Upper West Side Historical Photo Challenge No. 19

By Rob Garber for the Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group

Welcome to another installment in the Rag’s Historical Photo Challenge. The image above was taken somewhere on the Upper West Side, sometime in the past. Can you figure out where, when, and what it shows? Look closely; this week’s challenge photo, like the others in the series, includes clues that will help you identify the scene, if you’re a dedicated UWS history sleuth. And even if you don’t recognize the picture—not to worry! Come back in two weeks and I’ll decode it, show you the clues that help identify it, and—best of all—tell you a story the image unlocks, because this column isn’t just a test of your neighborhood knowledge; it’s also a rolling celebration of the people, buildings and events that wove the tapestry of the Upper West Side.

Ready? If you think you know where and when the photo was taken and what it shows, post your answer as a comment on this column.

Solution to Historical Photo Challenge #18
Subject:  The van den Heuvel Mansion/Burnham’s Hotel
Location: Between 79th and 80th streets and between Broadway and West End Avenue
Year: 1893 and approx. 1903
Image Source: Real Estate Record and Guide and The New York Historical
Clues: All of the structures in the top image are gone, so there aren’t any clues there.  The old mansion still looked pretty good in 1893 when the photo was published, but when the bottom photo was taken a decade later, it was slated for imminent demolition.  It was a new century, and the recently-completed building at 401 West End Avenue, fittingly called The New Century, was your clue–because it’s still standing on the northwest corner of 80th and West End Avenue.  First it lost its crenellations, and more recently it lost its cornice.

The rest of the story: They don’t make ‘em like they used to.  The van den Heuvel mansion was constructed of stone with floors supported by “great beams of black oak.”  Its four prominent columns at the front door were “white cedar hewn from logs of trees grown on the estate.”  Its 18th-century interior was lavish in materials and detail with expensive custom-built furniture. Tom Miller described the house’s history and contents in a Daytonian in Manhattan column a decade ago.  Given the house’s prominent location on the Bloomingdale Road and its long life as a genteel hotel or inn long after the original owners sold it, it’s surprising that no one is sure who built it!  Jan van den Heuvel, its most famous early owner, has long been credited with arranging its construction, but the dates don’t work: If the house was built around 1759 and housed both British troops and George Washington himself during the American Revolution, then it could hardly have been built by van den Heuvel, who was a Dutch colonial governor in South America and only arrived in New York in 1790.  Charles Apthorpe, part of whose estate was purchased by van den Heuvel’s wife in 1792, already had an impressive mansion nearby.  The van den Heuvel mansion’s distinctive rectangular appearance is misleading—a mid-19th century fire destroyed the top floor, and the gabled top floor was replaced with the one seen in photographs.  The story of the mansion’s ownership by the feuding Astor family is well-known, as is its demolition and replacement by the Apthorp apartment house. Solidly built as it was, the mansion could probably have stood for another 150 years.  An interesting chapter late in the building’s life was its tenancy by the Clarke family of florists.  They lived in the mansion and built an extensive set of greenhouses to supply their cut flower business.  This led to the incongruous sight of glass buildings along busy Broadway until the first years of the 20th century.  Family member Gilmore Clarke became the first professor of city and regional planning at Cornell University and as consulting landscape architect for the Parks Department, was responsible for many elements of New York City’s public landscape: Bryant Park! JFK Airport! Even the design of our park benches!  Learn more in Tom Campanella’s new book The Public Landscapes of Clarke and Rapuano, 1915-1965.

…and that’s the story behind the mystery image.  Now scroll back to the top of the column and take on your next challenge, Sherlockians!  If you’ve missed any pictures in this series, here is the complete collection.

About the author:  Rob Garber has lived on the Upper West Side since the late 20th century and is a member of the Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group.  To learn more, visit their website at upperwestsidehistory.org.  All photos in Upper West Side Historical Photo Challenge are used by permission.

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