"A New York Treasure" --Village Voice

Where & When: Game 69

Welcome back for yet another challenge from Where & When! This one was a challnge in itself to find, which I will explain in a little bit (and I have to wonder if it’s worth the trouble to find it for what I intended to set up with it…) Well, for now:

Where & When Game 69 Okay, so here we are in one of our favorite places to look for vintage architecture and associated stories.  There is another picture floating around that faces the front side of these buildings and contains the subject of our two-part bonus.  For now, let’s you and me figure out where we are and when this took place.  Plenty of clues to help you here, so I don’t need to add anything, you’ll figure it out relatively quickly if I know you folks >;)

Now for the bonuses…

The first bonus relates to a particular business and resource that happens to be one of the best friends of this feature.  Sure, they’re not around anymore, but they have provided an enormous wealth of records about this city’s past as well as other cities; all of which officially reside in a very important place (very important if you’re into copyright law, in fact).

The second, which is the cause of my angst for the past few days (you can say I was trying to be cunning), relates to the title of this post. There is a place that exists off-screen at this location today. If you know the location, then you know exactly what I’m talking about.  The timing is perfect, and with what Fearless Leader has been sharing with us of late on the Banter, it can’t be more appropriate.  What’s on you’re mind, sir? >;)  (Feel free to roll your eyes when you find the answer, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity for such an elaborate reference, even if it is sophomoric.)

You know the drill, find the answers, explain your math, root beer float  or hot chocolate depending on the weather for the winner, cream soda or tea for the rest of us, slice of Motorino Pizza or a great cupcake for the bonuses (I just threw those last two in there since I’m in such a “giving” mood).  Gotta go to work (you might spy me under an aerial lift near Grammercy Park this evening); I hope this was worth the effort.  Enjoy!

And no peeking at this: Photo Credit: Skycraper City

11 comments

1 rbj   ~  Mar 18, 2015 11:23 am

OK, so it's before the Hotel Brunswick. Which is 1236 Madison Avenue.

2 rbj   ~  Mar 18, 2015 11:30 am

The sign also says 100 Broadway

3 rbj   ~  Mar 18, 2015 11:50 am

Ok, Brunswick hotel got me to this:
The Brunswick Hotel was on Madison Square at Fifth Avenue and 25th Street
Which got me to the NoMad wikipedia page with this unhelpful line:
The Brunswick, at East 26th Street and Fifth Avenue, was the hotel favored by the horsey set

So it's East 26th & Fifth Ave.

Which gets me to the Grand Madison, which wikipedia says was built in 1906. This is before that, so it is probably 1905.

4 rbj   ~  Mar 18, 2015 11:51 am

It is near the Admiral David Farragut Monument, according to the Grand Madison's website.

5 rbj   ~  Mar 18, 2015 1:05 pm

But then this site has an 1890 date for a Brunswick Hotel:
http://home.comcast.net/~m.chitty/newyorkmap.htm

New York Nov. 19, 1890 Yesterday went to the Brunswick Hotel to hear Mrs. Kendal address the Goethe Society. Subject "The Stage". Heard nothing new but the subject was nicely put together, and very clearly delivered by Mrs. Kendall who has a very sweet toned voice.

The Brunswick Hotel was on Madison Square at Fifth Avenue and 25th Street "much favored by English tourists and is patronized also by the wealthy young men about town". [Kings NYC?]

6 Chyll Will   ~  Mar 18, 2015 1:46 pm

[5] You're not quite there, Doc, but you're really warm... Try looking the other way >;)

7 Chyll Will   ~  Mar 18, 2015 1:47 pm

So nobody's gonna take a shot at the bonus here? Sheesh...

8 rbj   ~  Mar 18, 2015 2:31 pm

Museum of Mathematics?

9 Chyll Will   ~  Mar 18, 2015 4:43 pm

Touché... well played, Mauer.

10 RIYank   ~  Mar 18, 2015 4:58 pm

There was already a Brunswick Hotel on the site. (You can see it in the picture!) The Grand Brunswick, I guess, is what the sign is touting as to-be-constructed.

Will, if I have the bonus, then you did a nice job of beating around the bush.

Now I kind of hate myself.

11 Chyll Will   ~  Mar 18, 2015 7:37 pm

[10] tee-hee. Now we wait on the Far East contingency to chime in. The building everyone's talking about is actually on the far side of this block; technically not the corner we see in the forefront, but still part of the pic. The business is located in the building in the middle. Can you get a fix on the address; it might help.

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"This ain't football. We do this every day."
--Earl Weaver