Existing comment:
The Arsenal
The historic Arsenal is one of two buildings within Central Park that predate the park itself. (The other building is the block house, which dates from the War of 1812). The Arsenal was built between 1847 and 1851 by the State of New York as a storage repository for munitions; the previous state arsenal had been located in Madison Square Park. The project's funding was overseen by state comptroller Millard Fillmore, who later became President of the United States.
The building's military use proved short-lived. Between 1853 and 1856, the State seized the land beneath it for a public park. In 1857 the City purchased the Arsenal for $275,000, removed all arms, and established park administrative functions on the premises. Over the ensuing decades it has served diverse roles. At the outset the 11th Police Precinct was stationed here. In 1859 the Menagerie (later the zoo) was created in and around the Arsenal. When the American Museum of Natural History was founded, its first home was the Arsenal, from 1869 to 1877; also at that time B. Waterhouse Hawkins, an eminent British paleontologist, set up a studio on the second the third floors, where he reconstructed dinosaur skeletons.
A Gallery of Art occupied the first floor in the early 1870s, and the Municipal Weather Bureau's instruments were kept on the Arsenal roof from 1869 to 1918. The building fell into disrepair, and was largely vacant from 1914 to 1924, when it underwent a renovation that added the central turrets and clock facing the zoo.
When Robert Moses (1888–1981) was appointed the first citywide Parks Commissioner in 1934, the Arsenal again underwent extensive renovation and the original stucco was removed from the exterior brickwork. The lavish murals inspired by images of old New York in the lobby were part of a 1935-36 Works Progress Administration project by artist Allan Saalburg (1899-1987) and a team of assistants. The front entrance was also redesigned to include military-style decorative drums over the door, and cast-iron musket replicas supporting the banisters.
In 1967, the Arsenal was designated an official city landmark. Since 1976 the central chamber on the third floor has been used as a public gallery. Its military origins long ago replaced by civilian functions, the historic Arsenal is home today to Parks' central administration and the Wildlife Conservation Society.
www.nyc.gov/parks |