We have an exciting opportunity to share with the BMA community. Hank Orenstein will be holding a walking tour that you may be interested in.
The tours are free for BMA donors and $10 for the general public. Hank donates all the proceeds to the Broadway Mall Association.
Make sure to sign up quickly for each tour as we only have 10 spots available!
Details of the Walking Tour:
- Date: Wednesday, August 12th
- Time: 6:00pm – 8:30pm
- Meeting Location: Outside Amity Hall, 982 Amsterdam (West 109th Street)
- Optional Social Hour Beforehand from 5:00pm – 6:00pm (https://amityhalluptown.com/)
Description of the Walking Tour:
Morningside Heights is a unique neighborhood due to its co-existence of residential and
institutional buildings. In addition to some distinctive pre-war apartment buildings
designed by the most prominent architects of that era, the neighborhood boasts seven colleges and universities including Columbia University, Bank Street College of
Education, Manhattan School of Music and Barnard College.
Europeans first knew Morningside Heights as Vandewater Heights after 17th century
Dutch farmer and landowner, Harmon Vandewater. After several centuries of agriculture
in the 1800s as part of the village of Bloomingdale, several institutions were built
including the Leak and Watts Orphan Asylum and the Blooming Insane Asylum.
The opening of the subway into Morningside Heights in 1904, coupled with the
neighborhood’s magnificent parks and prestigious institutions, led to a building boom of
speculative apartment house construction, attracting middle-class residents who could
now commute directly downtown to work. In addition, Morningside Heights offers historic
and monumental houses of worship – The Cathedral of St. John The Divine (the world’s
largest Gothic Cathedral), and The Riverside Church which has the tallest bell tower in
North America. Grant’s Tomb National Memorial includes the largest mausoleum in the
U.S. and is the only place in NYC of a final resting place of a U.S. President. Some 19th
century scholars called Morningside Heights the “Acropolis of the New World.”