Horses

Stables and Auction Marts - Building Plans with Horses

A recent For the Record article, Horsepower the City and the Horse introduced the topic of the horse and its profound influence on virtually all aspects of city life. Expanding on this theme, For the Record looked at how the horse informed many of the design elements of Central Park in Drives Rides and Walks -Horses in Central Park.

This week’s post continues exploring the subject of horses and focuses on collections in the Municipal Archives and Municipal Library that document structures built in the city to house, buy and sell horses. 

Fiss, Doerr & Carroll Horse Auction Market, front elevation. Located at 147-51 East 24th Street and 144-148 East 25th Street between Lexington and Third Avenues the auction market was designed by Horgan & Slattery in the grandest style. The building mixed Roman classicism and Beaux-Arts grandeur, with a façade that featured a full-size sculpture of a horse and trainer above the entrance. Manhattan Building Plans Collection, Block 880, Lot 34. NYC Municipal Archives.

The former Fiss, Doerr & Carroll Horse Auction Market, 1940. Tax Photo Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

Fiss, Doerr & Carroll Horse Auction Market, detail. While the market still had the required utilitarian aspects with stalls and manure pits, it was fitted with elaborate chandeliers and ornate decoration which led Architects’ & Builders’ Magazine to write that Horgan & Slattery had decided '“to abandon all former conventions” in its design. In 1928, the auction mart was sold to the R&T Garage Company, which installed two intermediate floors for parking and removed the balcony and ornate ceiling. Manhattan Building Plans Collection, Block 880, Lot 34. NYC Municipal Archives.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission Designation report for the VanTassel and Kearney Auction Mart, located between East 12th and 13th Streets, Manhattan, one of few horse-related buildings still standing (although long-since re-purposed), provides some context: “A century ago, the streets of American cities were crowded with horses. Mainly used for transportation, these animals pulled private carriages, stage coaches, and streetcars. To accommodate the estimated 75,000 horses in New York City, about 4,500 stables were built. Wealthy families commissioned their own distinctive structures where horses, carriages, and attendants (grooms and coachmen) were quartered.” 

The Manhattan Building Plans collection and the related permit files in Municipal Archives are a rich resource documenting horse-related infrastructure. For the last several years, City archivists have been processing the Plans collection with support from the New York State Archives’ Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund and the New York State Library’s Conservation/Preservation Program. For the Record blogs, most recently Loews Canal Street Theater, have tracked progress and highlighted some of the exceptional items discovered during processing. The agency’s Lunch and Learn programs, available online, provide an overview of the project.

Fiss, Doerr & Carroll Horse Auction Market, second story plan. The auction space enclosed a huge interior rink 65 feet by 197 feet, where animals for sale were exercised for crowds of up to 1,000 people in a suspended gallery. The roof was supported by a steel arch, with a suspended, coffered ceiling and the mezzanine level included office and living quarters for the staff. Manhattan Building Plans Collection, Block 880, Lot 34. NYC Municipal Archives

Horse auction venues, much like auto dealerships in later years, were an essential component of the horse culture in the city. Several of the most visually appealing items in the Plans collection are the blueprints submitted to the Department of Buildings in 1906 by architects Horgan & Slattery for construction of the Fiss, Doerr & Carroll horse auction market at located at 147-51 East 24th Street and 144-48 East 25th Street. Although no longer extant, the elevations and details depict what had been an elegant chandelier-lit space.

Front elevation and longitudinal section, submitted with application 1568 of 1899 by architects Schneider & Herter for stables and auction market at 49 Orchard Street. The facade of the building was decorated with sculptural elements including a horse head detail. The longitudinal section depicts the ramps used to move the horses from one floor to the next as well as a horse wash and a hoist system for the animals. The building was converted to a storefront and tenement units by 1927 with the ornamentation removed and windows changed. Manhattan Building Plans Collection, Block 308,Lot 23. NYC Municipal Archives.

The collection also includes plans submitted in 1903 by architects Jardine Kent & Jardine for the Van Tassel and Kearney Auction Mart. As noted above, the building has been designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission for its significance. “In terms of architectural design and specialized purpose, the former Van Tassell & Kearney auction mart recalls the era when New York City was a leading auction center and horse sales were a common activity.” Information in the designation report (available in the Municipal Library), adds considerably to the history of the building: “Edward W. Kearney, son of the firm’s founder, commissioned this elegant building to attract the type of wealthy clientele that purchased horses for competition and leisure. Weekly auctions took place in the ‘commodious sales ring,’ a shed-like space with mezzanine. Van Tassell & Kearney were active on East 13th Street for more than fifty years. Originally general auctioneers, after 1904 ‘high class’ show horses and ponies dominated sales. By the 1920s, the firm was mainly involved in automobile sales and the building would be leased to a candy manufacturer, and later, the Delehanty Institute, a vocational school that trained women for the defense industry during the Second World War. In 1978, the structure was acquired by the painter, printmaker and sculptor Frank Stella, who used it as his studio until 2005.”

Elevation and section, from New Building Application 323 of 1903, by Jardine Kent & Jardine for the Van Tassel & Kearney stables, 126-128 East 13th Street and 123 East 12th Street. Manhattan Building Plans Collection, Block 558, Lot 43. NYC Municipal Archives.

126-128 East 13th Street, former Van Tassel & Kearney stables, ca. 1985 when it was Frank Stella’s studio. 1980s Tax Photograph Collection, Block 558, Lot 43. NYC Municipal Archives.

Eldridge Street elevation submitted with New Building Application 1656 of 1887 for stables. Owner: Edward and Ridley & Sons Department Store, 59-63 Allen Street and 88 Eldridge Street. Manhattan Building Plans Collection, Block 307, Lot 24. NYC Municipal Archives.

Not all of the horse-related structures were as grand as the auction houses.  Perhaps more typical of the genre is the blacksmith shop at 33 Cornelia Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan. The related Manhattan Building Permits collection provides good documentation for this modest building, The permit folder includes the new building application (no. 331) submitted on July 3, 1913, by architect Nicholas Serracino on behalf of building owner Mary P. Brescianni. Additional applications in the permit folder trace the subsequent history of the building. An Alteration Application filed on December 15, 1954 requested conversion of the space into a “grocery, fruit & vegetable store” 

Similarly, the permit folder for the stables constructed at 59 Allen Street (B. 307, Lot 24) help trace the evolution of the building. The folder contains new building application no. 1646 of 1887 submitted by Edward Ridley and Sons for a “stable & wagon house” designed by architect William Shears. In 1916, according to alteration application 3284, “It is proposed to use the first, second and third floors for garage purposes.” Conversion to automobile storage proved a popular re-use for stable structures in the early part of the twentieth century.

The Village blacksmith 33 Cornelia Street, Manhattan, August 6, 1937. Photographer: E.M. Bofinger. WPA Federal Writers’ Project Photograph Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

Other useful resources can be found in the Municipal Library’s collection of published materials. The 1866 [Manhattan] Bureau of Buildings Annual Report indicates that builders submitted 131 applications for stable construction, out of a total of 1,507 new building permit requests. In 1900, after the City’s consolidation when the Bureau’s activities covered construction in all five Boroughs, the report listed 199 stable applications (out of more than 6,000 structures in total). Ten years later, that number diminished to 59 applications out of 778 in total. In the next year, 1911, with automobiles increasingly present in the city, the Annual Report recorded 64 plans filed for “Stables and Garages,” out of 771 total applications. By 1935, the category recorded only “Garage” applications; 17 in that Great Depression year (out of 98 total).

New Building Application 1056 of 1887, page 1 of 2. Manhattan Building Permits Collection, Block 307, Lot 24. NYC Municipal Archives.

New Building Application 1056 of 1887, page 1 of 2. Manhattan Building Permits Collection, Block 307, Lot 24. NYC Municipal Archives.

The New York City Guide, published by the Works Progress Administration in 1939 (the manuscript and research for the Guide can be found in the Archives collection; the printed book is available in the Library), has a brief narrative in the section about the Middle and Upper East Side of Manhattan, describing Twenty-fourth Street, between Second and Lexington Avenues as “Old Stable Row.” According to the Guide, “Here, before the advent of the automobile, a horse mart flourished.” The text continued: “The street was littered with straw, oats, and manure. On auction days, the strength of draft horses was demonstrated by hitching the animals to wagons with locked wheels and then whipping them up the block and back.”

The apparent cruelty of this practice points to other important themes related to horses in the city that future For the Record articles will explore using records available in the Archives and Library.

Front elevation and longitudinal section, detail, submitted with application 1568 of 1899 by architects Schneider & Herter for stables and auction market at 49 Orchard Street. Manhattan Building Plans Collection, Block 308,Lot 23. NYC Municipal Archives.

Drives, Rides, and Walks—Horses in Central Park

Central Park Riding Club dinner invitation, 1926. Office of the Mayor, Jimmy Walker, NYC Municipal Archives.

For more than one hundred fifty years visitors to New York’s Central Park have enjoyed picturesque vistas, rolling meadows, peaceful lakes, and a variety of charming architectural features.

Until recently, these pastoral scenes would have also included horseback riders cantering along the bridle paths. But after closure of the Claremont Riding Stables, located on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, in 2007, the horseback riders have largely vanished. Today—except for the southernmost area of the park where horse-drawn carriages still ply the roadway—horses are almost completely absent from the landscape.      

A recent For the Record blog, Horsepower: The City and the Horse introduced the topic of the horse and its profound influence on virtually all aspects of city life. This week’s article looks at how the horse informed many of the design elements of Central Park.

Central Park, shelter for carriages and horses, preliminary study, front elevation, 1871. Jacob Wrey Mould, Architect. Department of Parks Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.


Drives, Rides, and Walks

One of the most innovative features of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux’ design for the park was their traffic circulation system that separated walkers, horseback riders, and horse-drawn carriages, creating intimate landscapes for each type of traveler.   

The Drives were wide and sweeping, avoiding sharp turns to allow passengers in horse-drawn carriages to focus on the landscape. Park gardener Ignatz Pilat described the careful planning that went into their landscaping:       

Central Park, Bridle Road Looking South, ca. 1913. Albert W. Schaad, photographer. NYC Municipal Archives collection. Schaad was a Central Park Zookeeper who created a scrapbook of his photos.

“The effect already produced and to be perfected in the course of time, throughout the length of the ‘Ride,’ is that of a pleasant country-road shaded by over-arching trees, mingled with shrubs and vines, spaces being left for more or less expanding views of open lawns, sheets of water, and other objects of interest which give the idea of extent and diversity; but wherever these open spaces would destroy the harmony of the landscape, a few scattered trees or low shrubs are so arranged as not to obstruct the view.”

The Rides, or bridle trails, generally hugged the perimeter of the park. For pedestrians, the Walks meandered through valleys, providing glimpses of the elegant carriage traffic nearby. All routes were surfaced and drained for safe passage in all types of weather. Where arteries met, the over- and underpasses of bridges were used as much as possible to separate carriage and horse traffic from pedestrians.     

Central Park, Entrances and Gates, Entrance at 90th Street and Fifth Avenue, plan of entrance and section of adjoining wall, 1865. William H. Grant, engineer. Department of Parks Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Another prescient feature of Olmsted and Vaux’ design for the park, also conceived to accommodate the horse, specifically horse-drawn vehicles, were the transverse roads. The original design competition specified that each submission must include at least “four or more crossing from east to west be made between Fifty-ninth and One Hundred and Sixth Street.” Olmsted and Vaux’ ingenious scheme was to sink the roads below grade. This made it possible to keep park visitors safely above the crosstown traffic, colorfully portrayed in their proposal as “coal carts and butchers’ carts, dust carts, dung carts” and “fire companies rushing their machines with fantastic zeal at every alarm.”    


Winterdale Arch (Bridge No. 17)  

Winterdale Arch, located along the West Drive near Eighty-Second Street, is named for its location on the Winter Drive, between Seventy-Second Street and 102nd Street. When planning the west side of the park, Olmsted and Vaux intended for this section to be planted with a variety of evergreens, to add color throughout the winter for carriage- and sleigh-riders. 

Central Park, Bridge number 17 [Winterdale Arch], elevation of bridge and railing, 1861. Department of Parks Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.


Stables and Workshops 

After years of maintaining offices at Mount St. Vincent and the Arsenal, in 1869 the Central Park Board of Commissioners decided to construct “offices of Park administration” at a location that would be more easily accessible from all points in the park. The site proposed was at the northern edge of the old Yorkville Receiving Reservoir, on a sliver of land at a curve in Transverse Road No. 3, now called the Eighty-Sixth Street Transverse. The new offices would have included “engineering, architectural, and gardening apartments,” a stable with storage sheds for vehicles and machinery, and a separate building to house blacksmiths, carpenters, and other craftspeople.      

Central Park, Offices of Administration, North Wing - East End, Details of Stable Building, Keeper’s Dwelling, etc. south front and west side elevations and longitudinal sections, 1869. Attributed to Jacob Wrey Mould, Architect. Department of Parks Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Central Park, Offices of Administration, North Wing - East End, Details of Stable Building, Keeper’s Dwelling, etc. [detail], 1869. Jacob Wrey Mould, Architect. Department of Parks Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Central Park, Offices of Administration, General Ground Plan of East End of North Wing, showing stable, sheds, yard and keeper's dwelling [detail], 1869. Attributed to Jacob Wrey Mould, Architect. Department of Parks Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.


Mount St. Vincent/McGown’s Pass Tavern

In the latter part of the nineteenth century, a favorite stop for park visitors was the Mount St. Vincent Hotel. Built in 1881, it proved to be immediately popular with affluent New Yorkers, as the New York Times reported in 1886: “No matter how fast the team nor how elegant the equipage a turn ‘on the road’ is not done in proper shape unless it includes a bite or a sip in the Mount St. Vincent.  

The Hotel was located in the quiet and rustic northeastern corner of the park, a landscape filled with steep bluffs and rough terrain. The old Boston Post Road—the original mail-delivery route from New York City to Boston—meandered between two rocky ridges in this area, and in the 1750s John Dyckman built a tavern to serve travelers in the vicinity of 105th Street and Fifth Avenue. Not long after, the McGown family purchased the land and tavern, running it successfully through the Revolutionary War. Hence the name of the small valley: McGown’s Pass.      

Central Park, Mount Saint Vincent, design for a refreshment house, front elevation and side elevations, 1883. Julius F. Munckwitz, Architect. Department of Parks Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

The McGowns held the property until 1845, when they deeded the land and buildings to the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, who renamed the area Mount St. Vincent’s. Within a few years, the nuns had established a convent and school. To the existing structures, they added a two-story residence for the chaplain and a stately brick convent house that contained a beautiful chapel and large dining rooms. In 1856, before the nuns had consecrated their new chapel, they received word that the city would be taking their land for the creation of the new park.

Central Park carriage ride card, n.d. Mayor James Walker collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

Central Park carriage ride card, n.d. Office of the Mayor, Jimmy Walker, NYC Municipal Archives.

Now owned by the city, the buildings became the park headquarters, and at one point the families of both Olmsted and Vaux lived at the site. With the outbreak of the Civil War, the US government took over the complex for use as a hospital for wounded soldiers who were, curiously enough, tended by the same Sisters of Charity who had previously owned the buildings!

Once it became known as a playground for drinking and dancing for the city’s elite, the Sisters of Charity asked that their name no longer be associated with the establishment. Renamed for the family most associated with the site, McGown’s Pass Tavern remained in operation until 1915, when its contents were put up for auction and the building torn down.   


Drinking Fountains for Horses 

Overlooking the Lake and just west of Bethesda Terrace is the peaceful area known as Cherry Hill, named for its spring-blooming cherry trees. The paved concourse on the crest of the hill was originally intended as a scenic turnaround for horse-drawn carriages, in the center of which was a stunning fountain for watering horses. Designed by Jacob Wrey Mould in 1867, it was constructed of polished granite, wrought iron and bronze, and decorative Minton tiles, with eight colorful porcelain saucers for birds to drink from.    

Central Park, Drinking fountain for horses, southwest concourse, details of bronze finial and lamp, elevation, 1871. Jacob Wrey Mould, Architect. Department of Parks Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Central Park, Drinking fountain for horses, southwest circle, details of bronze arm and porcelain saucer, 1871. Jacob Wrey Mould, Architect. Department of Parks Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: Drinking fountain to be erected in Central Park, elevation, 1885. Jacob Wrey Mould, Architect. Department of Parks Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.


The illustrations in this article, and more than 250 others, such as the original winning competition entry submitted by Olmsted and Vaux, meticulously detailed plans and elevations of many of the architectural features of the park, as well as intricate engineering drawings are included in “The Central Park: Original Designs for New York’s Greatest Treasure.” It is available at bookstores throughout the city and through on-line retailers.  

Horsepower: The City and the Horse

Question: What was once ubiquitous in New York City and now almost completely absent from the streetscape? Answer: The Horse.

New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company’s Freight Depot at West and Barclay Streets, Manhattan, November 1910. Department of Docks & Ferries Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Horses arrived with the first European colonial settlers and for the next three centuries powered the city’s transportation, construction, law enforcement, firefighting, street cleaning, ambulance, and delivery services. With related occupations and businesses—saddlers, blacksmiths, carriage manufacturers, harness makers, feed suppliers, stables, auction houses, etc. the City was dense with horses. This week, For the Record introduces the topic and features pictures selected from the Municipal Archives gallery that illustrate the preponderance of the horse in city life. Future articles will identify and explore resources in the Archives for further study of the horse in the City.

Team of 34 horses bringing steel girders for Municipal Building from dock at Battery Place, February 26, 1911. Photograph by Eugene de Salignac, Department of Bridges, Plant & Structures Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

The Dutch brought horses to New Amsterdam to carry heavy loads and operate gristmills and sawmills. English settlers imported horses for racing. Soon after their arrival, references to horses appear in official records, most often as the subject of assorted regulations and taxation. An entry from The Minutes of the Common Council for October 15, 1670, provides a typical citation: “Ordered that all and every person that should ship from this place any horses, mares or geldings to Virginia, Maryland or any other outward plantations should pay for every horse, mare or gelding one shilling in silver or two guilders in wampum....”

Subsequent records document regulations about where and how horses could be bought and sold, watered and fed. And many rules focused on horse racing—most often the prevention thereof.

Police officer with his horse in Central Park, ca. 1915. NYPD Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Department of Street Cleaning snow removal team, n.d. Department of Sanitation Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

The first horse-drawn omnibus in the nation operated along Broadway in Manhattan from Prince to 14th Street beginning in 1832. Horse-drawn passenger vehicles continued to ply city streets until 1918. Beginning in the 1860s, fire companies adopted horses to pull fire-fighting apparatus. Similarly, the Street Cleaning Department, and the Department of Public Charities and Hospitals hitched horses to their equipment.

The number of plans related to features of Central Park specifically dedicated to horses in the Department of Parks drawing collection points to their importance for leisure activities.

Central Park, shelter for carriages and horses, preliminary study, front elevation. Jacob Wrey Mould, 1871. Department of Parks & Recreation Drawings Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Horse Aid Society, Manhattan Bridge, October 18, 1917. Photographer: Eugene de Salignac. Department of Bridges Plant & Structures Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

West 44th Street, September 6, 1931. Photographer: Frank Savastano. Borough President Manhattan Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Other records reveal another consequence of the city’s reliance on horses. There are disturbing numbers of arraignments in the Police and Magistrate’s Court docket books for offenses related to animal abuse. In many cases, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) brought the charges. New York City’s branch of the ASPCA, founded in 1866, was the first in the U.S. based on a similar group that originated in Great Britain. More recently, the ASPCA monitors conditions of the City’s carriage horses.

By the early twentieth century, the number of horses in the city began to diminish. Technology, in the form of motor vehicles—cars and trucks, gradually reduced the city’s reliance on horsepower. Between 1910 and 1920, the number of horses in the City declined from 128,000 to 56,000.

Riders on Central Park Bridle Paths, June 1937. Photographer: E.M. Bofinger. WPA Federal Writers’ Project Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Although much reduced in number, the horse is not entirely absent from the City scene today. Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, the only racetrack located within New York City limits, continues to operate, generally from late October through April. Closure of the Claremont Riding Stables on Manhattan’s Upper West Side in 2007 greatly reduced, but did not entirely eliminate people enjoying horseback rides along Central Park’s bridle paths. And despite decades-long protests and controversy, horse-drawn carriages still meander through the southern portion of the park.

Highway maintenance, Queens Boulevard and Woodhaven Avenue, August 13, 1926. Borough President Queens Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Coney Island Hospital ambulance, n.d. Department of Public Charities and Hospitals Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Department of Street Cleaning rubbish wagon, Brooklyn, n.d. Department of Sanitation Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Teamster on West Street, Manhattan, February 10, 1938. WPA Federal Writers’ Project Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Horse with feed bag, ca. 1936. WPA Federal Writers’ Project Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Village blacksmith, 33 Cornelia Street, Manhattan, August 6, 1937. Photographer: E.M. Bofinger. WPA Federal Writers’ Project Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

Mayor Edward Koch at the Big Apple Stakes, Aqueduct Racetrack, Queens, April 26, 1980. Mayor Edward Koch Photograph Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.