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Happy Memorial Day! Lafayette Square, W 114th St., Morningside Ave., Manhattan Ave.

Lafayette Square: Manhattan Avenue, W. 114th Street, and Morningside Avenue
iPhone Photo Courtesty: Mitchell Hall, The Corcoran Group

Manhattan Avenue, 114th Street, and Morningside Avenue bound Lafayette Square, which is located in the Morningside Heights section of Manhattan. The City of New York acquired this property by condemnation on July 28, 1870 along with the land used to build Morningside Park.

The square contains large, shady sycamore trees and a monument entitled “Lafayette and Washington.” French sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904) designed the bronze statue, which depicts both figures on a marble pedestal, clothed in colonial uniforms, and shaking hands with the flags of their respective countries behind them.

Famed publisher, Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911) commissioned the sculpture based on the artist’s previous major accomplishment: the Statue of Liberty in the New York Harbor. Bartholdi completed the original “Lafayette and Washington,” which was dedicated in Paris in 1895. At the turn of the century, department store owner Charles Broadway Rouss bequeathed this fine replica to the residents of Morningside Heights.

The Monterey a handsome apartment building made of orange brick designed by Thomas O. Speir in 1891 runs along Morningside Park. The gigantic arch over the doorway is directly opposite Lafayette Square.

In 1892 an advertisement in The  NY Times for the Monterey proclaimed, “Passenger elevator all night. Hot Water. Roof walk.” In 2009, Christopher Gray in his NY Times Streetscape column called The Monterey, "A Charmer That Was Ahead of Its Time."

For more information about purchasing a beautifully restored 3 bedroom currently available at the Monterey click here.


HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!

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