BIG PLANS – WHAT HAPPENED?

 

 

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There were some big plans proposed for the Bloomingdale and Morningside Heights neighborhoods that were never realized.

 

 

ADELE LEVY MEMORIAL PLAYGROUND IN RIVERSIDE PARK

 

See page 374 in Notable New Yorkers.

 

 

AMSTERDAM AVENUE SUBWAY

 

See page 172 in Notable New Yorkers.

 

 

CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE - THE CENTRAL TOWER

 

Never mind the two towers on the west front that have appeared to be under construction for some time. The Central Tower, as originally proposed, was to have been 455 feet high. That would have made it the tallest structure in the Bloomingdale and Morningside Heights neighborhoods then and today. The Cathedral’s original architects, Heins & La Farge, went as deep as 72 feet to support the heavy load of the free-standing structure. The later architects, Cram & Ferguson, had the incredible challenge of the Central Tower, which never materialized.

 

 

COLUMBIA’S UNIVERSITY HALL

and

TWO 23-STORY TOWERS

 

See page 286 in Notable New Yorkers. 

 

 

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN ON 110th STREET

 

Some consideration, shortly before World War 1, was given to having a National Academy Design building on Columbia's campus in conjunction with creating a School of Fine Arts with Departments of Painting, Sculpture, and Decorative Arts.  Columbia's School of Architecture had conducted a life drawing course, from 1914 to 1919, at the National Academy of Design school on 109th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.  The architects, Carrere & Hastings, known for the New York Public Library Main Branch building, the Frick Museum, and much else, rendered design plans for an impressive National Academy of Design building on 110th Street at Amsterdam Avenue. Primarily for financial reasons, it was never built.