Recuerdo Staten Island

The (relatively) new Staten Island Ferry Terminal is decorated with excerpts from Edna St. Vincent Millay's 1922 poem "Recuerdo" ("I remember" or "souvenir"). The views from the terminal and the…

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Naming the Gates of Central Park, 3

Third in a series of three posts giving the full text of the  “Report on Nomenclature of the Gates of the Park,” 1862. The first post in the series includes background…

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“Lady Clare,” by Tennyson and Waterhouse

"The Lady Clare," by Alfred Lord Tennyson It was the time when lilies blow, And clouds are highest up in air, Lord Ronald brought a lily-white doe To give his…

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Naming the Gates of Central Park, 2

Second in a series of several posts giving the full text of the  “Report on Nomenclature of the Gates of the Park,” 1862. The first post in the series, which includes…

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Raymond Kaskey’s Portlandia

The facade of Robert Graves's Portland Building is graced by Raymond Kaskey's Portlandia. It's a huge sculpture in proportion to it site: just over three stories on a 15-story building. The…

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Naming the Gates of Central Park, 1

First in a series; second is here, third is here. In 1898, Andrew Haswell Green was proclaimed "Father of Greater New York" for his efforts to see Manhattan consolidated with…

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Brookgreen Gardens (Five Favorites series)
Anna Hyatt Huntington, Diana of the Chase, 1922. Brookgreen Gardens. Photo: Doug Coldwell / Wikipedia

Brookgreen Gardens (Five Favorites series)

There's a lot to be said for a building as full of art as the Metropolitan Museum of Art: if you don't like one piece, you can shift your gaze…

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Old & New Kosciuszko Bridges, 3

The Kosciuszko Bridge, opened in 1939, carries I-278 (the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, or BQE) over Newtown Creek, which divides Brooklyn and Queens. The old bridge is being replaced with side-by-side cable-stay…

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