2. Governor's House
Location: Governors Island
Built: ca. 1805-1813
Architect: Unknown
National Register Number: 73001217
Listed: April 26, 1973
Visited: July 21, 2007
As of summer 2007, you have to get there via a seven-minute ferry ride. The crowd going to Governors Island skews older than the one going to the Statue of Liberty or Rockefeller Center or the Empire State Building, a function of the site's low profile and lack of kid appeal. There's really little to do on the island at the moment. Once there, it feels like a giant college campus, emptied for the summer season, perfect for a wander. Quiet descends upon the ears like almost no place in Manhattan, not even Central Park. A curious lack of wildlife, though: many trees, London Planes shedding crunchy bark like mad, yet I didn't see a single squirrel, and very few birds save for the inevitable pigeons and a lonesome songbird or two calling out in vain. Walking up a quaint set of stairs abutting a building, I get distracted by a butterfly and I'm suddenly facing the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission's plaque for the Governor's House. A-ha! This is a relief: I figured it'd take longer to find this building because it wasn't marked on the complimentary map.
The plaque says the Governor's House was built in 1708, which would make it the oldest building in New York County; sadly, in one hell of an error correction, recent research has show it was actually built about a hundred years later. This is still old old old but no match for 273 Water Street (1781ish), The Morris-Jumel Mansion (1765), and tough motherfucker St. Paul's Chapel (1764-1766), not to mention Brooklyn's Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House (1652ish), the oldest building in the state.
Like many buildings on the island, it's built from a heterogeneous selection of bricks, reflecting several instances of repair and renovation. My guidebooks call describe it as "Georgian-style." I don't know what that means. Obviously I should. The front door is sealed with a mere hardware store lock, but for some reason a side window is open, revealing 20th century kitchen facilities. There's also a front window, closed but low enough to peek through. But there's nothing to see, save for a large tree branch inexplicably placed on the wood floor.
Built: ca. 1805-1813
Architect: Unknown
National Register Number: 73001217
Listed: April 26, 1973
Visited: July 21, 2007
As of summer 2007, you have to get there via a seven-minute ferry ride. The crowd going to Governors Island skews older than the one going to the Statue of Liberty or Rockefeller Center or the Empire State Building, a function of the site's low profile and lack of kid appeal. There's really little to do on the island at the moment. Once there, it feels like a giant college campus, emptied for the summer season, perfect for a wander. Quiet descends upon the ears like almost no place in Manhattan, not even Central Park. A curious lack of wildlife, though: many trees, London Planes shedding crunchy bark like mad, yet I didn't see a single squirrel, and very few birds save for the inevitable pigeons and a lonesome songbird or two calling out in vain. Walking up a quaint set of stairs abutting a building, I get distracted by a butterfly and I'm suddenly facing the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission's plaque for the Governor's House. A-ha! This is a relief: I figured it'd take longer to find this building because it wasn't marked on the complimentary map.
The plaque says the Governor's House was built in 1708, which would make it the oldest building in New York County; sadly, in one hell of an error correction, recent research has show it was actually built about a hundred years later. This is still old old old but no match for 273 Water Street (1781ish), The Morris-Jumel Mansion (1765), and tough motherfucker St. Paul's Chapel (1764-1766), not to mention Brooklyn's Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House (1652ish), the oldest building in the state.
Like many buildings on the island, it's built from a heterogeneous selection of bricks, reflecting several instances of repair and renovation. My guidebooks call describe it as "Georgian-style." I don't know what that means. Obviously I should. The front door is sealed with a mere hardware store lock, but for some reason a side window is open, revealing 20th century kitchen facilities. There's also a front window, closed but low enough to peek through. But there's nothing to see, save for a large tree branch inexplicably placed on the wood floor.
Labels: Governors Island
posted by Michael at
3:19 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home