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Seventh Regiment Armory

Footnotes from the Armory History

as reprinted from Antiques Magazine's January 1999 Issue.

Written by: Mary Anne Hunting

The overtly fortified design of the Seventh Regiment Armory was copied until about 1910, when less defensive designs became popular. See Robert M. Fogelson, America's Armories: Architecture, Society, and Public Order (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1989), pp. 48-55, 189.
In 1947, when the federal government reorganized the National Guard, the Seventh Regiment ceased to exist as an active military unit. Many of the regiment's archives are in the New-York Historical Society in New York City.
Since 1942 the building has been managed by the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs. Recently there has been significant water damage to the interior decorative finishes. The Seventh Regiment Armory Conservancy has proposed an ambitious plan for stabilization, restoration, and development. See the brochure "A Proposal for the Restoration and Revitalization of the Seventh Regiment Armory" (Seventh Regiment Armory Conservancy, New York City, 1998) and two articles on the condition of the armory in the New York Times, March 6 and 7, 1998.
New York Times, April 10, 1880.
Emmons Clark, History of the Seventh Regiment of New York, 1806-1889 (Seventh Regiment, New York, 1890), vol. 2, p. 290.
"The New York Seventh," Harper's Weekly, vol. 24 (May 8, 1880), p. 295.
Clark, History of the Seventh Regiment, vol. 2, p. 135.
Resolution adopted by the Board of Officers on January. 15, 1876 (see ibid., p. 238).
Fogelson, America's Armories, pp. 54-55.
Edward Strahan [Earl Shinn], "The Seventh Regiment Fair," Art Amateur, vol. 2, no. 1 (December 1879), p. 2.
See the New York Times, November 14, 16, 18, and 25, 1879.
November 28, 1879.
Clark, History of the Seventh Regiment, vol. 2, p. 301. The value of the sum today was acquired from the "Inflation Calculator"on the Internet at www.westegg.com/inflation/.
"The New York Seventh," p. 295.
Both buildings of Grand Central Depot were, in turn, inspired by Saint Pancras Station (built 1863-1868) in London and the adjoining Midland Grand Hotel (built 1866-1876). See Roger Dixon and Stefan Muthesius, Victorian Architecture (Oxford University Press, New York, 1978), pp. 81, 83.
"A Proposal for the Restoration and Revitalization of the Seventh Regiment Armory," p. 2.
Clark, History of the Seventh Regiment, vol. 2, pp. 298-299.
Letter from Cropsey, Warwick, New York, to Maria Cropsey, New York City, October 18, 1879 (Newington-Cropsey Foundation, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, file four JFC-Maria 1870s). Sulesky (also Sullejewski and Sulisky) was listed as a painter in New York City directories between 1873 and 1887. I would like to thank Christian Bjone, Tom Nimen, and Michael Kozmiuk for their help with the rendering in Plate V.
"Specifications of Painting, and Materials required in finishing, and decorating the Large Drill Room of the 7th Regiment Armory on Lexington Avenue" (Newington-Cropsey Foundation), also Archives of American Art, New York City, Cropsey Papers, NCF, microfilm roll 905.
Cropsey's 1880 drawing of the coat of arms, which is after one created by Asher Taylor (1800-1878) in 1835, is illustrated in ANTIQUES, November 1986, p. 1004, Fig. 8.
New York Times, April 10, 1880.
Quoted in the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission report, "Seventh Regiment Armory Interior..." (Landmarks Preservation Commission, New York City, 1994), section 2, p. 20.
Quoted ibid., section 1, p. 12.
Ibid., section 1, p. 3.
Paul B. Haydon, the curator of the Seventh Regiment Fund, recently discovered that Flint decorated the Company A Room (Regular Monthly Meeting Book, 18761894, Company A, September 27, 1880). The Meeting Book is housed in the armory.
Quoted in "Seventh Regiment Armory Interior," section 2, p. 17. Irving and Cassone of Boston bought A. H. Davenport in 1914.
Ibid., section 2, p. 9.
"The Seventh Regiment Armory: An Investigation and Analysis of a Herter Brothers Interior" (Masters thesis, Historic Preservation Program, Columbia University, New York City, 1991), pp. 55-56.
Profits from the art fair amounting to $20,000 were spent on decorating the Veterans' Room and $10,200 on the Library (see Sophia Duckworth Schachter, "The Seventh Regiment Armory of New York City: A History of Its Construction and Decoration" [Master's thesis, Historic Preservation Program, Columbia University, 1985], pp. 49, 56). I would like to thank Mrs. Schachter for kindly sharing her thesis with me.
William C. Brownell, "Decoration in the Seventh Regiment Armory," Scribner's Monthly, vol. 22, no. 3 (July 1881), p. 371. Although Brownell states that Saint-Gaudens and Armstrong worked on the room, there is no documentary corroboration.
"Louis Comfort Tiffany at the Metropolitan Museum," Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, vol. 56, no. 1 (Summer 1998), p. 4.
"The Seventh Regiment Armory," Decorator and Furnisher, vol. 6, no. 2 (May 1885), p. 43.
Mary Warner Blanchard, Oscar Wilde's America: Counter-culture in the Gilded Age (Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, 1998), pp. 96-97.
"A New Renaissance: Stained Glass in the Aesthetic Period," in Doreen Bolger Burke et al., In Pursuit of Beauty: Americans and the Aesthetic Movement (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1986), p. 189.
Blanchard, Oscar Wilde's America, p. 26.
Mrs. Burton Harrison, "Some Work of the 'Associated Artists,'" Harper's Monthly, vol. 69, no. 411 (August 1884), p. 350.
The Veteran's Room Seventh Regiment N G S N Y Armory (n.p., 1881), p. 9.
New York Times, April 23, 1881.
Marilynn Johnson, "The Artful Interior," in Burke et al., In Pursuit of Beauty, p. 126.
"Decoration in the Seventh Regiment Armory," p. 375.
Ibid., p. 380.
"The Seventh Regiment Veterans' Room," American Architect and Building News, vol. 9 (June 18, 1881), p. 299.
History of the Seventh Regiment, vol. 2, p. 285.
April 10, 1880.
See the report "The New York House and School of Industry, 120 West 16th..." (New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, 1990).
Marilynn Johnson, "Art Furniture: Wedding the Beautiful to the Useful," in Burke et al., In Pursuit of Beauty, pp. 155-156.

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	The overtly fortified design of the Seventh Regiment Armory was copied until about 1910, when less defensive designs became popular. See Robert M. Fogelson, America's Armories: Architecture, Society, and Public Order (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1989), pp. 48-55, 189. In 1947, when the federal government reorganized the National Guard, the Seventh Regiment ceased to exist as an active military unit. Many of the regiment's archives are in the New-York Historical Society in New York City. Since 1942 the building has been managed by the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs. Recently there has been significant water damage to the interior decorative finishes. The Seventh Regiment Armory Conservancy has proposed an ambitious plan for stabilization, restoration, and development. See the brochure "A Proposal for the Restoration and Revitalization of the Seventh Regiment Armory" (Seventh Regiment Armory Conservancy, New York City, 1998) and two articles on the condition of the armory in the New York Times, March 6 and 7, 1998. New York Times, April 10, 1880. Emmons Clark, History of the Seventh Regiment of New York, 1806-1889 (Seventh Regiment, New York, 1890), vol. 2, p. 290. "The New York Seventh," Harper's Weekly, vol. 24 (May 8, 1880), p. 295. Clark, History of the Seventh Regiment, vol. 2, p. 135. Resolution adopted by the Board of Officers on January. 15, 1876 (see ibid., p. 238). Fogelson, America's Armories, pp. 54-55. Edward Strahan [Earl Shinn], "The Seventh Regiment Fair," Art Amateur, vol. 2, no. 1 (December 1879), p. 2. See the New York Times, November 14, 16, 18, and 25, 1879. November 28, 1879. Clark, History of the Seventh Regiment, vol. 2, p. 301. The value of the sum today was acquired from the "Inflation Calculator"on the Internet at www.westegg.com/inflation/. "The New York Seventh," p. 295. Both buildings of Grand Central Depot were, in turn, inspired by Saint Pancras Station (built 1863-1868) in London and the adjoining Midland Grand Hotel (built 1866-1876). See Roger Dixon and Stefan Muthesius, Victorian Architecture (Oxford University Press, New York, 1978), pp. 81, 83. "A Proposal for the Restoration and Revitalization of the Seventh Regiment Armory," p. 2. Clark, History of the Seventh Regiment, vol. 2, pp. 298-299. Letter from Cropsey, Warwick, New York, to Maria Cropsey, New York City, October 18, 1879 (Newington-Cropsey Foundation, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, file four JFC-Maria 1870s). Sulesky (also Sullejewski and Sulisky) was listed as a painter in New York City directories between 1873 and 1887. I would like to thank Christian Bjone, Tom Nimen, and Michael Kozmiuk for their help with the rendering in Plate V. "Specifications of Painting, and Materials required in finishing, and decorating the Large Drill Room of the 7th Regiment Armory on Lexington Avenue" (Newington-Cropsey Foundation), also Archives of American Art, New York City, Cropsey Papers, NCF, microfilm roll 905. Cropsey's 1880 drawing of the coat of arms, which is after one created by Asher Taylor (1800-1878) in 1835, is illustrated in ANTIQUES, November 1986, p. 1004, Fig. 8. New York Times, April 10, 1880. Quoted in the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission report, "Seventh Regiment Armory Interior..." (Landmarks Preservation Commission, New York City, 1994), section 2, p. 20. Quoted ibid., section 1, p. 12. Ibid., section 1, p. 3. Paul B. Haydon, the curator of the Seventh Regiment Fund, recently discovered that Flint decorated the Company A Room (Regular Monthly Meeting Book, 18761894, Company A, September 27, 1880). The Meeting Book is housed in the armory. Quoted in "Seventh Regiment Armory Interior," section 2, p. 17. Irving and Cassone of Boston bought A. H. Davenport in 1914. Ibid., section 2, p. 9. "The Seventh Regiment Armory: An Investigation and Analysis of a Herter Brothers Interior" (Masters thesis, Historic Preservation Program, Columbia University, New York City, 1991), pp. 55-56. Profits from the art fair amounting to $20,000 were spent on decorating the Veterans' Room and $10,200 on the Library (see Sophia Duckworth Schachter, "The Seventh Regiment Armory of New York City: A History of Its Construction and Decoration" [Master's thesis, Historic Preservation Program, Columbia University, 1985], pp. 49, 56). I would like to thank Mrs. Schachter for kindly sharing her thesis with me. William C. Brownell, "Decoration in the Seventh Regiment Armory," Scribner's Monthly, vol. 22, no. 3 (July 1881), p. 371. Although Brownell states that Saint-Gaudens and Armstrong worked on the room, there is no documentary corroboration. "Louis Comfort Tiffany at the Metropolitan Museum," Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, vol. 56, no. 1 (Summer 1998), p. 4. "The Seventh Regiment Armory," Decorator and Furnisher, vol. 6, no. 2 (May 1885), p. 43. Mary Warner Blanchard, Oscar Wilde's America: Counter-culture in the Gilded Age (Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, 1998), pp. 96-97. "A New Renaissance: Stained Glass in the Aesthetic Period," in Doreen Bolger Burke et al., In Pursuit of Beauty: Americans and the Aesthetic Movement (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1986), p. 189. Blanchard, Oscar Wilde's America, p. 26. Mrs. Burton Harrison, "Some Work of the 'Associated Artists,'" Harper's Monthly, vol. 69, no. 411 (August 1884), p. 350. The Veteran's Room Seventh Regiment N G S N Y Armory (n.p., 1881), p. 9. New York Times, April 23, 1881. Marilynn Johnson, "The Artful Interior," in Burke et al., In Pursuit of Beauty, p. 126. "Decoration in the Seventh Regiment Armory," p. 375. Ibid., p. 380. "The Seventh Regiment Veterans' Room," American Architect and Building News, vol. 9 (June 18, 1881), p. 299. History of the Seventh Regiment, vol. 2, p. 285. April 10, 1880. See the report "The New York House and School of Industry, 120 West 16th..." (New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, 1990). Marilynn Johnson, "Art Furniture: Wedding the Beautiful to the Useful," in Burke et al., In Pursuit of Beauty, pp. 155-156.
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