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March 4, 2024 at 6:28 pm in reply to: The Russian Mission under construction, from the top down, 50 years ago #3966
It’s also noteworthy in these photos that the Henry Hudson Parkway had three lanes in each direction 50 years ago, with very narrow shoulders and a slim median.
March 3, 2024 at 10:01 pm in reply to: The Russian Mission under construction, from the top down, 50 years ago #3962March 3, 2024 at 9:57 pm in reply to: The Russian Mission under construction, from the top down, 50 years ago #3961According to this New York Times article from 1974, the project was exempt from zoning laws as a diplomatic enclave. The article has more details about the construction process. It also mentions a friendly reception from neighbors, including Riverdale Country School: https://www.nytimes.com/1974/06/17/archives/russian-building-going-up-form-the-top-down-the-construction.html
March 3, 2024 at 11:39 am in reply to: The Russian Mission under construction, from the top down, 50 years ago #3959This article has some good background about the site: https://www.lehman.edu/vpadvance/artgallery/arch/buildings/Russian_mission.html
March 2, 2024 at 6:01 pm in reply to: The Russian Mission under construction, from the top down, 50 years ago #3956March 2, 2024 at 5:59 pm in reply to: The Russian Mission under construction, from the top down, 50 years ago #3955March 2, 2024 at 5:58 pm in reply to: The Russian Mission under construction, from the top down, 50 years ago #3954If you have Rev. Tieck’s “Riverdale, Kingsbridge, Sputen Duyvil,” there’s an in-depth discussion of Riverdale Temple’s nomadic period on pages 172-174.
Gilbert Kerlin is quoted in this 1977 New York Times article about plans to develop that remaining portion of the Delafield Estate after Columbia University decided to sell it. There’s no mention of West 240th Street, but clearly he was among those trying to preserve the site: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1977/10/19/92276224.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
The Briar Oaks buildings were built on the site in the 1950s.
Thanks, Nick. Hello, everyone. I’m the member who asked the initial question. I grew up in a building on West 239th St, with a parking lot that bordered the last undeveloped acreage of the Delafield Estate. There’s a notably steep hill that descends to the estate, leading to where West 240th St would have been had it been built. Does anyone have information on the process for getting the city to erase a street, such as West 240th St, which city planners have drawn on official maps but was never constructed? Exploring this through official records may provide the answer to my question. Nick’s suggestion about Edward Delafield’s resistance seems likely, however.
Nick, I just joined as a member and came across this post. An interesting aside is that at the time of Youngman’s performance, the Riverdale Temple congregation was meeting in the building that had been Ben Riley’s Arrowhead Inn—hence the address of W. 246th and Henry Hudson Parkway. A former nightclub was a fitting location for the performance.
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