Happy Birthday, Stephen Whitney

The mausoleum of Stephen Whitney (1776-1860) in Green-Wood Cemetery. Today is his birthday. I didn’t know his birthday was coming up when I drew this a week ago. I just happened to come across the fact the other day.

Whitney was a merchant, cotton speculator, and real estate investor. He helped to build the Merchants’ Exchange Building, the first home of the New York Stock Exchange. He was also an investor in the Red Star Line and had a sailing ship named after him. That Stephen Whitney wrecked off the coast of Ireland in 1847, costing 92 of the 110 passengers and crew their lives.

He was the second wealthiest citizen of New York City in the early 19th century, second only to John Jacob Astor. But he was not given to any sort of philanthropy or public service, so his name is not remembered the way others are. There is no Whitney Street, Whitney Park, Whitney Station, Whitney Plaza, Whitney Hospital, Whitney Library, etc.

Whitney died in 1860, and his wife soon after, leaving an estate estimated at $15 million (About $400 million today). The mausoleum was built circa 1875. It has a desk and bench inside for a priest or devotee. One can imagine the sort of guy he was, whose biggest accomplishments included funding a building for the stock market and naming a ship after himself, while donating zero dollars to the public good, but still thought there’d be someone manning a desk in his mausoleum for eternity.

Dodge D5

A 1937 Dodge D5 coupe, parked on a street in Brooklyn Heights.

John

 Life drawing session from last weekend.

Bethlehem CT

A house in Bethelem, CT. I did it as an item for an auction for my kids' school. The winning bidder grew up in this house, which is now a wedding venue.

Iris

Figure drawing from last weekend.

Chicago Bridges

Chicago bridges. The La Salle Street Bridge, The Clark Street Bridge, and the Kinzie Street Railroad Bridge, aka the Chicago and North Western Railroad Bridge.

The Kinzie Street Bridge has been unused since 2000, but is still technically active status and is raised and lowered once a year. The bridge in the background is somewhat famous, or infamous, because of an incident in 2004 when Dave Matthews tour bus dumped 800 lbs of toilet waste as it was crossing the bridge, directly onto an architecture tour boat full of passengers.

U.S. Grant in Lincoln Park

 

Lincoln Park, Chicago. The Ulysses S. Grant Monument in the distance. It was commissioned after the president’s death in 1885. Louis Rebisso, an Italian immigrant, was selected to design the monument. When it was completed in 1891, it was the largest bronze statue cast in the country, and over 250,000 people attended its dedication.

Assumption Church

Assumption Catholic Church in the River North neighborhood of Chicago. This parish was founded in 1881 as the first church in Chicago specifically to minister to Italian-speaking Catholics. The church building was completed in 1886.

 

Dearborn Station

 

Dearborn Station was the first of six intercity train stations servicing downtown Chicago. It was designed by Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz, who is best known for One Times Square, the original building of the New York Times. The Romanesque Revival structure, built with red pressed brick walls and pink granite, opened in 1885. It originally featured a steeply pitched roof atop its clock tower, which was lost in a disastrous 1922 fire. As passenger train travel declined after WWII, the intercity train stations saw less and less use. When Amtrak began operation in 1971, the city’s train traffic was consolidated to Union Station, and the Dearborn Station closed. The train yards and sheds were demolished and redeveloped into the Dearborn Park neighborhood. The station sat derelict for years until being renovated into offices and retail spaces.

Iris

 Life drawing session from the weekend. Model's name was Iris.

The Obama Center

The Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, Illinois.

The text that wraps around the upper floors is from Obama's 2015 speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights March in Selma. It reads:

"You are America. Unconstrained by habit and convention. Unencumbered by what is, ready to seize what ought to be. For everywhere in this country, there are first steps to be taken, there is new ground to cover, there are more bridges to be crossed.

America is not the project of any one person. The single most powerful word in our democracy is the word 'We.' 'We The People.' 'We Shall Overcome.' 'Yes We Can.' That word is owned by no one. It belongs to everyone.

Oh, what a glorious task we are given to continually try to improve this great nation of ours."

Happy Fourth of July.

740 Broadway Eagle

 

Ornament above the entrance to 740 Broadway, corner of Broadway and Astor Place.

Cozy Soup 'n' Burger

 

Cozy Soup 'n' Burger was opened by Greek immigrant brothers in 1972. It's been on Broadway steps away from the NYU campus for 54 years. But as with so many businesses these days, rent and operating costs have been too much, and tomorrow they will close their doors after half a century. I went to grad school at NYU and passed this place every day, but I think I only ate there once and it gave me diarrhea. But it still makes me sad to see such a recognizable local landmark go away.

Prospect Place

 

This Queen Anne-style house is on Prospect Place in Park Slope. Built in 1887, it was designed by C.P.H. Gilbert. Gilbert was known for designing mansions for the elites of Manhattan, but his first New York projects were residences in Park Slope. I drawn a few of his houses before, here and here.

Jabara

 

This grave in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery is a copy of a neo-classical sculpture known as the Monteverde Angel of the Resurrection Angel. Most of the angel statues you see in cemeteries are copies of other sculptures. There are many copies of this angel in cemeteries around the globe. The original marble version of this statue was carved in 1882 by the Italian artist Giulio Monteverde for the Oneto family tomb at Staglieno Cemetery in Genova, Italy. There's at least one other Monteverde Angel in Green-Wood. Moneverde even made a copy for his own family's tomb in Rome.

The people buried here are Frederick Massound and Katherine Milkie Jabara. They were immigrants from Syria. Frederick founded F.M. Jabara & Sons, a successful linen import business, in 1908. Frederick died in 1949. Katherine lived until 1982, passing away in California at the age of 96.

The Crown Building

 The Crown Building, at Fifth Avenue and 57th St.

It was built between 1920-22 by developer and philanthropist August Heckscher. The architecture firm was Warren & Wetmore, who designed several prominent New York buildings, including Grand Central Station.

Its French Renaissance facade is made of limestone, brick, and terracotta. In the 19802, 1,363 ounces of 23-karat gold leaf were added. It was one of the first buildings to meet the mandates of the 1916 zoning code, which required setbacks in tall buildings to allow light and air to reach the street.

In 1922, it towered over the wealthy mansions of 57th Street. Originally named the Heckscher Building, it was marketed as "The Tower of Trade." The gound floor featured shops and retail showrooms, with offices in the tower. Tenants included the publisher Alfred A. Knopf and Universal Pictures. The Museum of Modern Art held its first exhibition there.

Over the years, ownership changed hands. In 1981, Imelda Marcos, wife of the Phillipine Dictator, purchased the building behind a series of frontmen, including a Saudi Arabian arms dealer. It was renamed the Crown Building in 1983. Its ownership status was murky for many years after the Marcos regime collapsed. Today it continues to house luxury retailers on the ground floor, including Bulgari and Chanel, while the upper floors are the Aman New York hotel and luxury apartments.

The Knabe Building

 

This 11-story Beaux Arts building on the corner of 39th St. and Fifth Ave. was built in 1905-06 by Horace A. Hutchins, a businessman from Cleveland, Ohio. It was designed by the prominent architect C.P.H. Gilbert, who was primarily known for his mansions and townhouses for the wealthy class of Manhattan. I've drawn some of his Brooklyn townhouses, like this one and this one.

The ground floor and basement were leased to Knabe & Co., a piano manufacturer, for their showcase, and the building became known as the Knabe building. Other tenants included a book publisher, a real estate firm, the American Automobile Association, Mrs. Adeline Stanhop-Wheatcroft's "new Dramatic Studio," and the studio of photographer Edward S. Curtis, known for his documentation of the American West and Native Americans.

In 1928, Knabe & Co. moved to a new building further up Fifth Ave. The space was taken over by Ovington's, a retailer of high-end imported China. Ovington's hired architect Frank H. Hutton to modernize the building. Much of the ornament, decoration, and cast iron balcony railings were stripped away. In 2016, it was restored by Scott Henson Architecture.

History source: Daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com

No 35 West 54th St. - Walter Tower Rosen House

 

In the 1880s, the north side of West 54th St. was dominated by the large campus of St. Luke's Hospital. The rest of the area consisted of respectable, but not particularly extravagant, brownstone rowhouses built after the Civil War. That began to change as John D. Rockefeller and other wealthy elites began building mansions along Fifth Ave. In 1896, the hospital was demolished, making many lots available and leading to the rapid development of mansions for the wealthy.

No. 35 was built in the Italianate style, and was originally owned by businessman Edward Scheitlin, an importer of hosiery and gloves. Dr. Allan M. Thomas, who had developed a proto-incubator for infants, purchased it shortly after 1900 and gave it a makeover, replacing the facade with an up-to-date Beaux Arts facade of brick and limestone.

In 1916, it was purchased by Walter Tower Rosen. Rosen was a lawyer and a banker, and also a pianist and art collector. His wife, Lucie Bigelow Dodge, was also a musician and a patron of the arts. Among the artists they supported was the Russian inventor Leon Theremin, inventor of the eponymous instrument. Now known primarily for 1950s retro Sci Fi soundtracks, the theremin was originally intended as a concert instrument for avant-garde music. Lucie performed as a part of a 10-person ensemble of theminists at Carnegie Hall in 1930.

Walter Rosen died in 1951; Lucie in 1968. In 1977, the mansion was converted to apartments.

Star Wars Day 2026

 May the Fourth Be With You.

Rosemary

Life drawing from this past Saturday. Model was Rosemary.