Irish roots    

BUST OF JOHN WOLFE AMBROSE TO RETURN TO BATTERY PARK

The South Street Seaport Museum's 107-year-old lightship, Ambrose, was named for John Wolfe Ambrose, who emigrated to New York City from Ireland in 1852 and became an engineer and developer. He proposed the construction of a channel into New York harbor that allowed the largest ships to enter. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

 

On a June day in 1936 in front of 500 guests, New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia unveiled a bronze bust set into a niche on the south side of Castle Clinton in Battery Park. The statue depicted  a mustachioed man with an equally impressive set of mutton chops - John Wolfe Ambrose - engineer and developer of elevated railroads on Second Avenue and on the West Side of

Photo: New York City Parks photo archive

Manhattan, and a few other projects that changed the face of New York City. But the work for which he was particularly honored that day was his proposal to build a channel starting at Sandy Hook, N.J. and leading into New York harbor.

 

He succeeded in getting Congress to fund it but didn't live to see it built. The Ambrose Channel was eventually constructed and named for him, as was a lightship, built in 1907 for a predecessor of the U.S. Coast Guard, to keep ships from running aground as they went through the channel.  

 

"It would have been impossible for the Queen Mary, the Normandie and other large vessels to enter the harbor without the existence of the Ambrose Channel," said a man named George A. Voss at the unveiling. Voss, who had once worked for Ambrose, added, "His indefatigable labors have been directly responsible for making the Port of New York the principal point of entry on this continent."   

 

Ambrose was born in Ireland in 1838 and emigrated to New York City at the age of 14, so it seems appropriate to remember him on St. Patrick's Day.  

 

Unfortunately, that portrait bust in Battery Park was stolen in January 1990 and never recovered.  

 

Nevertheless, the City Parks Department is planning to replicate it and reinstall it, basing the work on historical photographs. 

 

"The Ambrose bust replication project is part of the larger Battery Park phase 3 restoration plan," said Phil Abramson, a Parks Department spokesman. He said that the work will include the relocation and/or conservation of eight other monuments in the park. "A number of these monuments, such as the Netherlands Flagstaff and the statue of John Ericsson have been conserved in the past 10 to 20 years, and are simply being reassembled and positioned, under the supervision of professional  conservators," he said.

 

The monument to Ambrose is slated to be repositioned at a new location along State Street, on the edge of the park, south of Pearl Street.

 

"We cannot at this time provide a timetable on completion of the Ambrose monument, but it will not be imminent" said Abramson, "as the recreation of the sculpture and relocation of the monument are connected with the larger capital project, as well as the MTA's upcoming reconstruction of the South Ferry subway station."

 

More imminent is the reopening to the public of the lightship Ambrose, which has been owned by the South Street Seaport Museum since 1968 and is berthed at Pier 16. It should again be ready to receive visitors in April.

 

 

 

Bits & Bytes  

3 WORLD TRADE CENTER CONTENTION; NEW YORK SURPASSES LONDON AS 'FINANCIAL CAPITAL;' FREE FOOD; HELP FOR EXPLOSION VICTIMS

Reflection of 1 World Trade Center in 4 World Trade Center, a Larry Silverstein building. Silverstein is seeking Port Authority funds to complete 3 World Trade Center even though much of both 1 and 4 WTC are still unleased. (Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

 

"Developer's Skyscraper Is Focus of Latest Dispute at Rebuilt Trade Center," New York Times, 3/16/14. As 1 World Trade Center, the transit hub and the September 11 museum near completion, and 4 World Trade Center, built by Larry Silverstein, is open, if not occupied, "the 11-member board of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is sharply divided over whether to double the level of subsidies and support for another Silverstein building, a long-stalled $2.3 billion office tower, at the 16-acre site," says The New York Times. "The dispute, which pits one appointee of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo against another, will come up for a vote Wednesday." The Times says that, "Proponents, led by Mr. Silverstein and Scott H. Rechler, the authority's vice chairman, contend that the tower, 3 World Trade Center, would essentially mark the completion of the new trade center and spur the continuing transformation of Lower Manhattan into a vibrant, 24-hour commercial and residential district no longer reliant on the financial industry. Critics argue that it makes no sense to subsidize another downtown office tower with plenty of vacant space that would compete for tenants with other nearby buildings and the Port Authority's own, half-empty tower at 1 World Trade Center, one of the world's most expensive skyscrapers." For the complete article, click here.

"New York Strips London of Mantle as World's Top Financial Center," Bloomberg Businessweek, 3/16/14. We keep reading that media companies are displacing financial service companies in lower Manhattan, but it seems that "FiDi" is still an appropriate name for the Financial District. "New York replaced London as the world's leading financial center for the first time, after the City was rocked by a series of scandals and questions over the U.K.'s place in the European Union," says Bloomberg Businessweek. "New York holds the top spot in the latest Global Financial Centres Index with a 'shaky, statistically insignificant' two-point lead, according to Michael Mainelli, chairman of Z/Yen Group Ltd., which compiles the index. Competition is heating up, with Hong Kong and Singapore, the two leading Asian centers, narrowing the gap between themselves and the top two to fewer than 30 points on a scale of 1,000, the index shows." Why did this demotion occur? "Scandals including banks abusing their clients by selling unneeded insurance, manipulation of financial benchmarks and trading losses, have combined to damage the City's standing, just as plans for a referendum on EU membership cast doubt on the terms of its access to that market," says Businessweek. For the complete article, click here.

Free food: Terri, a vegan restaurant at 100 Maiden Lane, is giving away free food on Thursday, March 20, in support of the "Great American Meatout," an annual, nationwide campaign to espouse the benefits of a plant-based diet. Customers who mention "meatout" will receive $10 worth of free food. Terri's co-owner, Craig Cochran, explains the restaurant's largesse by saying, "Food advocacy has always been a passion of mine. For me, Terri's role is to maake healthy and delicious plant-based superfoods as accessible as traditional fast food." Place: 100 Maiden Lane (entrance on Pearl Street). Time: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. For more information, click here.

Help sought for East Harlem building collapse victims:  The Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City is accepting contributions to help the individuals, families and businesses affected by the building collapse that occurred at 116th Street and Park Avenue on Wednesday, March 12. To contribute or for additional information about the Mayor's Fund, click here or call 311.

"Body pulled from waters near lower Manhattan," amNewYork, 3/16/14. "The NYPD's Harbor Unit Sunday removed a body found off the tip of lower Manhattan," amNewYork reported. As of late Monday afternoon, the body, a woman believed to have been in her 30s, had not been identified. "The body was decomposing, so it takes time," an NYPD spokesman said. The woman was unclothed, according to the NYPD. For the amNewYork article, click here.