Park Avenue Armory
The Park Avenue Armory, also known as the 7th Regiment Armory, is a historic armory for the U.S. Army National Guard at 643 Park Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. Designed in the Gothic Revival style by Charles Clinton for the 7th New York Militia Regiment, the Park Avenue Armory was completed in 1880, with two expansions in the early 20th century. The building and its interior are New York City designated landmarks, and the structure was made a National Historic Landmark in 1986. Since 2006, it has been the home of the Park Avenue Armory Conservancy, which leased the building for 99 years from the New York state government. The 53rd Digital Liaison Detachment of the New York Army National Guard, the Veterans of the 7th Regiment, the Knickerbocker Greys cadet corps, and the Lenox Hill Neighborhood House also occupy parts of the armory.
The armory occupies a city block bounded by Park Avenue to the west, 67th Street to the north, Lexington Avenue to the east, and 66th Street to the south. It is composed of two structures: the five-story administration building to the west and a drill hall to the east. The facade of the administration building is made of Philadelphia red brick and granite trim, with various defensive features. Numerous spaces in the interior of the building were designed in several styles by decorators such as Louis Comfort Tiffany, Stanford White, Kimbel and Cabus, Alexander Roux, Francis Davis Millet, and the Herter Brothers. These include halls and stairways; a series of regimental rooms on the first floor; and twelve rooms for the 7th Regiment's companies on the second floor. The drill hall, measuring, was one of New York City's largest column-free indoor spaces when completed.
The New York City Board of Aldermen approved the Park Avenue Armory's construction in 1875 but refused to fund the $350,000 construction cost. As such, the 7th Regiment funded the armory's construction through donations and a bond issue; work started in 1877, and the armory formally opened on September 30, 1880. The armory was substantially expanded from 1909 to 1913, with a refurbished drill hall and a new fourth story; the fifth floor was built in the late 1920s or early 1930s. The building was mostly used for military purposes through the 20th century, though it had hosted numerous events, competitions, and exhibits over the years. The state government proposed leasing out the armory in the late 1990s. In 2000, the state awarded the Park Avenue Armory Conservancy the responsibility of overhauling the building, restoring the dilapidated interior spaces, and transforming it into an arts venue. In the 21st century, the armory is largely used as an event, exhibit, and performance space.
Site
The Park Avenue Armory is on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. It occupies the entire city block bounded by Park Avenue to the west, 67th Street to the north, Lexington Avenue to the east, and 66th Street to the south. The land lot is rectangular and covers, with a frontage of about on either avenue and about on either street. Neighboring buildings include 620 Park Avenue to the southwest; Millan House and the Hunter College campus to the north; 149–151 East 67th Street and the Park East Synagogue to the northeast; 130 East 67th Street and 131 East 66th Street to the east; and the Church of Saint Vincent Ferrer to the southeast.The site was owned by the British Crown until the American Revolutionary War, when the New York City government took over the site. When streets were laid out per the Commissioners' Plan of 1811, the city government retained six city blocks between 66th Street, Park Avenue, 69th Street, and Third Avenue. The six-block site was intended to be developed into a public park called Hamilton Square, but the plots were instead leased to educational, medical, and charitable institutions. The Park Avenue Armory was one such institution, built on the southwest corner of Hamilton Square on land leased from the city. Just prior to the armory's construction, Emmons Clark, the leader of the 7th New York Militia Regiment, described the site as having been occupied by "35 shanties". The armory, along with Hunter College and a fire and police station on 67th Street, are the only remnants of the site's use as an institutional campus.
Architecture
The building was designed by the architect Charles W. Clinton in the Gothic Revival style. The builder was R. L. Darragh, while the bricklayers were Van Dolson & Arnott. The Park Avenue Armory is composed of two structures: the administration building to the west, on Park Avenue, and the drill hall to the east, on Lexington Avenue. The entire building is surrounded by a landscaped areaway, except on the Lexington Avenue frontage of the drill hall.Form and facade
Administration building
The administration building was originally three stories tall, with the third story being a mansard roof. The fourth story was added in 1909, but the fifth story, recessed from Park Avenue, was built in 1930. The structure's main facade faces Park Avenue and is wide. It is divided into two sections by a set of three protruding towers with corbels and crenellation. Originally, the central tower was five stories high, while the outer towers were three and a half stories high. The central tower had a spired belfry with granite arches, which was removed in a 1909 renovation.The facade of the administration building was built with Philadelphia red brick and granite trim. The basement is clad with thick walls of rock-faced granite. There is a smooth-granite sill course at the bottom of the first story. The main entrance is through a set of granite steps that leads to the first story. The entrance was designed to be wide enough to fit four soldiers walking side by side. Under the main entrance archway was originally a large bronze gate with a bronze tablet displaying the coat of arms of the 7th New York Militia Regiment. Behind the gate, a solid oak, iron-studded door opened onto the main hall. Along the rest of the facade, the three towers are connected by recessed walls. The windows are long and narrow, illuminating the offices and regimental rooms inside. The facade also had granite quoins and granite arches. The cornices at the tops of each tower are decorated with corbeled bricks; above these are crenellated parapets. Brick corbels extend horizontally across the third floor.
The administration building was designed as a utilitarian structure, lacking what Clark described as "useless ornament". The tall, narrow windows could be easily defended in an attack, and the windows had iron shutters. The facade also contains numerous loopholes, through which soldiers could fire their rifles while being shielded from enemy fire. The top of the central tower, rising, allowed easy views of the surrounding neighborhood. The structure could be defended by fifty soldiers at a time.
Drill hall section
The large vaulted space for the drill hall is on the eastern three-quarters of the block. The drill hall is also clad with brick, with three band courses of stone running horizontally across the plain facade. The top of the wall has stone coping and a parapet that is crenellated. The arched doorway at the center of the Lexington Avenue facade was originally fitted with a heavy iron gate and thick oaken doors. Narrow windows, also meant to be easily defensible, lined the 66th and 67th Street facades.Interior
The first floor of the administration building has various regimental rooms laid on a north–south axis. The regimental rooms were used by both the public and the 7th Regiment's officers and consisted of the adjutant's, board of officers', colonel's, field and staff, and non-commissioned officers' rooms. Also in the building were a library, veterans' quarters, memorials, reading rooms, reception rooms, and drill hall/gymnasium, as well as six squad drill rooms and ten company rooms. Most of these rooms, with the exception of the Veterans Room, are not well known to the public.Architects and interior designers of the American Aesthetic Movement were commissioned to furnish the rooms and company quarters. These include the Veterans Room and Library, decorated by Louis Comfort Tiffany along with Stanford White; and the Reception, Board of Officers, and Colonel's rooms, designed by the Herter Brothers. The interior spaces were decorated with various paintings and portraits. The collection included a portrait of George Washington by Rembrandt Peale, and portraits depicting the 7th Regiment in camp and on the march by Thomas Nast and Sanford Robinson Gifford. There were also portraits of various 7th Regiment colonels and other officers. The armory displayed sculptures as well, such as a statue of Mercury, a plaster cast of the Seventh Regiment Memorial in Central Park, and a replica of the Statue of Liberty., the rooms host various performances, exhibitions, and events. Many of the rooms are protected as New York City designated landmarks, so the art, floors, and walls cannot be modified for exhibitions.
Hallways and stairs
On the first floor of the administration building, the regimental rooms are divided into northwest, southwest, and eastern sections by a west–east entrance hall and a north–south main corridor. The entrance hall, the hallways on the first and second floors, and the main stairway between the two floors were all designed by George C. Flint & Co. The spaces have decorative features such as plaster ceilings, oak woodwork, and ornate doorways.The first-floor entrance hall leads west of the north–south corridor to the Park Avenue entrance. From the outset, the hall was decorated with various plaques describing the 7th Regiment's history. At the eastern end of the entrance hall, a double stairway leads from the first to the second floors. The stair was built of iron to accommodate the weight of a large number of soldiers, but it is clad with oak. The north–south corridor on the first floor, and a similar one on the second floor, are illuminated by various wrought-iron wall sconces and chandeliers. The first-floor corridor has a pressed metal ceiling. This corridor also contains portraits of Medal of Honor winners, portraits of 7th Regiment officers, trophies of war, and a book of remembrance for members of the regiment who have died in combat over the years. The second-floor corridor has stairways at either end that were installed in 1911.