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<\/a>By Rob Garber for the Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group<\/p>\nWelcome to another installment in the Rag\u2019s Historical Photo Challenge. The image above was taken somewhere on the Upper West Side, sometime in the past. Can you figure out where, when, and what it shows? Look closely; this week\u2019s challenge photo, like the\u00a0others in the series<\/a>, includes clues that will help you identify the scene, if you\u2019re a dedicated UWS history sleuth. And even if you don\u2019t recognize the picture\u2014not to worry! Come back in two weeks and I\u2019ll decode it, show you the clues that help identify it, and\u2014best of all\u2014tell you a story the image unlocks, because this column isn\u2019t just a test of your neighborhood knowledge; it\u2019s also a rolling celebration of the people, buildings and events that wove the tapestry of the Upper West Side.<\/p>\n Ready? If you think you know where and when the photo was taken and what it shows, post your answer as a comment on this column.<\/p>\n Solution to Historical Photo Challenge #12<\/a> Clues: It\u2019s unusual when a church in the center of the image turns out to be the ephemeral feature, whereas the apartment buildings on either side of it are still there, more than 100 years later!\u00a0 Denizens of Straus Park will recognize the flanking buildings at 945 and 953 West End Ave (approximate building addresses\u2014the numbering system in this stretch of WEA is bewildering).<\/p>\n The rest of the story: This is the curious tale of the Bloomingdale Reformed Dutch Church, and it\u2019s a story that overlaps with that of Bloomingdale Square\u2014well, Triangle\u2014I mean, Straus Park\u2014across the street.\u00a0 The history of the Dutch Protestant church in Manhattan is best left to serious church historians, and the peregrinations of its Bloomingdale chapter have been well-told<\/a> by ace public historian Tom Miller.\u00a0 For our photo-identification purposes, suffice it to say that when the Bloomingdale Reformed church decided that its neighborhood at Broadway and West 68th Street was \u201coverchurched\u201d at the turn of the 20th century, it relocated to a lot at West End Avenue between West 106th and 107th streets.\u00a0 The church wasn\u2019t able to exactly replicate its beloved building at West 68th Street in what had once been called Harsenville, but it did reuse many of the stones from the old edifice.\u00a0 The new church building featured memorable stained-glass windows, including one designed by noted American artist John La Farge. Its walls were even embedded with remains of parishoners, transferred from crypts at the old location to crypts at the new one! This storied house of worship was built to last\u2026until it wasn\u2019t.\u00a0 Just six years later, the church disbanded.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t move again\u2014it ceased to exist.\u00a0 There are still Dutch Protestant churches in New York City, but not the Bloomingdale church. In 1913 the building was sold to Harry Schiff, a developer who had recently snapped up the choice property a block away that had been owned by Isidor and Ida Straus of Macy\u2019s and Titanic fame.\u00a0 Their corner lot at Broadway and West 105th Street was developed by Schiff as The Clebourne, and the Bloomingdale Reformed Dutch Church building was unceremoniously torn down and replaced by 949 West End Ave.<\/p>\n Shoutout to Readers: you guys barely worked up a sweat with this one.\u00a0 drg got there first, joined by Sal Bando, Robert Fried, Flaky cheese danish, Brian, Elgin 93, ACH, and James.\u00a0 Hat tip to Anthony Bellov, who knew the whole history of the church.<\/p>\n \u2026and that\u2019s the story behind\u00a0the\u00a0mystery image.\u00a0 Now scroll back to the top of the column and take on your next challenge, Sherlockians!\u00a0 If you\u2019ve missed any pictures in this series, here is the\u00a0complete collection<\/a>.<\/p>\n About the author:\u00a0\u00a0Rob Garber<\/a> has lived on the Upper West Side since the late 20th\u00a0century and\u00a0is a member of the Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group.\u00a0\u00a0To learn more, visit their website at\u00a0upperwestsidehistory.org<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0All photos in Upper West Side Historical Photo Challenge are used by permission.<\/p>\n Subscribe to West Side Rag\u2019s FREE email newsletter\u00a0here<\/a>. And you can Support the Rag\u00a0here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0 By Rob Garber for the Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group Welcome to another installment in the Rag\u2019s Historical…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,881,9,24,63,129,131,130,17709],"class_list":["post-28347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-history","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news","tag-uws-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Subject:\u00a0 Bloomingdale Reformed Dutch Church
Location: West End Avenue at 106th Street
Date: 1906-1913
Image Source: New-York Historical Bracklow Collection<\/p>\n<\/a>Top left: the Bloomingdale Reformed Dutch Church, flanked by two (then) new apartment buildings, both of which are still standing\u00a0 (top right photo). Handsome as it was, the church is upstaged in the photo by three girls with umbrellas, and by a splendid public fountain. Bottom: West End Avenue from West 106th to 107th streets, taken during the brief 1906-1913 window when the church occupied the center of the block.<\/p>\n<\/a>Unusual panoramic view of then-named Schuyler Square in 1908, with the Bloomingdale Reformed Dutch Church to the left of center and The Manhasset apartment building prominent behind a streetcar.\u00a0 Other than an automobile immediately to the left of the streetcar, there are neither cars nor horse-drawn conveyances\u2014and scarcely any people\u2014visible in this placid view of Broadway.<\/p>\n