Forgotten New York

VANDERBILT COTTAGES, Clifton

I have a backlog of photos from a walk I did in May, 2019, scouting a Fort Wadsworth Forgotten NY tour and I walked from the fort almost all the way back to St. George. On the tour itself, the Park Rangers couldn’t have been more accommodating and we not only got into the fort itself, we also gained entry to one of the officers’ homes, one of a number that are curated and protected by the US government.

Things weren’t quite as accommodating at the grounds of the old Bayley Seton Hospital, where I was run off by one of the patrolling guards in a truck. Somebody let me know in Comments what the state secret is over there, that photography is not permitted?

Adjoining Clifton, Staten Island, has always been associated with the Vanderbilt family; its scion Cornelius operated a ferry to Manhattan beginning in 1810 at age 16, and its main east-west drag is Vanderbilt Avenue, which continues south into the heart of the island as Richmond Road.

I’m fascinated with the Tudors along Vanderbilt. I’ve talked about them before, but not for awhile.

In 1900, the firm of Carrere and Hastings built eight houses along the family’s namesake avenue, from 110 to 144, between Talbot Place and Tompkins Avenue for George Vanderbilt in 1900. Other houses were built for Vanderbilt on neighboring Norwood Avenue; additional mansions were found on nearby Townsend Avenue, but many of them have been lost to redevelopment.

I hope to have more from this walk as I go along.

Check out the ForgottenBook, take a look at the gift shop, and as always, “comment…as you see fit.”

3/5/20

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