On Arion Place between Broadway and Bushwick Avenue is the hulk of the old Arion Männerchor, Bushwick’s foremost German “singing society,” an organization promoting German culture. It later became a mansion and catering hall, but these days it has been converted to apartments (when I first visited in 1999, the building was in decrepit shape). The building is rich in detail of its musical past with initials at the very top and lyre-shaped ironwork on the fire escapes. Arion was a lyre player in the classic Greek stories, and lyre-ish metalwork can be seen on the fire escapes. The cornerstone reveals an 1886 construction date.
A carved street sign at Arion Place and Broadway reveals that the original name of Arion Place was Wall Street.
10/5/14
2 comments
Hi there,
best regards from distant Hamburg, Germany !
I follow your website for quite some years now and I am always intrigued by looking at remnants of a New York that I know from black-and-white movies only…
This time, however, I am writing on behalf of a little orthographical issue on the home of the German singing society ‘Arion’ in Bushwick.
Either these German guys back then where making fun of their roots or an American website host , otherwise known for his very talented art of writing, mixed up the dots on the vowels. (Which is understandable, due to their complete lack in the English language !)
Thus, the correct spelling is ‘Männerchor’ (with the dots on the ‘a’), since ‘Männer’ is plural of ‘Mann’ (=male) of which mostly are numerous in a ‘Chor’ (=choir), especially in a choir only of men ! 🙂
Sorry for the nitpicking !
Enjoy the weekend !
Michael
Correct, and I’ll correct it.