THE PLAZA AT FIFTH AVENUE — VANDERBILT HOUSE IN DISTANCE

THE PLAZA AT FIFTH AVENUE — VANDERBILT HOUSE IN DISTANCE
by Alice Heath 1917

   New York's tribute to the Allied War Commissions. Luncheons, dinners and every sort of public appreciation were lavished upon the distinguished visitors, and New York gave unmistakable evidence of her pro-Ally leanings. The main thoroughfares like Broadway, Wall Street, Fifth Avenue, the Battery, etc., were a living mass of color. Such a wealth of decoration never appeared before, so important did this seem to be that a number of views were specially painted in memory of this demonstration. Note THE GREAT WHITE SPOT OF NEW YORK  at the right. 

WALL STREET — LOOKING TOWARD TRINITY CHURCH
 GREAT PATRIOTIC DEMONSTRATION UPON THE ENTRY OF OUR COUNTRY  INTO THE EUROPEAN CONFLICT
by Alice Heath 1917

MACDOUGAL ALLEY IN GREENWICH VILLAGE
MRS. HARRY PAYNE WHITNEY AND HER ARTIST FRIENDS HOLD A FESTA FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE RED CROSS
by Alice Heath 1917

from Streetscapes - "MACDOUGAL ALLEY was pretty close to an overnight success: rich patrons and art professionals soon frequented the street that had until recently been considered unsafe after dark. In 1907 Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney took a studio on the alley, and later established the Whitney Museum there." ....."by 1917 it was called New York's Art Alley de Luxe."  Walk down the alley HERE. The street once sheltered the horses and carriages of Washington Square.
   
   Whitney's studio was located at 19 MacDougal Alley and remained her private working studio until her death. The studio today is part of the NEW YORK STUDIO SCHOOL OF DRAWING, PAINTING AND SCULPTURE. Besides Whitney, Frederick Triebel, Daniel Chester French worked and lived in the alley at the same time. Japanese-American artist Isamu Noguchi had a studio at 33 MacDougal Alley in the 40's. Jackson Pollock lived a 9 MacDougal Alley. 

from nomination form for the school - "In 1907, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney took over the stable at 19 MacDougal Alley for the purpose of converting it into a studio. It is not known who remodeled the structure for Whitney, but she left the work area a large, plain open space, raising the ceilings and keeping the beams, rafters, and planked wooden floors of the stable. She installed up-to-date lighting and an arsenal of equipment. The sculptor Malvina Hoffman, who was an apprentice in a studio two doors away, remembered Whitney's studio as having a great "array of modeling tools and glistening saws and chisels that hung over the workbenches, turntables that really turned, stands that did not wobble." The most memorable feature of the second floor, which contains the dramatic hayloft windows, came into being in 1918, when Whitney engaged the painter and muralist Robert Winthrop Chanler for a decorative commission. Chanler embellished the fireplace and chimney with a magnificent piece of painted sculpture: tongues of flame, molded in plaster and painted in red and gold polychrome leap upward to simulate an enormous blaze. The flames curl and twist to the ceiling, whereon they become abstract swirling bas-reliefs from which delicately modeled dragons, deities, nymphs, birds, and sea creatures peep out. Both the fireplace and ceiling survive, but they have been covered in a heavy layer of white paint. Chanler also designed seven stained glass windows as an accompaniment, 10 but they were removed and sold many years ago." 

   Click HERE to see the work being done on the ceiling. HERE for images. New York Times article on the restoration with a picture of the fireplace.