History Unfolds During ‘Lunch at a Landmark’
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
RELATED: Photos from the ‘Lunch at a Landmark’
The coiffed, bejeweled, and custom-tailored suit crowd at the Park Avenue Armory yesterday looked slightly out of place there, what with the Armory’s peeling paint, plaster wall patches, and worn wood floors exposed in broad daylight.
But no one was about to turn his or her nose up at the building. These men and women were gathered for the annual New York Landmarks Preservation Foundation
“Lunch at a Landmark” event to celebrate the Seventh Regiment Armory Conservancy’s preservation of the Park Avenue building and its art-intensive plan to transform its use for the 21st century.
The architect of the current restoration effort, Samuel White (the great-grandson of the designer of the Armory’s company rooms, Stanford White), spoke about the history of the building. Many alterations were made after its construction in the 1870s, including the painting over of the red, white, and blue scheme designed by Jasper Cropsey. But one thing hasn’t changed, Mr. White noted: its use as a venue for fund-raisers.
The fund-raising events began even before the Armory was finished, with the two-week New Armory Fair in November 1879, which raised money to complete the company rooms.
As an exhibit open to the public details, many more memorable events have followed, including a Salvation Army Ball in 1933, where the menu included “Army chow” such as beef stew, apple sauce, and doughnuts, and a string of theme balls including the Cairo Ball, the Martian Ball, and the Alpine Ball, at which guests rode down a toboggan slide on rugs.
The luncheon included a talk by architect Rafael Viñoly titled “A Tale of Two Cities: The New Domino, New York and the Battersea Power Authority, London.”
Mr. Viñoly said working on the two projects has made him appreciate the merits of New York’s overregulated planning process more than London’s largely unregulated one.
“It is unregulated but much more difficult. In London, people like to talk, and they talk a lot,” Mr. Viñoly said.
Funds raised at the luncheon will help support a new program aimed at teaching high school students about preservation, using the Armory as a laboratory, the chairman of the foundation, Christina Davis, said.
agordon@nysun.com
