This week Gumbo visited Audubon Terrace, in the Washington Heights section of New York City. Congratulations to (in no particular order) Traveling Canuck, George G, PortMoresby, and GarryRF who all tracked Gumbo down.
Built on the former estate of John James Audubon, these 8 buildings were constructed in 1907 by Archer M Huntington, heir to the Southern Pacific Railroad fortune.
Originally the buildings were occupied by the American Hispanic Society, The American Geographical Society, The American Numismatic Society, a Spanish language church – Our Lady of Esperanza, and the Museum of the American Indian. Later on the American Academy of Arts and Letters and National Institute of Arts and Letters moved into two buildings on the campus. Of these original occupants, only the Hispanic Society and the now merged American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters are still present. The building that was the home of the American Geographical Society is now home to Boricqua College.
The buildings and plaza were designed by several of America’s leading architects – Charles Huntington, Laurence G. White and William M. Kendall. The statues in the plaza were executed by Anna Hyatt Huntington.
I remember coming to the Museum of the American Indian on school trips when I was growing up. Today the Hispanic Society is a flourishing institution with an excellent permanent collection of painting by artists from the Iberian Peninsula.
My visit this time was on a hot and very sunny day. I decided to play with my black and white feature, and I think it really highlighted the shadows in my photos:
The American Geographical Society Building from Broadway
El Cid
Relief of Don Quixote
Doorway of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters
American Geographical Society Building
Entrance to the back part of the plaza
Hispanc Society Building
Over the Door of the Museum of the American Indian Building
Door of the Museum of the American Indian
