86. Odd Fellows Hall
Location: 165-171 Grand Street
Built: 1847-1848; 1881-1882 (roof addition)
Architect: Trench & Snook; John Buckingham (roof addition)
National Register Number: 83001737
Listed: September 22, 1983
Visited: October 12, 2008
So I was writing this on Tuesday when suddenly the cool guy became President and I got a mite distracted. Anyway!
Fraternal orders are a living dead detail of American society, as much of the social-services work that was their original rationale for existence now done by the government and insurance companies, and with the whole idea of socialization with the like-minded towards lofty goals undermined by the collective realization that people are actually rather horrible and why on earth would you want to fraternize with them when there's the TV? (College fraternities and sororities are an exception to this decline, of course: drinking and sexing beats TV. For now.)
The Independent Order of Odd Fellows once had had about 100 lodges in the city. They're still around, to be sure, but I'm not entirely sure there's even one NYC lodge around now. Their purpose was "[t]o visit the sick, relieve the distressed, to bury the dead and educate the orphan...". This hall for the Odd Fellows was ostensibly constructed to do just that, with libraries, classrooms and lecture halls serving (I have to assume) the crush of city immigrants surrounding it. It also had rooms lavishly dressed up in eclectic styles, probably not for all those poor orphans but eh who knows?
Originally it had a dome, removed when the building was sold and two floors were added. They're a different style, Queen Anne mansard over Italianate brownstone; they're like a fetching Sunday hat.
OK, I'm still distracted.
Built: 1847-1848; 1881-1882 (roof addition)
Architect: Trench & Snook; John Buckingham (roof addition)
National Register Number: 83001737
Listed: September 22, 1983
Visited: October 12, 2008
So I was writing this on Tuesday when suddenly the cool guy became President and I got a mite distracted. Anyway!
Fraternal orders are a living dead detail of American society, as much of the social-services work that was their original rationale for existence now done by the government and insurance companies, and with the whole idea of socialization with the like-minded towards lofty goals undermined by the collective realization that people are actually rather horrible and why on earth would you want to fraternize with them when there's the TV? (College fraternities and sororities are an exception to this decline, of course: drinking and sexing beats TV. For now.)
The Independent Order of Odd Fellows once had had about 100 lodges in the city. They're still around, to be sure, but I'm not entirely sure there's even one NYC lodge around now. Their purpose was "[t]o visit the sick, relieve the distressed, to bury the dead and educate the orphan...". This hall for the Odd Fellows was ostensibly constructed to do just that, with libraries, classrooms and lecture halls serving (I have to assume) the crush of city immigrants surrounding it. It also had rooms lavishly dressed up in eclectic styles, probably not for all those poor orphans but eh who knows?
Originally it had a dome, removed when the building was sold and two floors were added. They're a different style, Queen Anne mansard over Italianate brownstone; they're like a fetching Sunday hat.
OK, I'm still distracted.
Labels: John Buckingham, Little Italy, Trench and Snook
posted by Michael at
11:44 PM
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