RENOVATIONS

A number of rare photos taken during the 1952 transformation of Tudor City into something more appropriate for a neighborhood that would mesh with the UN. Roads were widened, a parkside sidewalk was added, and the tunnel replaced by a modern overpass. The redesign also included a much disliked split-rail fence around the parks that remains in place for 41 years.

Looking south from a Manor window, Tudor City Place (at left) appears driveable, but the parks are in a state of wild disarray. Above, one can see the North Park's fountain basin (center bottom) and to its right, the pergola. They wouldn't last in the start-from-scratch plan. 

The opposite view, facing north, showing a new feature being installed: a parkside sidewalk.  

 

        Across the street, workmen in front of No. 25.

Finally, a pile of pipes lay near one of the gazebos. Like all of the decorative details of the park ‒ the lich gates, the fountain, the pergola ‒ the gazebos did not make the cut.

THEN AND NOW: The South Park

 The South Park, then and now.

1988

2025

The 'then' pictures were photographed by Steve Stempel in 1988 to record the state of the parks that the newly formed Tudor City Greens was about to inherit. The 'now' photos were made 37 years later.

1988

2025

A then-and-now post on the North Park, here.

Miscellany

Time for another round-up of various bits of Tudor Cityana.     

First off, a look at the corner of E. 41st Street and Prospect Place, later Tudor City Place; Haddon Hall lay in the distance. This southwest view would eventually become Tudor Gardens but for now was home to tennis courts and lined by taxicabs. At center is the tiny, dome-shaped booth of the dispatcher for Parmalee cabs, who had an exclusive contract with Tudor City.

More on the community and the cab here.

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From a 1938 issue of Tudor City View comes the crossword puzzle for the colony.    

Alas, the answers were as vague as the subject.  

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A postcard that shows 42nd Street ‒ Looking East from 6th Avenue ‒ New York. Is the building at the far end of the street Prospect Tower? 

Who's to say?    

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A window at Hardwicke Hall.   

TUDOR CITY SERVICE covers

 A look back at the origins of Tudor City's monthly magazine, when it first appeared in 1934 as Tudor City Service. Although rather bland reading, it served its purpose and ran until 1938 when it changed its name to Tudor City View. Here are some of its earliest covers:  

To make up for last week's post, The Hermitage as it should be seen.

The Entrance to The Manor in aqua.

The Tulip Festival gets called out on the cover.

Location, location, location.

At times, they would even put a random painting on the cover. What the heck! 

More about Tudor City Service here and Tudor City View here.

HATFIELD HOUSE, THE CLOISTER, and THE HERMITAGE. . . almost

A return to the collaboration of the Works Progress Administration and the New York City Tax Department to compile a photographic record of all the buildings in the five boroughs. This group of photos shows part of Tudor City's buildings, and only just a part.

This first photograph depicts the awning of 304 E. 41st Street ‒ Hatfield House ‒ as well as two buildings to its west. Today, this anonymous duo has been replaced by Turken House, sponsoring Turkish students in New York.   

We now move to E. 43rd Street. The Cloister (far right) is overshadowed by the four-story building next door that takes up most of the picture. It was eventually demolished and replaced by the headquarters of the Consulate General of Malaysia.      

Then there is The Hermitage, which plays second fiddle to the 43rd Street rowhouses and the huge trunk of a car.

In this second shot, the camera has moved up the street for a more pleasing composition. At the top is the Tudor City sign.

The sequence ends with a shot of the other rowhouse on the western side of The Hermitage. It went away ‒ along with the adjoining Hospital for Special Surgery ‒ when the Ford Foundation headquarters replaced it in 1967.

Welcome to the HOTEL TUDOR

Today we look at a piece of Hotel Tudor advertising that's a bit offbeat. It promises Tudor hospitality without going into great detail about what that exactly entails. Dating from the early 1960s, it was a time when anything British was suddenly hip.           

It does get credit for calling Tudor City "beautiful" though.

More MISCELLANY

Once again, a few interesting bits of trivia.

From last Sunday's Post comes a story about the vicissitudes of New York's real estate market, entitled Prices Growing, Growing, Gone! The study of the market over the last ten years, it was a uplifting tale ‒ particularly if 0ne is a real estate agent ‒ except for a couple of straggling neighborhoods.

The main straggler, according to the Post, is "Tudor City, an apartment complex that consumes the area between East 40th and East 43rd streets and First and Second avenues. It took the greatest hit, with prices falling 17% from $402,000 in 2014 to $335,000 last year." 

Thanks to Vanessa Groce for the tip.

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Photograph around 1929, showcasing the two Tudor City signs. Then there was another sign on The Woodstock's western wall. . .

WOODSTOCK TOWER is all we can make out, however.

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The oil painting, Festival of St. Roch by E. Debat-Ponsan, hung in the lounge of Hotel Tudor in the 1950s; this postcard celebrated it.

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Finally, John McKean calls for an emergency meeting in his newsletter of January 25, 1981. "We still can win, but we must fight!"