Marcus Samuelsson is a Ethiopian-born Swedish-American chef, restaurateur, and television personality. He is best known as the head chef of Red Rooster Harlem, a celebrated restaurant in New York City. Samuelsson has received numerous accolades, including multiple James Beard Foundation Awards, and was the youngest chef to earn a three-star review from The New York Times.Born in Ethiopia in 1971, Samuelsson was adopted by a Swedish family after losing his mother to a tuberculosis epidemic. He developed a passion for cooking through his grandmother in Sweden and later trained at the Culinary Institute in Gothenburg. His career took off in the U.S., where he became the executive chef at Aquavit and gained widespread recognition.Beyond his culinary achievements, Samuelsson is a prolific author, with works like Yes, Chef: A Memoir and The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food. He is also a familiar face on television, appearing as a judge on shows like Chopped and Top Chef: Family Style. Samuelsson is deeply involved in community initiatives, including co-chairing the Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP) to support under-served youth.

Marcus Samuelsson

Abigail Adams (1744-1818) was the wife of John Adams, the second president of the United States, and the mother of John Quincy Adams, the sixth president. Born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, she was a strong advocate for women's rights and education. Abigail was known for her extensive correspondence with her husband, offering insights on political matters and the American Revolution. Her letters provide a vivid portrayal of life during that era and highlight her intellect and influence.

United First Parish Church

Abigail Adams

 After 9/11, there were several years of public debate, as New Yorkers worked to figure out how best to rebuild the World Trade Center site. It was necessary to take some time to develop a plan that reconciled the various constituencies` individual goals. In August 2002 The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) announced a competition for a master plan. Studio Daniel Libeskind design was selected in February 2003. The fourteen-acre WTC site will contain, in addition to the Memorial and the Museum, a Visitor Orientation Center, a new PATH train station, a Subway station, an underground retail concourse, an underground road network with security screening areas, five new office towers, and a Performing Arts Center. The WTC Masterplan serves as both the conceptual basis and the technical foundation for the entire complex re-development of ground zero. The Masterplan defines the spirit of the approach to re-building and creates a meaningful conceptual framework for the site. It also defines the spatial organization of all elements of the development within the site with an emphasis on the human experience and the public realm.The Masterplan dictates the location and massing of each program element, building height and relative size, as well as proximity and relationship to one another. The WTC Masterplan also supplies the framework for the site`s infrastructure, transportation, sustainability standards and security strategy and lays out the functional relationship between all the site elements with respect to the surrounding context of the immediate neighbourhoods and the surrounding city. 

  Port Authority of New York & New Jersey

   Lower Manhattan Development Corporation

   Port Authority of New York & New Jersey

Ground Zero

World Trade Center Site

                                            
                                            
                                            
                                                 Historian Barry Moreno discusses the Arabic immigrant neighborhood Little Syria, which existed from the 1880s through the 1950s near the site of the World Trade Center. 
                                            
                                        

                                            
                                            
                                            
                                                 Daniel Libeskind talks about his experiences on September 11th, about designing Memorials and the Master Plan. 
                                            
                                        

Bryant Park is a 9.6-acre public park located in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Just blocks from Times Square and the Theater District and mere feet from the New York Public Library, the park is an ideal resting spot for the thousands of tourists and residents who pass by its boundaries each day. Highlights include the Benito Ju&aacute;rez Monument, the Gertrude Stein Statue, the Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, the Jose Bonifacio De Andrada E Silva Statue, the Josephine Shaw Lowell Memorial Fountain and the William Earl Dodge sculpture. This European-style public park, with ample seating, a symmetrical design, and well-kept trees and lawns is watched over by a massive branch of the New York Public Library. The rehabilitation of the park recaptured a derelict public space by introducing amenities, careful interventions in the landscape and proper maintenance. To draw pedestrian traffic, hedges were removed and openings made in the central lawn's balustrade. New entrances and ramps to the north and south were added, and access points were altered to encourage easy visitation. The park is anchored by four neoclassical food kiosks and the grand-caf&eacute; style Bryant Park Grill and Caf&eacute;, allowing patrons to dine inside, outside and on a roof terrace. These amenities have become a permanent part of the New York Public Library's landscaped perimeter, unanimously approved by the Landmarks Commission and universally praised by visitors.

Bryant Park

A description of various artworks in and around Bryant Park.

 Jean Parker Phifer, NYC architect and author of Public Art New York, reads a selection about Bryant Park, discussing its renovation in the 1990s after its takeover by drug dealers during the 70s and 80s. 

Hugh Hardy of H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture discusses his work on the renovation of Bryant Park, from a drug-infested area to a clean and safe community area.

Jean Parker Phifer, NYC architect and author of Public Art New York, reads a selection about the William Cullen Bryant Memorial, a bronze statue located in Bryant Park.

Step below grade at the subway to check out the Arts for Transit work by Sam Kunce -Under Bryant Park' from 2002. According to the Arts for Transit website: -The artist based the project on the idea of systems. In her words, 'People travel the subway system, water and other utility services are delivered by pipes, and plants and trees that provide grace and softness against the city's sharper edges find their way to water and nutrients underground through a system of roots. In a similar way, literature is shared by systems of learning and lending, and many animals inhabit systems of burrows just as humans systematically divide portions of larger habitats above ground."

                                            
                                            
                                            
                                                 Cook+Fox Architects 
                                            
                                        

 Rick Cook discusses the development of the first green skyscraper in Times Square. 

To celebrate the richness of the public art around Grand Central, we put together a walking tour which is modeled on the acoustiguide you might get in a museum.  You can listen to the entire tour below, download it to your ipod, or just a section that interests you. In addition to our narrative, we also recorded Jean Parker Phifer reading excerpts from her book about Bryant Park and some of the sculptures found there and Richard Haas talking about some of the murals he has painted in the area.

Matthew Broderick reveals to us the hidden world of the chess tables, the players, and the strategies.

Matthew Broderick takes us back to his childhood, as well as introduces us to the German writer and poet Goethe.

Matthew Broderick invites us to observe the daily interplay between the City's movers and shakers at the Bryant Park Grill.

Matthew Broderick invites us to come meet him at Bryant Park, located in the heart of Midtown Manhattan.

Matthew Broderick helps us to see the park through the eyes of one of its most important and eloquent employees.

Matthew Broderick takes us back in time to an older New York, through the power of the written word.

Matthew Broderick shows us the philosophical path of most enjoyment, through the game of petanque.

Matthew Broderick gives us a new way to appreciate the relationship of the Park and the City. 

 Samm Kunce's massive glass, stone, and marble mosaic fills the 42nd St station's main corridor. The Main Library in Bryant Park is right above the station, and Kunce chose to work a literary thread into the piece, which incorporates quotations from writers as diverse as James Joyce and Carl Jung. An MTA Arts for Transit project. The artwork is located in the transfer passageway and consists of glass mosaic and etched granite depicting roots of trees with a quotation from Jung: "Nature must not win the game, but she cannot lose."

Passageway, 42nd St - Bryant Park station

Under Bryant Park

Abby Suckle received her Master of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and her undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to opening her own architectural firm, she practiced architecture with Pei Cobb Freed &amp; Partners. She has an architectural practice in New York City with work ranging from residential to public buildings. As the President of cultureNOW, she leads the Museum Without Walls project, which is an attempt to expand beyond gallery walls to create an acoustiguide to the environment blending art architecture and history. She has curated two recent exhibitions on Mapping in New York and Boston. She has taught at Parsons, the Boston Architectural Center and Harvard where she is currently collaborating on a course about Design for Resilience post Sandy. Ms. Suckle is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. In 2012 she received the AIA NY State President Award and the National AIA Collaborative Achievement Award. She also received the 2009 AIA NY State Fellows Award and serves on the board of the NY Chapter of the AIA.

Abby Suckle

On Lenox Ave, between 125th Street and 124th Street, is the legendary Lenox Lounge. Another cultural institution nearby is the Hip Hop Cultural Center.

The end of the HarlemNOW walking tour of 125th Street.

Welcome to the HarlemNOW walking tour of historic 125th Street. This tour will visit various places of cultural and historical significance located on 125th Street.


Abby Suckle presents the Lower East River segment of the tour, beginning with Waterside and the Empire State Building and ending with Carl Schurz Park

At 258 Street Nicholas Avenue is the newest addition to Harlem's cultural scene, the Dwyer Cultural Center. James McCullar discusses this facility, which opened in June 2008, as the City's first cultural center dedicated exclusively to the culture, traditions, and history of Harlem.

 Across the street is the site of the former Blumstein's Department Store at 230 West 125th Street. Designed by architects Charles Kohn and Charles Butler in 1923, it was an amalgam of late Art Nouveau and Early Art Deco styles. In its day, it was one of the most elegant department stores uptown. 

On the corner of 125th Street and Fifth Avenue is the National Black Theater. Founded in 1968, the NBT is a non-profit organization and center for research and development. Also known as the National Black Theatre Workshop, it now promotes African Americans in the arts. It also houses a large collection of art. 

On the next block on the North side of the street is the famous Apollo Theater. First opened in 1914, it was originally known as The Hertig and Seaman New Burlesque Theater. It took nearly twenty years for it to open its doors to African-American patrons for the first time on Friday, January 26, 1934. Amateur Night began that year, and one of its first performers was a young Billie Holiday.

A few doors east of the Apollo Theater stands another grand vaudeville house, the former Loew's Victoria Theater. Designed in 1917 by Thomas W. Lamb, it had nearly 2,394 seats and an organ costing almost $250,000 to build at the time. In 1987 it was converted into a multi-screen movie complex before being shuttered in 1989. There have been several proposals for redevelopment for the building, most notably in 2005. 

If you walk towards the river, you can see the Cotton Club on your right at 656 West 125th Street. The site you see, though, is not the original which occupied such a unique cultural place in Harlem during Prohibition. The Club first stood at 142nd Street, then moved to 48th Street in Midtown, before being reincarnated on 125th Street a few years ago.

On Seventh Avenue, between 125th Street and 124th Street stands the Hotel Theresa, designed by George and Edward Blum in 1913. Once Harlem's most prestigious hotel, the "Waldorf of Harlem" hosted celebrities and world dignitaries, including Cuban President Fidel Castro. It also contained the offices of A. Phillip Randolph's March on Washington Movement (MOWM) and Malcolm X's Organization of Afto-American Unity. Now an office building and rechristened the Teresa Towers, the site was designated a city landmark in 1993. 

Across the street is the Harlem State Office Building. This is where President Clinton has his office and also where the Clinton Foundation is housed. In front is a memorial to Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., sculpted by Branly Cadet in 2005.


Across the street is The Studio Museum of Harlem. The Museum features the work of African-American artists and works that have inspired and influenced Black culture. It offers a wide range of public programs as well as an artist-in-residence program. Architecturally, the museum was renovated several years ago by Rogers Marvel Architects. It was one of the first cultural works they did in New York City.

A talk by Abby Suckle at Fraunces Tavern Museum, New York on July 4, 2024

Every American President passed through New York City. Some were born here such as Theodore Roosevelt. Some lived here including Herbert Hoover who spent his post Presidential years residing in the Presidential Suite at the Waldorf Astoria. Some were married here. In 1844, for instance, John Tyler wed Julia Gardiner at the Church of the Ascension on 5th Avenue &amp; 10th Street.&nbsp; Some worked here.&nbsp; Chester Arthur practiced law in New York ﬁrst before he was appointed the Collector of the Port of New York, a position which actually paid more than the presidency. Some received medical care here.&nbsp; Grover Cleveland was operated on for cancer of the jaw on a yacht oﬀ of Pier A. Some like Ulysses S Grant went bankrupt here. Some launched their candidacy here.&nbsp; Abraham Lincoln gave the famous speech at Cooper Union that launched his candidacy and sadly returned a few years later in a casket to City Hall to terminate it. The appropriate place to celebrate President’s Day is, of course, Federal Hall, our ﬁrst capital whose balcony was the site of Washington’s inauguration. &nbsp;

Federal Hall National Memorial on Presidents Day 2026.

The podcast tells the story of how the building was commissioned and shares a couple of stories about events at the Club as well as the zoning battle with the Fisher Brothers in the late 70's that netted them a $5 million fee.

Lever House considered the 1st modernist skyscraper in New York was commissioned by Charles Luckman who was President (and trained as an architect). &nbsp;Rather than make a wedding cake tower as the 1916 New York Zoning Code required for tall buildings, Gordon Bunshaft's act of genius was to set the the building back and only utilize a quarter of the available site area. &nbsp;Other Innovative features included the curtain wall, lack of retail on the ground floor, plaza art program and other employee amenities. &nbsp;It has been renovated several times (all by SOM).

The Reformed Dutch Church of New Amsterdam, first worshipped in a wooden structure on Pearl Street until 1642.

Spurred by David Peterson De Vries, famed navigator, a new stone church was built within Fort Amsterdam, measuring 70 by 52 feet.&nbsp;

This church served the congregation until 1693, when a new church opened on Garden Street. The original stone church was later used by British forces &nbsp;

Destroyed by fire and not rebuilt. Its cornerstone, rediscovered in 1790, was lost in the 1835 fire. On its first construction there was a stone placed in front with, the inscription, "An. Dom. MDCXLII., W.Kieft Dir. Gen. Heeft de Gemeente dese tempel doen bouwen." In the year of our Lord 1642, W. Kieft being Director General, has this congregation caused this temple to be built."

1633 The Site of the First Church built on Manhattan IslandEvaradus Bogardus DominieThis tablet erected by the Daughters of Holland Dames 1933

 Courtesy NYPL taken from forgotten-NY.com

north side of Pearl Street, between Whitehall and Broad streets.

First location

Southeast corner in Fort Amsterdam

Garden Street (now Exchange Place) between Broad St & William St

Garden Street Church / South Dutch Church

The Reformed Dutch Church of New Amsterdam

Sandy Lazo of New Amsterdam History Center, speaking at ‘It Happened Here - 1600’s Symposium: The Beginning of the City’ on July 3, 2025

Pauline Genee, Head of Culture, the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the USA, speaking at ‘It Happened Here - 1600’s Symposium: The Beginning of the City’ on July 3, 2025

Jaap Jacobs of University of St. Andrews, speaking at ‘It Happened Here - 1600’s Symposium: The Beginning of the City’ on July 3, 2025

A fort on the southern tip of Manhattan at the confluence of the Hudson and East rivers. It was the administrative headquarters for the Dutch and then English/British rule of the colony of New Netherland and subsequently the Province of New York from 1625 or 1626. It was the nucleus of the settlement in the area that became New Amsterdam and eventually New York City. It marked the official founding of New York City. The fort was designed by Kryn Fredericksen, chief engineer of the New Netherland colony.&nbsp;Fort Amsterdam was designed to be a state-of-the-art diamond-shaped fort, built of stone and bristling with cannon. The designer warned against building it in haste. However, in 1625, the town was in desperate need of houses, so a much simpler fort was planned. It would be roughly a square of four simple brick walls, mounded over with dirt.To build the fort, Peter Minuit needed laborers, and in 1626 he got just what he needed. The Dutch West India Company sent the first African “bondsmen” to New Amsterdam. Some of their names described their origins: Antony Congo, Paulo d’Angola, Pieter San Tomé, Anthony the Portuguese, Jan Fort Orange. Many of the men had been captured from Spanish or Portuguese ships. They were experienced seamen who already understood some European languages, religions, and laws.For 10 years the men worked to build the fort. They dug up tree stumps, hauled dirt, mounded it up over the fort walls, and battered it down firmly. Finally, the Africans covered the earthen walls of the fort with sod. But as soon as it was finished, the fort began to crumble. The settlers didn’t usually fence their animals, so goats, sheep, and cattle strayed onto the weedy slopes to graze. Pigs went there to dig or rout in the dirt walls. In the words of one settler, the fort soon looked “like a molehill or a tottering wall.” But the Africans were busy elsewhere. They had to dig ditches, clear land, plant and harvest crops, build houses, roads, and bridges, and load the Company’s ships with thousands of pelts of beaver, mink, otter, and wildcat.

Torn down after the American Revolution.

The view of Fort Amsterdam on the Manhattan is copied from an ancient Engineering executed in Holland.&amp;nbsp;The fort was erected in 1623 but finished upon the above model by Governor Van Twillor in 1635.

Willem Kieft was a Dutch merchant and the Director of New Netherland (of which New Amsterdam was the capital) from 1638 to 1647.

Caption reads: "Broadway; Dutch fort; approximate line of State St.; Stuyvesant's house and garden. Model (built, 1933, by Chas. S. Capehart), based on Castello Plan of New Amsterdam, 1660."  

This picture of Fort Amsterdam the village of New York depicts sailboats and rowboats around the fort.

A redraft of the 1660's Castello Plan of New Amsterdam, completed in 1916 by John Wolcott Adams and Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes.The Castello Plan created in 1660 shows the early layout of the colony, including 332 buildings. The broad thoroughfare leading north (left to right) on the map below is today’s Broadway. Wall Street got its name from the wall on the right.<a href="https://culturenow.org/people/national-parks-of-new-york-harbor-conservancy?name=National_Parks_of_New_York_Harbor_Conservancy&amp;id=a52f63a6-9f96-47c6-8768-8ac4665891fe&amp;type=organization"> [1]</a>

The site is now occupied by the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House

Fort Amsterdam

The conquest of New Netherland occurred in 1664 as an English expedition led by Richard Nicolls that arrived in New York Harbor effected a peaceful capture of New Amsterdam, Fort Amsterdam and the Articles of Surrender of New Netherland were agreed.

British took over New Amsterdam and renamed the city New York after the Duke of York.&nbsp;

Gezicht op Nieuw Amsterdam by Johannes Vingboons (1664), an early picture of Nieuw Amsterdam made in the year when it was conquered by the English under Richard Nicolls.Step into the past - In 1665, the famous Dutch mapmaker Johannes Vingboons painted this charming and now iconic watercolor of New Amsterdam, which he adapted from a far less complimentary sketch intended to portray a settlement in dire need of funds from the Dutch West India Company. Nationaal Archief, National Archives of The Netherlands.<a href="https://culturenow.org/people/a52f63a6-9f96-47c6-8768-8ac4665891fe?name=National_Parks_of_New_York_Harbor_Conservancy">[1]</a>In 1665, the famous Dutch mapmaker Johannes Vingboons painted this charming and now iconic watercolor of New Amsterdam, which he adapted from a far less complimentary sketch intended to portray a settlement in dire need of funds from the Dutch West India Company. - Nationaal Archief, National Archives of The Netherlands<a href="https://culturenow.org/people/a52f63a6-9f96-47c6-8768-8ac4665891fe?name=National_Parks_of_New_York_Harbor_Conservancy">[2]</a>

Title in French and GermanEngraver: Franz Xaver Habermann

British took over New Amsterdam

Historian and lawyer James Kaplan asks listeners to use their imaginations as he describes the site of Shearith Israel Synagogue that once stood near 22 William Street. The first synagogue in North America, it was built in 1730. As the surrounding neighborhood - which would become the Financial District - became more industrial, congregants left the site to build synagogues in Greenwich Village and Upper West Side.

Zachary Edinger of the Congregation of Shearith Israel, speaking at ‘It Happened Here - 1600’s Symposium: The Beginning of the City’ on July 3, 2025'

The first colonists lived in square pits, like cellars, that were covered with wood and bark. These simple shelters protected them from the elements until they could build basic cottages. Once New Netherland became more established, colonists built better wooden and later stone and brick houses.Dutch homes were different from the English homes of the same era. Dutch homes had one or two rooms on the first floor, a smaller upper garret for storage, and many times a clock loft overhead. The outside doors of their houses were split horizontally. These split doors allowed the Dutch colonists to open the upper section to let fresh air in, while keeping the lower section closed. The style of door kept unwanted animals out of the house and prevented little children from running outside without their mothers knowing.In Dutch homes, people slept in bedstede or bed boxes, which could be closed up from the inside to protect sleepers from the cold night air. Many Dutch homes had a piece of furniture called a kast in them. This was a large chest for storing linens.By the 1660s, the streets of New Amsterdam and Beverwijck were increasingly filled with rows of stone and brick houses with tiled roofs.

Most houses in New Amsterdam in 1657 were of wood with roofs thatched with the local reeds and probably had clapboard siding. From the Prototype View and Castello plan most houses appear to have one story with a garret. Almost all buildings have their gable-end facing the street. Around the 1660's 28 houses stood north of Beaver Street. The houses bordered the open ditch that persisted in this area.

On the northeast corner of Exchange Place and Broad Street, about the year 1680

It was a Methodist church in the 1760s, then a secular building again before its demolition in the mid-19th century.

Edmonds imagined this scene in the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, the name given to New York City before the English seized control in 1664. Dressed in the distinctive outfit of a “knickerbocker” (the popular term for a Dutch settler), a young man attempts to gain the attention of a woman who is dutifully knitting. Contemporary viewers found humor in the suitor’s ostentatious outfit and behavior in comparison with the modesty of his counterpart. An entwined vine rises behind them, a symbol of budding love that appears in 17th-century Dutch genre painting, from which Edmonds drew his artistic inspiration. The numbers on the house indicate the year 1649.

It is situated on land that New Netherland director general Wouter van Twiller purchased from the Lenape Indians in approximately 1636. The house was one of several that Van Twiller ordered to be built before he was recalled to the Netherlands by 1640. It is estimated to have been built before 1641. Pieter Claesen Wyckoff's family moved in around 1652. The house is one of the oldest surviving examples of a Dutch frame house in America, and it was one of the first structures built by settlers on Long Island. The majority of the current structure was added in the 19th century, with the small kitchen section dating back to the 18th century. Fidler-Wyckoff House Park is home to Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum, the oldest structure in New York City and a National Historic Landmark.&nbsp;

5902 Canarsie Lane, Brooklyn, Kings County, NY

Dutch Homes in New Amsterdam

After returning to the Netherlands, he was appointed Director-General of New Netherland in 1647, tasked with restoring the struggling colony of New Amsterdam (modern-day New York City). Kieft's administration of the colony had left the colony in terrible condition. Only a small number of villages remained after Kieft's wars, and many of their inhabitants had been driven away and returned home, leaving only 250 to 300 men able to carry arms. Kieft himself had accumulated a fortune of over 4,000 guilders during his term in office, and become an alcoholic.

Peter Stuyvesant, born around 1612, studied at the University of Franeker before joining the Dutch West India Company. After holding positions in Brazil and Curaçao, he became the acting governor of the latter in 1642. In 1644, during an attack on Saint Martin, Stuyvesant lost his leg, earning him the nickname "Peg Leg Pete."&nbsp;

Stuyvesant arrived in New Amsterdam

An excerpt from the book: COMING UP FROM DOWN UNDERUntil the late 18th century, Australian architecture was defined by the vernacular structures of the continent’s Aboriginal inhabitants, whose hundreds of languages defined hundreds of Peoples and Nations. Where there were settlements, they included dome frameworks and circular bark and branch shelters. The arrival of the First Fleet of eleven British ships in 1788, at what is now known as Botany Bay in New South Wales, changed all that—and so much more—for the people of the First Nations.As British immigration grew at the outset of the 19th century, much of Australia’s public and commercial architecture was being designed by British-born architects, such as Francis Greenway, Joseph Reed and John James Clark, who established their practices in Australia but brought the distinct preferences of British and European styles to their work. In a uniquely Australian story, Greenway arrived as a convict to serve out his sentence for forgery in a Sydney prison, but soon became an architect favored by then Governor Lachlan Macquarie; in 1966 Greenway’s image was placed on Australia’s $10 note.Queen Anne and Victorian era architecture, along with a blending of other historical styles, reigned throughout the second half of the 19th century. However, the influence of North American ideas in design and planning emerged at the outset of the 20th century—possible due to Australia’s climatic similarities with various parts of the United States.

 CultureNOW dedicates itself to celebrating our vast cultural environment as a gallery that exists beyond museum walls through cultural tourism and arts education. CultureNOW believes that the three facets to understanding the world around us are art, architecture and history. Mapping these empowers the public to better visualize the place they live in making it a powerful tool to understand the richness and diversity of a community. 

250 years ago on March 31, 1776 Abigail Adams wrote a letter to her husband John. &nbsp;&nbsp;"in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation." &nbsp;March is Women’s History Month and we plan to celebrate it with a program on Revolutionary Women. Please join cultureNOW, the Lower Manhattan Historical Association, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and Fraunces Tavern® Museum for a virtual symposium.&nbsp;Abigail Adams and Political Life in Massachusetts Moderator: Sara Georgini PhD, Series Editor, The Papers of John Adams, Massachusetts Historical Society&nbsp;&nbsp;Women and Political Participation in Revolutionary Virginia Cassandra Good PhD, Associate Professor of History, Marymount University&nbsp;&nbsp;Loyalist Women in British-Occupied New York Charlene M. Boyer Lewis PhD, Larry J. Bell Distinguished Chair in American History, Kalamazoo College&nbsp;&nbsp;Martha Washington and the American Revolution Kathryn Gehred, Co-Editor of The Papers of Martha Washington&nbsp;&nbsp;Liss, A New Founding Figure Claire Bellerjeau, Founder and President of Remember Liss&nbsp;Molly Brant, the First Lady of British Native America Helena Yoo-Roth PhD, Barra Postdoctoral Fellow, The McNeil Center for Early American Studies, University of Pennsylvania

Federal Hall National Memorial

The Lower Manhattan Historical Association ("LMHA") holds a parade through Lower Manhattan every year starting 2015.This parade is part of a resurgence of patriotic activities in Lower Manhattan on July 4, after a long hiatus from 1976 to 2015. It is in recognition of the recent growth of Lower Manhattan as one of the City's fastest growing residential neighborhoods and as one of the City's major centers of historical tourism.The parade, which traverses Wall Street and passes many of the historic monuments in Lower Manhattan - is designed to provide marchers and spectators with an understanding of the tremendous historic importance of Lower Manhattan.

Etienne De Lancey constructed the three-story building at 54 Pearl Street as a family residence. The house was probably three stories and constructed with brick, tile, and a lead roof. It is unclear if the De Lanceys ever lived in it or used it as a rental property. This building is now the main building of Fraunces Tavern Museum.

Fraunces Tavern Museum's mission is to preserve and interpret the history of the American Revolutionary era through public education. This mission is fulfilled through the interpretation and preservation of the Museum's collections, landmarked buildings and varied public programs that serve the community. You can stand in the room where General George Washington bid farewell to his officers and explore seven additional galleries that focus on America's War for Independence and the preservation of early American history.

the House and Furniture of the Solisiter General have fallen a prey to their own merciless party. Surely the very Fiends feel a Reverential awe for Virtue and patriotism, whilst they Detest the paricide and traitor.I feel very differently at the approach of spring to what I did a month ago. We knew not then whether we could plant or sow with safety, whether when we had toild we could reap the fruits of our own industery, whether we could rest in our own Cottages, or whether we should not be driven from the sea coasts to seek shelter in the wilderness, but now we feel as if we might sit under our own vine and eat the good of the land.&nbsp;I feel a gaieti de Coar to which before I was a stranger. I think the Sun looks brighter, the Birds sing more melodiously, and Nature puts on a more chearfull countanance. We feel a temporary peace, and the poor fugitives are returning to their deserted habitations.&nbsp;Tho we felicitate ourselves, we sympathize with those who are trembling least the Lot of Boston should be theirs. But they cannot be in similar circumstances unless pusilanimity and cowardise should take possession of them. They have time and warning given them to see the Evil and shun it. -- I long to hear that you have declared an independency -- and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebelion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.&nbsp;That your Sex are Naturally Tyrannical is a Truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no dispute, but such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the harsh title of Master for the more tender and endearing one of Friend. Why then, not put it out of the power of the vicious and the

Braintree March 31, 1776I wish you would ever write me a Letter half as long as I write you; and tell me if you may where your Fleet are gone? What sort of Defence Virginia can make against our common Enemy? Whether it is so situated as to make an able Defence? Are not the Gentery Lords and the common people vassals, are they not like the uncivilized Natives Brittain represents us to be? I hope their Riffel Men who have shewen themselves very savage and even Blood thirsty; are not a specimen of the Generality of the people.&nbsp;I &nbsp;[illegible] &nbsp;am willing to allow the Colony great merrit for having produced a Washington but they have been shamefully duped by a Dunmore.&nbsp;I have sometimes been ready to think that the passion for Liberty cannot be Eaquelly Strong in the Breasts of those who have been accustomed to deprive their fellow Creatures of theirs. Of this I am certain that it is not founded upon that generous and christian principal of doing to others as we would that others should do unto us.&nbsp;Do not you want to see Boston; I am fearfull of the small pox, or I should have been in before this time. I got Mr. Crane to go to our House and see what state it was in. I find it has been occupied by one of the Doctors of a Regiment, very dirty, but no other damage has been done to it. The few things which were left in it are all gone. Cranch has the key which he never deliverd up. I have wrote to him for it and am determined to get it cleand as soon as possible and shut it up. I look upon it a new acquisition of property, a property which one month ago I did not value at a single Shilling, and could with pleasure have seen it in flames.&nbsp;The Town in General is left in a better state than we expected, more oweing to a percipitate flight than any Regard to the inhabitants, tho some individuals discoverd a sense of honour and justice and have left the rent of the Houses in which they were, for the owners and the furniture unhurt, or if damaged sufficent to make it good.&nbsp;Others have committed abominable Ravages. The Mansion House of your President is safe and the furniture unhurt whilst both&nbsp;&nbsp;

Lawless to use us with cruelty and indignity with impunity. Men of Sense in all Ages abhor those customs which treat us only as the vassals of your Sex. Regard us then as Beings placed by providence under your protection and in immitation of the Supreem Being make use of that power only for our happiness.April 5Not having an opportunity of sending this I shall add a few lines more; tho not with a heart so gay. I have been attending the sick chamber of our Neighbour Trot whose affliction I most sensibly feel but cannot discribe, striped of two lovely children in one week. Gorge the Eldest died on wedensday and Billy the youngest on fryday, with the Canker fever, a terible disorder so much like the throat distemper, that it differs but little from it. Betsy Cranch has been very bad, but upon the recovery. Becky Peck they do not expect will live out the day. Many grown persons are now sick with it, in this street 5. It rages much in other Towns. The Mumps too are very frequent. Isaac is now confined with it. Our own little flock are yet well. My Heart trembles with anxiety for them. God preserve them.&nbsp;I want to hear much oftener from you than I do. March 8 [John to Abigail, 08 March 1776] was the last date of any that I have yet had. -- You inquire of whether I am making Salt peter. I have not yet attempted it, but after Soap making believe I shall make the experiment. I find as much as I can do to manufacture cloathing for my family whowhich would else be Naked. I know of but one person in this part of the Town who has made any, that is Mr. Tertias Bass as he is calld who has got very near an hundred weight which has been found to be very good. I have heard of some others in the other parishes. Mr. Reed of Weymouth has been applied to, to go to Andover to the mills which are now at work, and has gone. I have lately seen a small Manuscrip describing the proportions for the various sorts of powder,such asfit for cannon, small arms and pistols &nbsp;[illegible] &nbsp;. If it would be of any Service your way I will get it transcribed and send it to you. -- Every one of your Friends send their Regards, and all the little ones. Your Brothers youngest child lies bad with convulsion fitts. Adieu. I need not say how much I am Your ever faithfull Friend.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Virtual

Remember the Ladies : It Happened Here

Claire Bellerjeau is the co-author of “Espionage and Enslavement in the Revolution: The True Story of Robert Townsend and Elizabeth”, published in May of 2021. Bellerjeau is co-founder of a 501(c)3 non-profit organization called Remember Liss, with the mission to educate the community about the extraordinary life and times of an enslaved Black woman from New York named Elizabeth, or Liss. In 2023 she co-authored a student version titled "Remember Liss" available at www.rememberliss.org . She formerly served as Historian and Director of Education at Liss’s birthplace, Raynham Hall Museum in Oyster Bay, New York. She has been researching the Townsend family and those they enslaved for over seventeen years, including curating a yearlong exhibit on the Townsend “Slave Bible” in 2005. In 2015, during a research visit to the New York Historical Society, she discovered what may be one of the earliest poems ever written by Jupiter Hammon, America’s first published African American writer. She gives in-person and virtual educational programs about Liss, slavery in New York during the Revolutionary War, and the Culper Spy Ring and shares Liss’s story using primary documents from her research.

Helena Yoo-Roth, Barra Postdoctoral Fellow, The McNeil Center for Early American Studies, University of Pennsylvania

Claire Bellerjeau, Founder and President of Remember Liss

Kathryn Gehred, Co-Editor of The Papers of Martha Washington&nbsp;

Dr. Charlene M. Boyer Lewis, Larry J. Bell Distinguished Chair in American History, Kalamazoo College&nbsp;

&nbsp;Cassandra Good, Associate Professor of History, Marymount University&nbsp;

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Cocktails &amp; Conversation is a series of dialogues about design that brings an architect together with a critic, journalist, curator, architectural historian, or colleague to discuss current architecture and urban design issues. For this program, Jordan Rogove, FAIA, will present a new paradigm for disaster relief housing, using his work after the devastating Lahaina fire in Hawaii as a case study. He will be joined in conversation with journalist James S. Russell, FAIA Emeritus, over a custom-crafted cocktail to be enjoyed by all attendees. A cocktail for each attendee is included in the ticket price.About the Speakers:Jordan Rogove is Partner and co-founder of DXA Studio which he established with Wayne Norbeck in 2011. His work in New York includes a wide range of new and restored multi-family residential buildings throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn, including the conversion of the Mount Pleasant Church on the Upper West Side. His work has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2018, 2022 and 2023. Rogove has also contributed to socially minded and humanistic projects internationally, including collaboration with the Clinton Health Access Initiative to develop architectural solutions helping to eradicate malaria in Namibia. He is the co-founder, with Wayne Norbeck, and COO of Liv-Connected, established in 2019 to provide innovative, well-designed, and affordable factory-built modular housing for single-family households. In 2024, in response to FEMA’s RFP to provide emergency disaster relief housing for Hawaiians displace by the devastating 2023 fire in Lahaina (Maui), Liv-Connected was deployed to provide emergency disaster relief housing for over 100 households in four months. Jordan was educated at Virginia Tech’s School of Architecture, where he is currently an Affiliate Professor of Practice, and is on the Board of Directors of the NY Council of SARA (Society of American Registered Architects).James S. Russell is an award-winning journalist focusing on architecture and urban issues. His articles on design, climate change, housing, transportation, and cities have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg CityLab, The Economist, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Russell was the first architecture critic for Bloomberg News and a former editor at Architectural Record, where he continues as a contributing editor. As the Director of Design Strategic Initiatives at the NYC Department of Design and Construction (DDC), his team created a series of architectural handbooks focusing on equitable access, resource management, and environmental topics. In 2011, his book, The Agile City: Building Well Being and Wealth in an Era of Climate Change, was published by Island Press. He was educated at the University of Washington (B.A. Environmental Design) and Columbia University (M. Arch) and teaches at Stanford University’s program in New York City (SiNY).

Center for Architecture

Cocktails & Conversation Jordan Rogove and James Russell

Jordan Rogove is Partner and co-founder of DXA Studio which he established with Wayne Norbeck in 2011. His work in New York includes a wide range of new and restored multi-family residential buildings throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn, including the conversion of the Mount Pleasant Church on the Upper West Side. His work has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2018, 2022 and 2023. Rogove has also contributed to socially minded and humanistic projects internationally, including collaboration with the Clinton Health Access Initiative to develop architectural solutions helping to eradicate malaria in Namibia. He is the co-founder, with Wayne Norbeck, and COO of Liv-Connected, established in 2019 to provide innovative, well-designed, and affordable factory-built modular housing for single-family households. In 2024, in response to FEMA’s RFP to provide emergency disaster relief housing for Hawaiians displace by the devastating 2023 fire in Lahaina (Maui), Liv-Connected was deployed to provide emergency disaster relief housing for over 100 households in four months. Jordan was educated at Virginia Tech’s School of Architecture, where he is currently an Affiliate Professor of Practice, and is on the Board of Directors of the NY Council of SARA (Society of American Registered Architects).

James S. Russell is the director of Design Strategic Initiatives at the NYC Department of Design &amp; Construction, where he produced Guiding Principles on Equity, Sustainability, Resiliency, and Healthy Living. He is an architectural journalist, author, and consultant, and for nine years, was the architecture critic for Bloomberg News.

The Alexander Hamilton Immigrant Achievement Awards are given to naturalized citizens of the United States who have made outstanding contributions to Lower Manhattan and New York City. This year’s ceremony will be held on the 250th anniversary of Alexander Hamilton’s appointment as the Captain of the 1st Battalion of the 5th Artillery Unit, the oldest battalion still existing in the United States Army and the only one remaining from the Revolution. &nbsp; &nbsp;HonoreesDervila Bowler, Co-Owner of Fraunces Tavern® Restaurant (Ireland)&nbsp;Eddie Travers, Co-Owner of Fraunces Tavern® Restaurant (Ireland)&nbsp;Kai-Uwe Bergmann, FAIA, RIBA, Partner, BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group (Germany)&nbsp;Raju Mann, President &amp; Chief Executive Officer, Battery Park City Authority (India)&nbsp;Roger Byrom, Former CEO, Addison; Former Chair of Manhattan Community Board 1 Landmarks Committee (England)&nbsp;

Alexander Hamilton Immigrant Achievement Award Ceremony 2026

Kai Uwe Bergmann, FAIA, RIBA, Partner at BIG, Bjarke Ingels Group.

Raju Mann, President &amp; Chief Executive Officer, Battery Park City Authority

Roger Byrom, Former CEO, Addison, Former Chair of Manhattan Community Board | Landmarks Committee

Co-Owners of Fraunces Tavern Restaurant

Cocktails &amp; Conversation is a series of dialogues about design that brings an architect together with a critic, journalist, curator, teacher, or colleague to discuss current architecture and urban design issues. For this program, Dikkie Scipio of KAAN Architecten in Rotterdam will discuss how the selection of materials, the craft of assembly, and impact of the environment shape her firm’s projects. She will be joined in conversation with Claire Weisz, FAIA, Founding Principal of WXY, over a custom-crafted cocktail to be enjoyed by all attendees. A cocktail for each attendee is included in the ticket price.

Cocktails & Conversation: Dikkie Scipio of KAAN Architecten

Dikkie Scipio is a Professor of Architecture at FH Münster and one of the Founding Partners at KAAN Architecten. She specializes in intricate undertakings and processes, with a particular focus oncraftsmanship within architecture, the concept of beauty and re-imagining heritage in contemporary times. She seamlessly integrates building and expansion with preservation, showcasing her commitment to respecting existing structures and historical significance.

Claire Weisz is an architect, urbanist, and founding partner of Weisz + Yoes architecture (WXY) along with her partner Mark Yoes. She received her professional degree from University of Toronto and her post professional Master's Degree in Architecture from Yale University. She is the recipient of many academic awards and was a winner of the Architectural League of New York's Young Architects Award. She has written and edited architecture and planning studies, including the AD issue "Extreme Site: Greening the Brownfield." She was on the founding board for The Design Trust for Public Space and became its co-executive director. Weisz is a Fellow of both the Urban Design Institute and the Urban Design Forum, and served on the NYSCA Architecture Design Panel, the New York AIA Board of Directors and on design juries both nationally and internationally. She has received research grants from the New York State Council on the Arts, Rockefeller Foundation and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. She has taught and lectured widely, including Yale University, Columbia University, The Architectural League and at Pratt Institute's School of Architecture and is currently on faculty at New York University's Wagner Graduate School of Public Policy.Based in NYC which focuses on innovative approaches to public space, structures and cities. They have received the League Prize and were an Emerging Voice in 2011 from the Architecture League.

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Every American President passed through New York City. Some were born here such as Theodore Roosevelt. Some lived here. Herbert Hoover spent his post Presidential years residing in the Presidential Suite at the Waldorf Astoria. Some were Married Here. John Tyler married Julia Gardiner at the Church of the Ascension on 5th Avenue &amp; 10th Street in 1844. Chester Arthur worked in New York first as a lawyer and later as the Collector of the Port of New York, a position which actually paid more than the presidency. Grover Cleveland was operated on for cancer of the jaw on a yacht off of Pier A. Some like Ulysses S Grant went bankrupt here. Abraham Lincoln gave the famous speech at Cooper Union that launched his candidacy and sadly returned a few years later in a casket to City Hall to terminate it. The appropriate place to celebrate President’s Day is, of course, Federal Hall, our first capital whose balcony was the site of Washington’s inauguration

An American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the 2nd president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of the American Revolution, which achieved independence from Great Britain, and during the war, served as a diplomat in Europe. He was twice elected vice president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797 in a prestigious role with little power. Adams was a dedicated diarist and regularly corresponded with many important contemporaries, including his wife and adviser Abigail Adams as well as his friend and rival Thomas Jefferson.

John Adams

A Caribbean-born American statesman, politician, legal scholar, military commander, lawyer, banker, and economist. He was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was an influential interpreter and promoter of the U.S. Constitution, as well as the founder of the nation's financial system, the Federalist Party, the United States Coast Guard, and the New York Post newspaper. As the first secretary of the treasury, Hamilton was the main author of the economic policies of President George Washington's administration. He took the lead in the federal government's funding of the states' debts, as well as establishing the nation's first two de facto central banks (i.e. the Bank of North America and the First Bank of the United States), a system of tariffs, and friendly trade relations with Britain. His vision included a strong central government led by a vigorous executive branch, a strong commercial economy, support for manufacturing, and a strong military.Hamilton is generally regarded as an astute and intellectually brilliant administrator, politician and financier, if often impetuous. His ideas are credited with laying the foundation for American government and finance.

Alexander Hamilton

George Washington was an American political leader, military general, statesman, and Founding Father of the United States, who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Washington led the Patriot forces to victory in the American Revolutionary War, and presided at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, which established the Constitution of the United States and a federal government for the United States

George Washington

Washington Monument

The Washington Monument is an obelisk near the west end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate the first U.S. president, General George Washington. The monument, made of marble, granite, and bluestone gneiss, is both the world's tallest stone structure and the world's tallest obelisk.Designed by architect Robert Mills in the 1840s, construction of the stone obelisk began in 1848, halted at half height in 1856, then resumed from 1876-1884. Achieving a height of 555 feet, the Washington Monument surpassed the Cologne Cathedral as the world's tallest structure–but only briefly. In 1889, the Eiffel Tower asserted the new age of metal construction.<a href="https://culturenow.org/people/the-skyscraper-museum?name=The_Skyscraper_Museum">[1]</a>

Ellis Island has had numerous names throughout its history. Its current iteration was established in the 1770s, when Samuel Ellis became the island's private owner. The Federal Government purchased the island in the early 1800s to fortify its harbor defenses, and when it took over immigration control from the State in 1890, immigrant arrivals were shifted to Ellis Island. The original 1892 wooden structures actually burned down five years after being erected.

The Dutch bought Kioshk as a gift for Michael Reyniersz Pauw, who had helped found New Netherland. When the Dutch settled the area as part of New Netherland, the three islands in Upper New York Bay—Liberty, Black Tom, and Ellis Islands—were given the name Oyster Islands, alluding to the large oyster population nearby. The present-day Ellis Island was thus called "Little Oyster Island". Little Oyster Island was then sold to Captain William Dyre c.?1674, then to Thomas Lloyd on April 23, 1686. The island was then sold several more times, including to Enoch and Mary Story. During colonial times, Little Oyster Island became a popular spot for hosting oyster roasts, picnics, and clambakes because of its rich oyster beds. By the 1760s, Little Oyster Island became a public execution site for pirates, with executions occurring at one tree in particular, the "Gibbet Tree".&nbsp;

 Ellis Island is an island that is located in Upper New York Bay in the Port of New York and New Jersey, United States. It was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States as the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. The island was greatly expanded with land reclamation between 1892 and 1934. Before that, the much smaller original island was the site of Fort Gibson and later a naval magazine. The island was made part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument in 1965, and has hosted a museum of immigration since 1990. Long considered part of New York, a 1998 United States Supreme Court decision found that most of the island is in New Jersey.[4] The south side of the island, home to the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital, is closed to the general public and the object of restoration efforts spearheaded by Save Ellis Island. 

Around 1699, de Peyster donated part of his garden for the construction of a new city hall. That building was later renamed Federal Hall, which briefly served as the first capitol of the United States, and the site of the first inauguration of George Washington as president. It was replaced in 1842 with the Greek Renaissance structure that stands there today.

Overshadowed today by its towering neighbors, the Greek Revival temple stands on what the New Yorker's Eric Homberger called "sacred ground for the making of the American republic" —where George Washington was inaugurated, where the first Congress convened, and where the flesh, including what would become the Bill of Rights, was placed on the bare bones of the Constitution (a forty-five-hundred-word document that never mentions the word "democracy") —during the 531 days when New York City was the nation's first capital. Even before that, it was the site of John Peter Zenger's trial, which provided the foundation for press freedoms; the Stamp Act Congress in 1765, where a formal coalition of the colonies was first suggested; and the Congress of the Confederation, from 1785 to 1789.The building would first be repurposed as a customs house, which, as New York dominated the nation's maritime trade, would generate most of the federal government's revenue by the mid-nineteenth century. Then the building would be transformed into a fortified branch of the United States Treasury, whose impregnable vaults would guard the largest repository of gold in the world.Its triple service-in the names of democracy, commerce, and capitalism-elevate Federal Hall to an unrivaled role in shaping the city's heritage. It symbolizes, the New York Times said, "Americas turbulent political babyhood and financial manhood. Decades after the new president and the first Congress reached one agreement after another on the enduring structure of the federal government, the diarist and former New York City mayor Philip Hone delivered a toast to the old Federal Hall that evoked the site's synonymy with the grand bargain: "It witnessed the greatest contract ever made in Wall Street." The national government's decision to decamp from Philadelphia and Trenton to New York, at least for the time being, was enthusiastically welcomed by the city's Common Council, which generously agreed to accommodate the out-of-towners by remodeling City Hall at Wall and Broad Streets. (The site was aptly named: Wall Street was the northern perimeter of where the Dutch stockade stood until the end of the seventeenth century; Broad Street was wider than most because it originally accommodated a canal that connected to the East River).&nbsp;

America begins in New York:- Kenneth T. Jackson, the Columbia University historian, likes to say. New York's tolerance for or, at least, indifference to diversity spread west to the rest of the country. Embodied by the Statue of Liberty, that philosophy defined America to the rest of the world through accounts that immigrants sent home.In 1830, fewer than one in ten New Yorkers were foreign-born. Within two decades, nearly half were. Yet when the statue was dedicated in 1886 (six years before Ellis Island opened), the only immigrants mentioned were the "illustrious descendants of the French nobility" who had fought on behalf of the United States against Britain during the American Revolution.Her official name was Liberty Enlightening the World, and her donor's agenda was to burnish France's republican roots after the oppressive reign of Napoléon Ill and to foster stronger bonds with America. But it was the words of a fourth-generation American whose father was a wealthy sugar refiner and whose great-great-uncle welcomed George Washington to Newport, Rhode Island, that almost single-handedly-if belatedly- transformed the monumental statue in New York Harbor into a "Motherof Exiles" who beckoned generations of immigrants.Emma Lazarus's "New Colossus," with its memorable appeal to "give me your tired, your poor," was commissioned for a fund-raising campaign to pay for the statue's pedestal. Lazarus accepted the commission begrudgingly - few poets relish the idea of writing on deadline. But she was stirred by a wave of pogroms against Jews in Russia and by her regular visits to poor immigrants housed in temporary shelters on Wards Island. Lazarus wrote the sonnet in 1883, having seen only the torch when it was on display in Madison Square Park."It was a moment of moral and spiritual recovery, after her attempts to raise money to benefit the Russian-Jewish refugees of 1881-82 had largely fallen on deaf ears," said Esther Schor, her biographer and an English professor at Princeton University.The sonnet would survive periodic efforts to excise Lazarus's reference to "wretched refuse" and would become enshrined in the political lexicon in the 1930s as an anthem for Americans who, with war again threatening in Europe, lobbied to reverse immigration quotas imposed a decade earlier.Finally, in 1903, after relentless lobbying by Georgina Schuyler, a friend of Lazarus who was descended from Alexander Hamilton (himself an immigrant), it was affixed on a bronze tablet just inside the entrance to the pedestal. "An ex post facto inscription," as the art historian Marvin Trachtenberg wrote, that would elevate the values of immigration.TEXT FROM SAM ROBERTS &nbsp;101 OBJECTS

In 1883, William Maxwell Evarts and author Constance Cary Harrison asked Lazarus to compose a sonnet for the "Art Loan Fund Exhibition in Aid of the Bartholdi Pedestal Fund for the Statue of Liberty" - an art and literary auction to raise funds for the Statue's pedestal run by the American Committee for the Statue of Liberty. In turn, Lazarus, inspired by her own Sephardic Jewish heritage, her experiences working with refugees on Ward's Island, and the plight of the immigrant, wrote "The New Colossus" on November 2, 1883. After the auction, the sonnet appeared in Joseph Pulitzer's New York World as well as The New York Times. She died in New York City on November 19, 1887, most likely from Hodgkin's lymphoma and was buried in New York City at Congregation Shearith Israel's Beth Olom Cemetery in Cypress Hills, Queens.Lazarus' famous sonnet depicts the Statue as the "Mother of Exiles:" a symbol of immigration and opportunity - symbols associated with the Statue of Liberty today. After its initial popularity however, the sonnet slowly faded from public memory. It was not until 1901, 17 years after Lazarus's death, that Georgina Schuyler, a friend of hers, found a book containing the sonnet in a bookshop and organized a civic effort to resurrect the lost work. Her efforts paid off and in 1903, words from the sonnet were inscribed on a plaque and placed on the inner wall of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. Today, the plaque is on display inside the Statue's pedestal, and an exact replica of the plaque can be found inside the Statue of Liberty Museum.

The U.S. National World War II Memorial is a National Memorial dedicated to Americans who served in the armed forces and as civilians during World War II. Consisting of 56 pillars and a pair of arches surrounding a plaza and fountain, it is located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on the former site of the Rainbow Pool at the eastern end of the Reflecting Pool, between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.

Third (Current) Location

Second Location

First Location

Alexander Hamilton commissioned architect John McComb Jr. to design a Federal style country home on a sprawling 32 acre estate in upper Manhattan. This house was completed in 1802, just two years before Hamilton’s death, and was named “The Grange” after the Hamilton family’s ancestral home in Scotland. The house remained in the family until 1833. Since that time, the Grange has been moved two times, in 1889 to its location at 287 Convent Avenue and most recently to its new home in nearby St. Nicholas Park. The National Park Service manages the site as a National Memorial.

Hamilton Grange was the home of Alexander Hamilton, who was the first United States Secretary of the Treasury, a Founding Father, and a political philosopher. &nbsp;&nbsp;

African Burial Ground National Monument

An African Burial Ground was established in 1690, eventually containing 15000 graves of free and enslaved Africans; it was rediscovered in 1991 when construction was beginning on the Federal Building.Historians estimate there may have been as many as 10,000&ndash;20,000 burials in what was called the "Negroes Burial Ground" in the 1700s. In 1794 2nd African Burial Ground replaced the first African Burial Ground after original ground was decommissioned by the Common Council. In 2010 African Burial Ground National Monument Rodney Leon's winning competition entry design was dedicated as the African Burial Ground National Monument.The current site of the African Burial Ground consists of the outdoor monument, adjacent to the Ted Weiss Federal Building at 290 Broadway, which holds an interpretive center on the first floor for the burial ground. The center features 5 public artworks commissioned and funded by the General Services Administration. "Unearthed" by Frank Bender, sculptor and forensic artist, is a bronze sculpture inspired by three of the individuals removed from the burial ground. "America Song" by Clyde Lynds is a sculpture composed of granite, concrete and fiber optics, and features an Indian headdress and feathers. At night, the sculpture is illuminated by the fiber optics.

Bunker Hill Grounds

Colonel William Prescott commanded the Colonial forces (New England militia) at the Battle of Bunker Hill. He oversaw the overnight construction of the redoubt on top of Breed's Hill - where the Bunker Hill Monument now stands. He is effectively considered to have been the commander of the redoubt. When dawn broke and British cannon opened fire on his position, accounts identify Prescott walking on top of the dirt walls of the redoubt, showing the men they had nothing to fear under fire.This over life-sized bronze statue shows him with his sword&mdash;the symbol of command&mdash;in his right hand. With his left hand, he signals his troops to hold their fire, waiting for the enemy to draw nearer. Before the battle, Prescott put aside his heavy uniform coat and tricorn hat in favor of a lightweight coat and shady hat. The cast-off military attire is shown at Prescott`s feet. The statue is the work of the American sculptor William Wetmore Story, who lived in Rome. It was cast there and erected beside the Bunker Hill monument in 1881. Courtesy of Boston Art Commission.

Castle Clinton National Monument 

Originally erected in 1808-1811 as the Southwest Battery for the War of 1812, Castle Clinton was part of the NY Harbor Coastal Fortification system. It was originally located 300 feet offshore and connected to Manhattan via a bridge. The castle itself was converted to administrative headquarters for the Army. Simultaneously, at the end of the war, there was a public movement to build a park in the Battery area.

 Castle Clinton or Fort Clinton, previously known as Castle Garden, is a circular sandstone fort located in Battery Park, in Manhattan, New York City. Built from 1808 to 1811, it was the first American immigration station, predating Ellis Island, where more than 8 million people arrived in the United States from 1855 to 1890. 

The statue was initially called Liberty Enlightening the World and was meant as a gift from France to the United States, celebrating the country’s independence. At first, the statue was assembled in pieces, with financing for the project proving to be difficult.The torch-bearing arm was first displayed in Philadelphia at the Centennial Exposition in 1876 and the head was exhibited at the Paris World’s Fair in 1878.The statue was completed in France in 1884, but money was still needed to complete the pedestal in New York. Eventually, a donations drive spearheaded by publisher Joseph Pulitzer attracted over 100,000 contributions and the pedestal was finished by April 1886.

The statue's internal structure of wrought iron trusses is an early example of the skeleton frame engineered by A. Gustav Eiffel. The frame, which at 151 feet equals the height of a 15-story building, supports the exterior copper "curtain wall" of Liberty's garments.<a href="https://culturenow.org/people/the-skyscraper-museum?name=The_Skyscraper_Museum">[1]</a>&nbsp;Located on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty was a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States and is one of the most universal symbols of political freedom and liberty. The Statue of Liberty was dedicated on October 28, 1886. It became a World Heritage Site in 1984. The island was extensively restored and reopened on July 4, 1986, shortly before the Statue's centennial in October 1986. The island is open to the public.Donated by citizens of France to celebrate Franco-American friendship, the Statue of Liberty is significant for its physical and symbolic characteristics. Richard Morris Hunt prepared the plans for the 89 foot high pedestal; French engineer Alexandre Gustav Eiffel designed the iron framework which supports the copper sheathing. Many consider this frame noteworthy in itself, because of its ability to support an irregularly-shaped structure subject to high winds. Symbolically, the Statue of Liberty reflects the political ideals of the late nineteenth century. It commemorates America's founding principles of liberty, freedom, and opportunity in America for all. More than sixteen million immigrants passed by the Statue of Liberty on the way to the Ellis Island Immigration Station.President Grover Cleveland gave a speech. Mayor Grace presented the freedom of the city. The very first Ticker tape parade followed soon after.A nautical parade began at 12:45 p.m., and President Cleveland embarked on a yacht that took him across the harbor to Bedloe's Island for the dedication. De Lesseps made the first speech, on behalf of the French committee, followed by the chairman of the New York committee, Senator William M. Evarts. A French flag draped across the statue's face was to be lowered to unveil the statue at the close of Evarts's speech, but Bartholdi mistook a pause as the conclusion and let the flag fall prematurely. The ensuing cheers put an end to Evarts's address. President Cleveland spoke next, stating that the statue's "stream of light shall pierce the darkness of ignorance and man's oppression until Liberty enlightens the world". Bartholdi, observed near the dais, was called upon to speak, but he declined. Orator Chauncey M. Depew concluded the speechmaking with a lengthy address.

Giovanni da Verrazzano first observed the village’s residents – Canarsie-speaking Lenape, who called the island “Pagganck,” which means “nut island,” so named for the area’s abundance of hickory nut trees.&nbsp;

American Museum of Natural History

Inspired by the star show at the original Hayden Planetarium, artist Michele Oka doner cast more than 200 of these energetic bronze forms, which suggest spiral galaxies, stars, planetary orbits and various shapes of the universe. Some of the symbolic shapes seen here are distilled from natural objects, while others are simply the product of the artist’s imagination.

The artwork was originally commissioned as part of a program of renovation for the Hayden Planetarium. Unveiled in 1987, the bronzes originally were embedded into the concrete of the planetarium entranceway to form a “Celestial Plaza.” A selection of these pieces, preserved during construction of the Rose Center for Earth and Space, has been reinstalled here by the artist.

Generous funding for the Celestial Plaza was received from the Helena Rubinstein Foundation, whose Chairman at the time, Roy. V. Titus, was deeply committed to the creation and presentation of this artwork. The Reed Foundation provided additional funding for the project. This new Celestial Objects installation is supported in part by the Roy and Niuta Titus Foundation.

American Presidents in New York

Reservations Required. Book here.

Cocktails &amp; Conversation is a series of dialogues about design that brings an architect together with a critic, journalist, curator, architectural historian, or colleague to discuss current architecture and urban design issues. For this program, Annabelle Selldorf, FAIA, will discuss her recent projects including the Frick Collection, as well as her extensive experience working with cultural institutions. She will be joined in conversation with architect Richard Olcott, Design Partner at Ennead, over a custom-crafted cocktail to be enjoyed by all attendees.

200 11th Avenue is 19-story residential tower with lower three floors designed as the plinth responding to the historic West Chelsea context. The luxury condominiums are provided with parking facility outside their front doors with a car elevator running along the east side of the building.

This world renowned luxury hotel has been a symbol of elegance in New York City since its opening in 1907. It was designed as an adaptation of French Renaissance architecture.A French Renaissance-inspired château-style building, it contains 21 stories and is 251.92 ft (76.79 m) tall. The Plaza Hotel's floors use a European floor-numbering pattern, where floor 1, corresponding to the second story, is directly above the ground floor. The first and second stories of the facade, are clad with rusticated blocks of marble. The fourth through fifteenth stories, are clad with white brick and typically contain rectangular windows. These stories contain terracotta veneers that harmonize with the marble facade below it and the mansard roof above.Frank Lloyd Wright designed many buildings while staying at the Plaza. Many movies and books, such as North by Northwest and Eloise, have featured scenes at the Plaza. Occupants enjoy unbeatable views of Central Park and Fifth Avenue.The corner of Fifth Avenue, Central Park South, and 59th Street was developed with the Plaza, Savoy, and New Netherland hotels during the 1890s; the Savoy would be replaced in 1927 by the Savoy-Plaza Hotel, which itself would be demolished in 1964. All three hotels contributed to Fifth Avenue's importance as an upscale area.

Cocktails & Conversation: Annabelle Selldorf

Annabelle Selldorf was born and raised in Germany, she received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Pratt Institute and a Master of Architecture degree from Syracuse University in Florence, Italy. Ms. Selldorf serves on the Board of the Architectural League of New York, the World Monuments Fund, the Chinati Foundation, and the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College.&nbsp;She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and received the organization’s prestigious Award in Architecture. She is a frequent lecturer and juror and has taught at Harvard and Syracuse University.&nbsp;

Richard Olcott is a Design Partner in Ennead Architects. Olcott, together with his Design Partners, sets the design standards for the firm as well as charts its future direction.&nbsp;

The end of 7 years of British occupation of New York City and when the United States became truly independent in 1783.&nbsp;Saturday, November 22, 202511:30 a.m. Assemble in front of Fraunces Tavern - 54 Pearl Street11:45 a.m. Procession begins promptly from Fraunces Tavern - 54 Pearl Street12:00 p.m. Flag Raising at Evacuation Day Plaza (Bowling Green)

Evacuation Day Plaza

Evacuation Day Commemoration

Cocktails &amp; Conversation is a series of dialogues about design that brings an architect together with a critic, journalist, curator, or architectural historian to discuss current architecture and urban design issues. For this program, the three founding principals of LTL Architects—Paul Lewis, FAIA, Marc Tsurumaki, AIA, and David J. Lewis, AIA—will discuss the philosophies behind their books Manual of Section (2016) and Manual of Biogenic House Sections (2022), exploring the tectonic and spatial opportunities of bio and geogenic systems. They will be joined in conversation with Rosalie Genevro, former Executive Director of the Architectural League of New York, over a custom-crafted cocktail to be enjoyed by all attendees.

Cocktails & Conversation : LTL Architects

David Lewis&nbsp;is principal of LTL Architects, founded in 1997 with twin brother Paul Lewis and Marc Tsurumaki. He is co-author of the only book on the architectural section,&nbsp;Manual of Section. He holds academic positions as Professor at Parsons School of Design and Adjunct Professor of Architecture at the University of Limerick, Ireland. He also served as Conference Chair of "<a href="https://sce.parsons.edu/timber-in-the-city-template/">Timber in the City 3: Opportunities for Architecture and Urbanism Conference</a>" at Parsons School of Design.

Paul Lewis FAIA received a Bachelor of Arts from Wesleyan University and a Master of Architecture from Princeton University. He is Professor at Princeton University School of Architecture where he has taught since 2000. Paul is the past President of the Architectural League of New York, and a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome.

Marc Tsurumaki AIA received a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Virginia and a Master of Architecture from Princeton University. He is Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation and has taught there since 2004. Marc is the recent President of the Storefront for Art and Architecture.

Rosalie Genevro, as executive director of The Architectural League of New York, leads the organization’s work to nurture excellence in architecture, design and urbanism and to stimulate discussion and debate on critical issues in the built environment. The League carries out its work through live programming, design studies, commissions, exhibitions, and digital projects, including the online publication Urban Omnibus. Ms. Genevro frequently serves as an advisor, peer reviewer, and juror for grant and awards programs, government agencies and architecture schools. She is an adjunct faculty member at the Columbia GSAPP, and received the Arts and Letters Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2015.

Approximately 20,000 Chinese Americans served in World War II, which represented about one-quarter of the male Chinese American population resident in the U.S. at the time. This high service rate was the highest of any ethnic group in the country during the conict. Nearly 40% of these service members were not U.S. citizens. On March 4, 1944 a bomber pilot Lieutenant Benjamin Ralph Kimlau was killed when his plane crashed in New Guinea. He was the only New Yorker to have a memorial dedicated to him.

Kimlau Square

Chinese American Veteran’s Day - It Happened Here at Kimlau Square 

Afternoon 2:00pm (EDT) / 8:00pm (CEST)LOWER MANHATTAN: PREPARING FOR THE FUTUREModerator: Catherine McVay Hughes, Community Activist &amp; Board of Directors, Lower Manhattan Development CorporationPeople First in Lower ManhattanAlice Shay, Principal, Buro Happold John Massengale, AIA CNU, Architect, Urbanist, Massengale &amp; Co LLC Ben Furnas, Executive Director, Transportation Alternatives Emily Weidenhof, Assistant Commissioner, NYC DOTAt Waters Edge: Resiliency for Lower ManhattanMatthijs Bouw, Founder &amp; President, One Architecture Alexis Taylor, Vice President of Climate Resilience, NYC Economic Development Corporation Kimberlae Saul, AIA, Vice President Planning &amp; Design, Battery Park City Authority Jonathan Marvel, FAIA, Founding Principal, Marvel ArchitectsPanel Discussion, Questions and Answers People First in Lower Manhattan focuses on the streets and public spaces of New York’s oldest and most historic neighborhood, the Financial District. Several of the FiDi’s streets, dating from the 17th century, have been recognized as Historic Districts on the National Register of Historic Places. Though through most of the 20th century the neighborhood was seen as solely a commercial area and hub of world finance, Lower Manhattan is now home to 75,000 residents, sees over 300,000 workers daily, and attracts more than 9 million tourists annually.Leaders in urban planning and government affairs will discuss the neighborhood’s complex urban challenges and how to enhance pedestrian mobility over the cars and trucks that currently congest its historic streets. The goal is to make all movement safer, easier, and cleaner towards a more enjoyable experience that can transform the area into one of the world’s most attractive places to live, work and visit. At the Water’s Edge: Resiliency for Lower Manhattan focuses on the vulnerability and management of the city’s coastline. New York City’s identity as a global capital of finance and culture is rooted in its origins as a seaport. At the epicenter of over 520 miles of waterfront is Lower Manhattan, where it started 400 years ago with the arrival of the Dutch. Since then, even the boundary of where land meets the water has changed – in some cases dramatically. Learn from experts what is at risk and what is being done to protect Lower Manhattan from tidal flooding and coastal storms, and to ensure that all New Yorkers continue to have access to the jobs, subways, and infrastructure that thrive in this central hub.&nbsp;With 19 of 28 subway lines, 512,000 riders per day and 10% of all jobs in NYC, resulting in $74 billion in annual GDP (8% of the City’s total), downtown is indispensable to New York’s future. A range of current resiliency initiatives will be reviewed, including East Side Coastal Resiliency, Lower Manhattan Coastal Protection, and Battery Park City flood protection and water management systems. Discussions will also include how changes at NOAA, FEMA and the insurance sector may impact response and recovery to the next climate event, and its impact on the real estate and financial markets.

Original Sculpture by J.W. Fiske Co.
Conservation by Modern Art Foundry

Installed in 1893, the Neptune Fountain was the centerpiece of the Randall Memorial Church and Music Hall frontage, as well as an important part of the park developed on the eastern side of the Harbor grounds during the 1880's. A lively composition executed in zinc, the center fountain group shows Neptune perched atop a large shell borne by a pair of scaled sea monsters. With raised trident seized energetically in both hands, he seems to urge his mounts forward. A sculpted pile of rocks forms the base for the group and a submerged pile of rocks supports the sculpture. The Neptune fountain is one of the finest and most well preserved zinc sculptures in existence. Designed by J. W. Fiske Co. and cast in 1892, this unique Beaux Arts rendering of the Roman god is a striking first image for visitors at the harbor.

St. Ann’s Warehouse built its new home in the 1860 Tobacco Warehouse along Brooklyn Bridge Park in DUMBO. Within this much beloved ruin-like brick building, the design celebrates contradiction with discrete yet unexpected materials of glass bricks, black steel and plywood. An overall discrete volume is inserted snugly into the walls on three sides, allowing the historic arched doors and varied windows to remain untouched. The fourth side is occupied by support spaces and community amenities which open onto an intimate triangular park within the warehouse’s walls. A broad circulation hall defines theater and community spaces, and offers flexibility to host events and expand.

between Malcolm X Boulevard & Adam Clayton Powell Jr Boulevard

The Studio Museum in Harlem features the work of African-American artists. The permanent collection contains work by James Van Der Zee.

Pier 5

Originally the Whitehall Ferry Terminal, the Battery Maritime Building is the only historic ferry terminal on New York City's waterfront. &nbsp;When it was built, it was the jewel of the city's water based transit system. &nbsp;Times change. &nbsp;The building spent decades as an unused relic. &nbsp;With the help of Federal tax credits, a private development team was able to renovate it and repurpose it as an event and hospitality space. &nbsp;

Lower Manhattan: Preparing for the Future

Catherine McVay Hughes serves on the Board of Directors of the Battery Park City Authority, the South Street Seaport Museum, Ceres President’s Council, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Science Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment External Advisory Council, and the Lower Manhattan Historic Association.

Alice Shay is a Principal at Buro Happold and leads urban design and strategic planning projects with the firm’s Cities team. Educated at Brown University and MIT, Alice brings insights for the delivery of a highquality public realm, infrastructure adaptive reuse, management of large interdisciplinary teams, and innovation processes for urban development challenges. At Buro Happold, Alice managed the Brooklyn Marine Terminal Master Plan, Reimagine the Canals Task Force and Vision Plan, NYC Green Economy Action Plan, EJNYC Study, NYC Film &amp; TV Industry Study, and Make Way for Lower Manhattan. Alice is an Instructor with the Cornell University Department of City and Regional Planning.

John Massengale, AIA CNU, is an architect and urban designer in New York City. A member of the FDNA Make Way for Lower Manhattan team, he is the author of Street Design, The Secret to Great Cities and Towns (“the best book ever written about designing streets”), and New York 1900, Metropolitan Architecture and Urbanism 1890-1915, with Robert A.M. Stern and Gregory Gilmartin. John is the Chair of the New York City chapter of the Congress for New Urbanism and is also on the Board of the City Club of New York, where he is the Co-Chair of the Urban Design Committee.

Ben Furnas is a leading expert in urban sustainability, climate, and infrastructure. He currently heads Transportation Alternatives, advocating for safer, more equitable streets in New York City. Previously, he served in the NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate and Sustainability, where he helped advance Vision Zero, building decarbonization, and fleet electrification. A graduate of Cornell University and NYU Law, Ben has worked across public, academic, and nonprofit sectors to shape climate policy rooted in urban equity, and was Executive Director of The 2030 Project: A Cornell Climate Initiative.

Emily Weidenhof is Assistant Commissioner at NYC’s Department of Transportation, where she works with community groups across the five boroughs to re-imagine and transform streets into public spaces. She helped institutionalize the key city programs of Open Streets and Open Restaurants and has overseen projects such as 34th Avenue in Queens and Brooklyn’s Bike Boulevards. Educated in architecture and urban design at Penn State and Columbia Universities, she brings a people-centered approach to city streets.

Matthijs Bouw is a Dutch architect and urbanist and founder of One Architecture, an award-winning Amsterdam and New York-based design and planning firm. Educated at the Delft University of Technology, Bouw directs the Urban Resilience Certificate Program for the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design, where he is Professor of Practice and Rockefeller Urban Resilience Fellow. A co-leader of the BIG Team that won the Rebuild by Design competition for the flood protection of Manhattan, Matthijs is currently part of the multi-disciplinary teams executing the first phase of the East Side Coastal Resiliency project for Lower Manhattan, as well as planning the Lower Manhattan Coastal Protection project.

Alexis Taylor serves as Vice President of Climate Resilience at the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) where she is responsible for leading a portfolio of resilience and waterfront projects. These include neighborhood-scale resilience projects such as the Financial-District &amp; Seaport Climate Resilience Master Plan; resilient waterfront greenway planning and design; and climate risk assessment tools to understand multi-hazard climate impacts across NYCEDC assets and inform future planning priorities. Educated at the University of Pennsylvania and MIT, she previously worked for the Bureau of Flood Resilience, Engineering and Construction at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and was a Senior Project Manager with Rebuild by Design.

Kimberlae Saul is a licensed architect who has worked across multiple disciplines in shaping urban and campus environments in New York City. Currently serving as the Vice President for Planning &amp; Design at BPCA, Kimberlae is responsible for overseeing its capital planning, design, and sustainability activities, including the oversight of long-term capital projects. Educated at the University of Southern California and Columbia University’s GSAAP, Kimberlae was previously the Campus Architect at Pratt Institute. She is currently a Visiting Associate Professor at Pratt Institute, and a part-time faculty member at The New School. She is also co-chair of AIANY’s Design for Risk &amp; Reconstruction Committee.

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