Morningside Heights
-
Searching For An Underground River in Morningside Heights
About a year ago, I got a letter from a reader about an underground river hidden somewhere in Morningside Heights: Years ago, I lived at [removed]. My father swore there was a stream running under a lot of the buildings there. I’m endlessly fascinated by Manhattan’s underground rivers. Once an island covered in streams, brooks,…
-
Searching For The Remains of Manhattan’s Bloomingdale Insane Asylum
I was up scouting the Columbia University campus last week… …and in the spirit of Halloween, I decided to swing by the building nestled just beside Low Library. If you take a moment to stare at it, you’ll realize this little brick building doesn’t really match the surrounding Beaux Arts architecture. In fact, the longer…
-
The Most Famous Classroom In New York City
If you believe Hollywood, every single college lecture hall in New York City looks like the one below: Rows of individual wooden desks and tiered seating… …an enormous wood-framed green chalkboard with sliding panels for additional writing space… …a wood-paneled front desk for the lecturer… …and even one of those little doors that swings back…
-
The Hungry Gargoyles of 110th Street
One of my favorite buildings in Morningside Heights is the Britannia at 527 West 110th Street. The building, built in 1909, is divided into two wings and features two rows of fantastic gargoyles below the second floor balconies: What makes this building particularly great is how low the gargoyles are to the ground. At only…