Postcard Thursday: Samuel Tilden

Tomorrow marks the 204th birthday of Samuel Jones Tilden, lawyer, governor of New York, and man who won the presidency in 1876 -- only to have it stolen from him in some Electoral College shenanigans.

As we write in Inside the Apple:

In the history of American politics, there is no presidential election as contentious as the 1876 contest between New York Governor Samuel J. Tilden and Ohio Governor Rutherford B. Hayes. 

Tilden, famous for his prosecution of William “Boss” Tweed was billed as the Reform-minded outsider Democrat who could combat the corruption that had flowered in Washington under President Ulysses S. Grant. The party hoped that Tilden, despite his basically chilly demeanor, could appeal to northerners and southerners alike....

 As the votes rolled in, the press was generally reporting that Tilden had won.

However, the New York Times, sensing that the election would be close in Louisiana, South Carolina, Oregon, and Florida, prepared an editorial that ran the next day entitled “A Doubtful Election,” laying out the scenario that the election still hung in the balance. After meeting with Republican leaders, the Times managing editor, John Reid, sent telegrams to Republican governors in the disputed states: Hayes is elected if we have carried South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana. Can you hold your state? Answer immediately. 

When the governors replied that they could try to “hold” their states—despite election returns tilting in Tilden’s favor—the most fractious post-election period in American history began. Not even the Gore/Bush imbroglio in 2000 can match the months that followed November 1876. In canvasses roiled by partisanship, the three southern states in dispute certified two sets of returns and sent them to Washington—one for Hayes and one for Tilden. With the votes from those states thus rendered void, neither candidate had a majority....

In the end, a commission was appointed to determine the winner. "Along completely partisan lines, the commission voted 8-7 in favor of Hayes in each disputed case, giving him the electoral votes he needed to secure the presidency."

Tilden is also known today for his house -- which is actually two side-by-side townhouses that he bought and joined together -- that are now home to The National Arts Club. James wrote a story of the club's history, including Tilden's renovation of the home, for Curbed New York which you can read at https://ny.curbed.com/2014/5/27/10095666/the-dramatic-history-of-gramercy-parks-national-arts-club.

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Read more about New York City history in our two books:

Footprints in New York: Tracing the Lives of Four Centuries of New Yorkers
and

Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City

Postcard Thursday: New York City Clubs

Did you know that a little over a century ago, there were 157 private membership clubs in New York City, with over 38,000 combined members?

James wrote a piece on the proliferation (and, then, steady decline) of these clubs for Curbed this week. From alumni clubs like Yale and Harvard to arts clubs such as the Players and National Arts clubs on Gramercy Park to the rarefied halls of the Union and University clubs, these social organizations served as an important part of the framework of New York's high society.

Read all about it at http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2015/06/17/the_rise_and_fall_of_new_york_citys_private_social_clubs.php

What does this image have to do with New York City clubs? Nothing at all -- it's an arch in Central Park. But we posted it here to remind you that we're giving a tour on Sunday, June 28, at 1:00pm, of the northern section of the park. Read about it and make reservations by following this link: http://blog.insidetheapple.net/2015/06/public-walking-tour-exploring-upper.html

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Explore more NYC history in

Footprints in New York: Tracing the Lives of Four Centuries of New Yorkers

If you haven't had a chance to pick up a copy of Footprints yet,
you can order it from your favorite online retailers (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc.) or
from independent bookstores across the country.

And, of course, Inside the Apple is available at fine bookstores everywhere.

National Arts Club Mansion Shills Potato Chips

The National Arts Club has had a hard time of it recently -- accusations of hoarding, fiscal impropriety, and, most recently, the sacking of the club's longtime dining room manager while he was on vacation.

But it's not all doom and gloom on Gramercy Park. Have you seen that Lay's ad that's been playing during the Olympics?

The ad features celebrity chef Michael Symon and Eva Longoria asking America to help Lay's come up with the next great potato chip flavor. Most of the ad is filmed in the environs of Madison Square Park, but it begins with Symon bounding down the steps of one of the National Arts Club's entrances.* The shot shows off the club's Victorian red sandstone facade to good effect. The facade is the handiwork of Calvert Vaux (co-architect of Central Park) who renovated the mansion in the 1870s when it was the home of New York Governor Samuel Jones Tilden.

Tilden ran for president -- and won -- in 1876 but was denied the presidency. His home languished for years after his death until the National Arts Club bought it in the first decade of the 20th century, renovated it, and built the apartment building on 19th Street that has been the center of much of its recent controversy.

* The National Arts Club is actually two old townhouses, 14 and 15 Gramercy Park, combined into one giant house. Club members use the entrance at 15 Gramercy Park; the ad shows the entrance at 14 Gramercy.

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Read more about Samuel J. Tilden, the contested election of 1876, and
architect Calvert Vaux in

Inside the Apple

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George B. Post (1837-1913)

Today marks the 173rd birthday of George B. Post, one of New York's most influential Beaux-Arts architects.

Post was born in New York City on December 15, 1837, and graduated from the University of the City of New York--today called NYU--in 1858 with a degree in Civil Engineering. Post immediately apprenticed to Richard Morris Hunt, who had recently returned from Paris with a degree from L'ecole des Beaux Arts. Post worked with Hunt at his Tenth Street Studio in Greenwich Village for a few years; however, as soon as the Civil War broke out, Post volunteered and became a captain of New York's 22nd Regiment. The company saw action not only at the front, but also during the quelling of the New York City Draft Riot in 1863.

In the post-war era, Post went on to rival his former teacher in terms of influence. Alas, many of his great New York buildings are now gone, including  the Produce Exchange, the Cotton Exchange, and Joseph Pulitzer's World building, the first skyscraper to call itself the tallest building in the world. But what remains of Post's work is spectacular, including the New York Stock Exchange (1903), the Harlem campus of City College (1907), the Brooklyn Historical Society (1881), and the original Williamsburg Savings Bank (1875) at 175 Broadway in Williamsburg. Post was President of the Architectural League, the American Institute of Architects, the Fine Arts Federation of New York, and the National Arts Club on Gramercy Park, where he oversaw the construction of the studio building for artists who were club members.

(Post also worked in other cities, most notably at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, where he built the Manufacturers and Arts Building, and as the architect of Wisconsin's Capitol in 1906.)

If you work or live near one of Post's buildings, take a moment today to stop and admire his handiwork. Happy Birthday, George!

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Read more about the New York Stock Exchange,
City College, and other Post buildings in

Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City.

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