothic) to Him
…rich in historical associations; the wife of President Tyler lived there before their marriage; President Franklin Roosevelt’s grandfather was another resident; John Jacob Astor, Jr. and Edwin D. Morgan, a…
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Before the duel: Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton’s NYC haunts
…because they were developed in rapid succession once Burr, in cooperation with John Jacob Astor, prepared the land for development. The Bayard House, north of Jane Street The real Bayard…
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GVSHP’s Village House Tour Benefit Features Homes within the Charlton-King-Vandam Historic District
…as Charlton, King, and Vandam Streets. While he planned the area for development in 1797, Burr’s lack of funds allowed John Jacob Astor to ultimately finance the development of single…
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Julia Ward Howe, Feminist Pioneer
…two sisters moved in with their brother Sam. He was newly married to Emily Astor, grandaughter of John Jacob Astor, and it was she who introduced the Ward sisters to…
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Constructing Lafayette Street
…century. These included Lafayette Place – which was created by John Jacob Astor and ran three blocks south from Astor Place before it dead ended. It became a fashionable residential…
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Beyond the Village and Back: The Morris-Jumel Mansion
…here on July 11, 1804, that Burr set out for his infamous duel where he fatally wounded Alexander Hamilton. Richmond Hill was eventually bought by John Jacob Astor, placed on…
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#SouthOfUnionSquare: 813 Broadway and the Report of the Citizens’ Association of New York Upon the Sanitary Conditions of the City
…founded by prominent New Yorkers including Governor, Senator, and Secretary of State Hamilton Fish; prominent merchant and philanthropist John David (J.D.) Wolfe; financier and philanthropist John Jacob Astor III; businessman,…
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Gen. George Washington Establishes HQ at Richmond Hill, April, 1776
…years before Washington victoriously returned to Manhattan on November 25, 1783. Follwing the war, Richmond Hill was purchased by Aaron Burr, John Jacob Astor, and later became a theater and…
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Jackson Square Library: An Exquisite Building, and once a church of ‘Exquisite Panic’
…City were privately owned reference or non-circulating libraries. Founded by the German-born American fur merchant and real estate tycoon John Jacob Astor, one of the first of such libraries was…
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From Civil War generals to Oscar winners: 7 historical figures who called 14-16 Fifth Avenue home
…clients as the Vanderbilts, Eliza Hamilton and John Jacob Astor, and Fulton’s steamboat company. In the 1870s, Charles E. Strong joined and led the firm, which during his tenure was…
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Happy Anniversary, Charlton-King-Vandam Historic District
Historic Homes of the Charlton-King-Vandam Historic District On August 16th, 1966, the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Charlton-King-Vandam Historic District. This small but distinct neighborhood is part of the…
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“The NEW New York” – Immigrant Heritage Learning at Village Preservation
…the microcosm of Bond Street, an exclusive area east of Washington Square, developed in the 1820s by John Jacob Astor, a German immigrant. The neighborhood was a residential enclave for…
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The Technological Breakthrough in Our Midst That Allowed Buildings To Grow Tall
…by Walter Langdon Jr., the grandson of John Jacob Astor, who had purchased the land in 1802. It was modeled on a 16th-century Venetian library and is known as one…
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Tracking History: Gansevoort Plaza Then & Now
…Street), which were built ca. 1849 on land purchased from John Jacob Astor I, and which remain well intact today. You also get a glimpse of the single-railed Greenwich Street/9th…
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