Urban Adventures & More

I took a new “urban adventure” bike ride (as my dad calls them), this time with the goal of looking at the High Bridge. I also happened to go past Jumel Mansion and City College, which are both interesting in their own regard.

It seems to me that Southern Manhattan has grand construction built for its own sake (trophy buildings, be they offices, homes or museums), but Northern Manhattan (Harlem and above) has much more “heritage” construction. This is entirely subjective, but there are a smattering of country homes from the revolutionary period uptown, and interesting mansions and townhouses from earlier construction at the turn of the 20th century.

The route I took was to go uptown on Riverside drive to 158th street. As I passed 125th street, I was pleasantly surprise to find that they had finished installing the bike path between 125th & 135th, so you no longer have to detour through 12th avenue. There is a cute little pier there, although I think it’s unfortunate that there is no real park. No so unfortunate though, since there are plenty of other parks in the area.

At 158th I planned on making my way from the Hudson river bike path to the Harlem river bike path. I learned two important things that make this plan suck. First, you have to climb a steep hill to the center of the island. (By contrast, there is little or no uphill at 125th, which is the “Harlem Valley”.) Second, the (very long?) High Bridge park has no traverse; you have to cross it at 155th street, or not at all. The reason for this is that the park is basically a hillside, and at some points is simply a cliff at two elevations.

My high elevation route did take me past the Jumel Mansion, which I had read about in a New York City guidebook, Essential New York, by John Tauranac, rediscovered this weekend (quite an interesting find for the NYC history buff!). The book has an interesting passage on the wife of Roger Morris, the original resident of the house.

She had been Mary Philipse, of Philipse Manor in Yonkers, and had married Colonel Morris, and aide to General Braddock, after having spurned the hand of George Washington.

It is no wonder that the house was requisitioned for use by the army (both American and British), although that may have also had something to do with it being one of the highest points in Manhattan.

Traveling further up Edgecombe, one reaches the Highbridge Pool and Recreation Center, directly behind which is the Highbridge water tower, probably 50 feet above the bridge itself. As I said, the High Bridge is at the lower elevation, and the street and water tower at street level, above. The tower was built 30 years after the bridge to bring aqueduct water to those living in the neighborhood; when the aqueduct was built it brought water further downtown to three reservoirs: what is now the Central Park Reservoir, the reservoir originally beneath the Great Lawn, and one since filled in on which the Main Library branch on 42nd street sits (all according to the plaque found by the tower). The view from the overlook can only be described as “industrial” — highways are visible in almost all directions; to the north is the Alexander Hamilton bridge, also known as I-95; directly east across the river is the Major Deegan, aka I-87, and below is the Harlem River Drive. Common sense tells you that the best way to see a bridge is to not be directly above it.

I was going to bike down to the bridge (there is a bike path the descends down there; it looks quite new and inviting to the recreational biker, I must say). However, the entrance to the path is closer to 160th street, and on my way down there I felt drizzling rain. Not wanting to be stranded in a downpour 5 miles from home and with my bike, and frustrated by the difficulty accessing the bike path, I just started south again.

My original route home was supposed to be down the east river. Since I didn’t bring the map, and discouraged by the confusion of High Bridge park, I just rode streets home: Edgecombe, St. Nicolaus Avenue (a block from Jackie Robinson Park and my original plan!), 145th St., Amsterdam Ave, Convent Ave, Morningside Ave, Central Park.

St. Nicolaus Place and 150th Street had one treat I didn’t expect. Some quick googling tells me this is the mansion built by James Bailey, half of Barnum & Bailey. (I also see this house is for sale for $10 million. If I had $10 million to spend on it, it would be on my short list of properties, I think.)

Another act of coincidence made my confusion worthwhile: taking Amsterdam Avenue back took me past City College on 138th Street. Taken in by the Gothic Architecture on the street, I detoured (having forgotten about the rain, clearly), through their campus. I was thoroughly taken aback by how old world this campus is. Not only the former seat of “Poor Man’s Harvard”, it also had the appearance of Harvard! (see these pictures for a sample). At least, the original construction in the northern part of the campus did. As you go south through the middle of the campus on Convent Avenue, you come across the thoroughly bland-sounding North Academic Center (I can’t find a picture of it anywhere!). I do think this building has a certain New charm when viewed from campus (while large and imposing, it makes you think of expansiveness; the sun shining through the center of the building is also inspiring), but the loss of the cozy Gothic campus and courtyards seems like too high a price.

After that, my ride was mostly downhill, literally. I did reach the north-west corner of Central park, which has quite a lovely plaza and a large hill.