The Arsenal is a symmetrical brick building with modestly Gothic Revival details, located in

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

adjacent to the Central Park Zoo. It is centered on 64th Street west of Fifth Avenue. Built between 1847 and 1851 as a storehouse for arms and ammunition for the

New York State Militia The New York Guard (NYG) is the state defense force of New York State, also called The New York State Military Reserve. Originally called the New York State Militia it can trace its lineage back to the American Revolution and the War of 1812. Th ...

, the building is the second-oldest extant structure that was constructed within Central Park, predating the park's construction; only the 1814 Blockhouse No. 1 is older. The Arsenal was designed by Martin E. Thompson, originally trained as a carpenter, who had been a partner of

Ithiel Town Ithiel Town (October 3, 1784 – June 13, 1844) was an American architect and civil engineer. One of the first generation of professional architects in the United States, Town made significant contributions to American architecture in the f ...

and went on to become one of the founders of the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...

. Thompson's symmetrical structure of brick in

English bond Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called ''courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by siz ...

, with headers every fifth course, presents a central block in the manner of a fortified gatehouse flanked by half-octagonal towers. The carpentry doorframe speaks of its purpose with a bald eagle displayed between stacks of cannonballs over the door, and crossed sabers and stacked pikes represented in flanking panels. The lobby contains a series of floor-to-ceiling murals by Allen Saalburg from 1935-36, combining historical vignettes of New York life during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

with ornamental scrolls and arabesques.Crowther, Prudence
"When the Delay is the Gratification: Allen Saalburg,"
''Art in Print'' Vol. 7, No. 4 (November-December 2017), p. 31. The building currently houses the offices of the

New York City Department of Parks and Recreation The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecolog ...

and the nearby Central Park Zoo, but it has also served as a zoo and housed the American Museum of Natural History's collections while the museum's permanent structure was being erected. During the course of its lifetime it has also housed a police precinct, a weather bureau, and an art gallery.

References

''New York Times'' article''History of The Arsenal'' article from the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation
Central Park New York City New York 28

{{coord, 40.767674, -73.971250, format=dms, display=title, type:landmark Central Park American Museum of Natural History Arsenals 1851 establishments in New York (state) New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan

See also

References