GRAMERCY PARK WEST, NOS. 3-4
NOVEMBER 27, 1935. ABBOTT FILE 53

Gramercy Park, discarded image

These two Greek Revival houses, whose simple facades are elaborately adorned with ironwork, were designed in 1845 by the eminent architect Alexander Jackson Davis. In 1848, James Harper, mayor of New York and a founder of the publishing firm Harper & Brothers, purchased no. 4 (left). The "Mayor's Lamps" at the entrance were installed when he took residence there. The Dutch custom of placing special lamps at the mayor's door was an aid to finding his house at night, but by Harper's day, it was merely ceremonial. The custom ended with the 1942 establishment of Gracie Mansion as the mayor's official residence.

Gramercy Park, which fills a two-block square between East 20th and 21st Streets and Third and Fourth Avenues, was originally a swamp. In 1831, real estate developer Samuel B. Ruggles drained the land and designed a square on the English model, with 61 lots facing a private, fenced-in park; he gave the park to the owners of the surrounding properties.

With her back to the fence, Abbott photographed the two old houses on Gramercy Park West. Turning around, she photographed the park. This latter view, which she discarded from the project, shows three of the apartment buildings that had replaced the park's original town houses. Landmark status has precluded further development, and although the pyramidal birdhouse and flagpole in Abbott's photograph are gone, the view remains otherwise intact.

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