The Lighthouse on Roosevelt Island is one of the island’s best known landmarks – it is readily visible from Manhattan and Queens. This 50-foot-tall structure built of gray gneiss was designed in 1872 by James Renwick Jr., one of the most successful architects of his time – he designed the Smallpox Hospital on the island as well as many major New York City buildings, such as St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the New York Public Library.

The Lighthouse, which is not an official Coast Guard lighthouse, is steeped in legend. Lore has it that the lighthouse (likely built by inmates from the neighboring prison) replaced a small clay fort made by a patient from the lunatic asylum who feared a British invasion. The legends and mysteries involve the names John McCarthy and Thomas Maxey (a plaque crediting McCarthy for the building of the lighthouse disappeared in the 1960s.) Read the story here from the Roosevelt Island Historical Society website.

The Lighthouse sits in Lighthouse Park, a serene spot to perhaps picnic or just enjoy the NYC vistas…

The Police Building at 240 Centre Street: a “five-story Beaux-Arts palace, designed by the firm of Hoppin & Koen, is a dramatic heap of Baroque- and Renaissance-inspired domes, cupolas, colonnades, pilasters, and pediments, caked with carved ornament and wedged into the narrow block once occupied by the butcher stalls of Centre Market.” That’s a mouthful, but pretty accurate. This place is reminiscent of a Parisian Hotel de Ville, although I think the comment I saw during the sales of units there that it’s something like “finding the Invalides in the middle of the Marais” is a bit of a stretch – this area of Little Italy/upper Chinatown is nothing like the Marais.

The way this palatial building is tightly integrated into the streets does make it rather startling. The 1909 building was vacated by the police department in 1973. In 1987, it was converted to 56 luxury condominiums. The spaces were newly created – the original interior layout was not suited to residential conversion. Four apartments occupy the central dome (the former radio room, commissioner’s office, and a gymnasium), including a triplex. Steffi Graf owned a tower apartment, which was sold to Calvin Klein in 1998. This is one of the grandest residences in the city, on par with the Dakota. A very unique living experience, I am sure…

The Church of the Transfiguration is one of the most famous parishes of the Episcopal Church in the United States, known throughout the country as “The Little Church Around the Corner.” For 150 years, it has been a very visible worshiping community in an urban setting which has welcomed all classes, all races, and particularly all those marginalized by society for whatever reason, as were actors and actresses, who had theretofore been on the fringes of both society and the Episcopal Church. It also has stressed service to the poor and oppressed from its earliest days.

The founder, Dr. Houghton, sponsored bread lines and worked vigorously for the abolition of slavery and harbored runaway slaves. In 1870, when the rector of a neighboring church refused to perform a funeral for an actor named George Holland, he suggested the “little church around the corner,” where “they do that sort of thing.” Fellow actor Joseph Jefferson, who was trying to arrange Holland’s burial, exclaimed, “God bless the little church around the corner!” and the church began a long-standing association with people of the theater. For more information, including a history, I direct you to their site.

The church, at 1 E. 29th Street, was built in 1849. The church is set back behind a garden – the atmosphere is one of an English parish church in the countryside. Currently, the property is undergoing extensive renovations. More photos here…