The Seventh Regiment Armory in New York City - restoration of the historic site in New York

Magazine Antiques, Jan, 1999 by Mary Anne Hunting

On January 15 the Forty-fifth Annual Winter Antiques Show will open at the Seventh Regiment Armory, which occupies the block between Sixty-sixth and Sixty-seventh Streets on Park Avenue in New York City. The show is one of many events that have drawn thousands of visitors into the magnificent fifty-four thousand square foot Drill Room (Pl. V, [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 4 OMITTED]) since 1879 [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 3 OMITTED]. However, many visitors are probably unaware of the significance of this monolithic building - a prototype for hundreds of armories across the United States.(1)

Distinguished by its functional design and architecture, the armory is also celebrated for the splendor of the decorations executed by some of the most talented artisans of the day, its collections of decorative and fine arts, and its history, which is a testament to the Seventh Regiment and the community it served until 1947.(2) Although this landmarked building is now sadly in poor condition, it is still the military palace that forty thousand subscribers lined up to see when it officially opened its massive doors in 1880.(6)

The Seventh Regiment, known as the silk stocking regiment for its prestigious roster of members, was the largest and most admired volunteer militia in the country during the nineteenth century. Its nucleus was formed in 1806 after British frigates, blockading New York Harbor, fired at passing vessels that resisted a search for British deserters, and in so doing killed an American helmsmen. The first four companies of artillery in what became the Seventh Regiment were created by volunteers after a mass rally called for reprisals for this death. It was given the name Seventh Regiment, National Guard, State of New York, in 1847.

New York City came to depend on this militia, which was regularly called on to quell civil disorders such as the Astor Place Riot of 1849 when it dispersed a mob of twenty thousand, driving away "the bleeding rioters, demoralized and defeated, from the streets" (see Pl. XIII).(6) It also helped fight large fires and took part in protecting citizens and businesses. The Seventh Regiment participated in important events, such as the inaugurations of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883 and the Statue of Liberty in 1886, as well as other civic ceremonies such as

receiving the remains of President Lincoln upon their arrival in this city, guarding them at the City Hall, and of acting as the special escort and guard of honor in the great and memorable demonstration upon their removal from the city.(7)

The Seventh Regiment's first home, shared with a public market, was in the Italianate cast-iron Tompkins Market completed in 1860 on the lower East Side. However, by 1868 it was apparent that the regiment needed to be in a neighborhood more convenient to its members as well as the population it protected, which was migrating north. In addition to a large hall in which to drill and ample storage for arms and ammunition, the members wanted a ceremonial setting in which to impress recruits with the regiment's glorious past. The armory also functioned much like men's clubs of New York and London, which served social and sometimes business purposes.

The first effort to obtain a site at Reservoir square (now Bryant Park) was opposed by neighbors who feared the devaluation of their real estate. In 1875 the city appropriated a lot for the armory on Fourth Avenue (renamed Park Avenue in 1881).

The regimental Board of Officers had originally anticipated that the city would contribute $350,000 for the new building, but partly owing to a lasting depression, this did not materialize. The regiment realized it had to make

an earnest effort to build the necessary armor by subscriptions from the active and veteran members of the Regiment, and from the liberal citizens, business men, and tax-payers of the city of New York.(8)

Donations poured in not only from such prominent New Yorkers as John Jacob Astor, William H. Vanderbilt, E Augustus Schermerhorn, William C. Rhinelander, and James Lenox, but also from the growing middle class, which saw an opportunity to invest in its protection from civil strife. About $90,000 was raised from members of the regiment, $27,000 from veterans, $86,000 from the community, $33,000 from businesses, and $151,000 from a bond issue. This was enough to raise the building but not to furnish it.(9)

In April 1879, when the shell of the armory was nearing completion, a committee of members and veterans began organizing a spectacular, two-week-long fair to raise money for the decoration of the building. Opened by President Rutherford B. Hayes on November 17, 1879, the fair was eventually extended for a third week The focal point in the lavishly decorated Drill Room was a central forty-foot hexagonal arbor festooned with flowers, vines, evergreens, and moss [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 3 OMITTED]. The surrounding booths, designed by each of the ten companies in the regiment, composed what one contemporary called a "tournament of taste to which the companies of the regiment have challenged each other."(10) There were temples, pavilions, gateways, tents, and marquees of Byzantine, Moorish, Chinese, Venetian, Persian, Egyptian, English Gothic, Queen Anne, and even English military inspiration. A vast array of expensive goods was offered for sale, including carriages, boats, organs, jewelry, safes, even Angora cats and fox terriers.(11) Competition among the companies was fierce to realize the largest profit and thereby win the silver punch bowl offered by Brooks Brothers, the maker of the regimental uniforms.