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Photos: An Extremely Rare Tour Inside & Atop The Washington Arch
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Gothamist Staff
Published Sep 9, 2013
Modified Sep 11, 2013
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By
Gothamist Staff
Published Sep 9, 2013
Modified Sep 11, 2013
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The 72-foot-tall Washington Arch marks the northern end of Washington Square Park and the beginning of the Manhattan grid. It also boasts a killer view—if you can get up on the roof. Though the structure's innards are off-limits to the public, I was recently given a tour by John Krawchuk, the director of historic preservation for the New York City Parks Department.
While the Washington Arch was dedicated in 1895, its history goes back to 1889. At that time, to celebrate the centennial of the inauguration of President George Washington, a temporary arch made of plaster and wood was constructed about 100 feet north of the current arch. It was so popular that the public demanded a permanent structure. $150,000 was raised and construction of the current arch began in 1890.
The arch was made of marble from a now-closed quarry roughly 21 miles north in Tuckahoe. That presented a problem when restoration of the structure began in 2001. But it turned out that during construction of the Taconic State Parkway, unneeded pieces of Tuckahoe marble had been used as a fill and when the road was dug up for improvements, many pieces were salvaged for use in the restoration. A ribbon was cut at the restored arch in May 2004.
John Krawchuk (Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
So how do you get inside the arch? "There's a very small door," Krawchuk says. "It's like Alice in Wonderland."
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
He wasn't kidding. Mr. Krawchuk is a not short, but he's not Shaquille O'Neal, either.
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
When you look inside, you see that the western pier contains a narrow spiral staircase made of Guastavino tile (see the ceiling at the Oyster Bar at Grand Central) that leads up to a 17-foot-tall attic space lit by three skylights in a Guastavino tile ceiling. Above that is a hatch that leads on to the roof.
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
Here are the Guastavino tile stairs.
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
When you look up, you see the spiral staircase is unlike any you’ve ever seen. There are exactly 102 steps to the top.
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
When you get close to the very top, you come to the aforementioned 17-foot-tall attic space.
“The reason for that, I believe, is that the arch is a load-bearing masonry structure and they didn't want to create the weight that would have been required at the attic level if it had been solid masonry,” Krawchuck said. “There would have been [additional] construction cost.”
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
At the other end of the attic is an access port into the mostly-filled eastern pier of the arch.
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
Here is a close-up of the Guastavino tile ceiling.
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
Here is the west-facing view from the attic.
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
After the tour of the attic, we continued upwards...
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
...and on to the roof.
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
Here is a close-up of one of the skylights.
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
And the views...
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
You're not the first to think this is a prime spot for a party. As the story goes, in January of 1917, Marcel Duchamp, John Sloan, Gertrude Drick, and several others in the Village scene made their way to the top, spread out a blanket, flew Chinese lanterns and balloons, drank tea, and declared Washington Square to be a free and independent republic. The group became known as “The Arch Conspirators.”
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
Look really closely at NYU’s Elmer Holmes Bobst Library and you’ll see a hawk without the aid of Hawk Cam, which sometimes lands on the arch.
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
Here you see One World Trade Center.
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
This is the view up 5th Avenue.
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
Here are some shots of the park itself.
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
Cars were allowed to drive right through the park until 1959 and buses went through the park until 1963.
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
This is the hatch we came through to get to the roof.
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
But this hatch wasn’t the original exit from the arch. The exit used to be a turret, not dissimilar to what you would find on an ironclad ship from the Civil War. Here you can see bricks that were once under that structure.
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
Back down the hatch.
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
(Evan Bindelglass / Gothamist)
Sadly, you’ll probably never get to go inside the Washington Arch, even if you are the ghost of a famous Dada painter.
“That staircase was meant only for maintenance purposes. It's a very narrow staircase. It's a spiral staircase. It was never meant for public access,” Krawchuk said. “The roof also was not meant for public access. It's not a walking terrace. It's quite fragile and so we really try to keep foot traffic off of the roof in order to preserve it and keep water from leaking into the arch.”
Krawchuk added, “This is the reason why we actually do things like this [interview] is that since we cannot bring the public up here—and we get a lot of requests for it—it really allows the opportunity for the public to experience this kind of a space."
Evan Bindelglass is a journalist, blogger, history buff, foodie, and cinephile living just across the Hudson River in Bergen County, N.J.
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Tagged
bohemians
greenwich village
washington arch
washington square park
longform
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Gothamist Staff
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