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

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

adjacent to the Central Park Zoo. It is centered on 64th Street west of

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue runs south from 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The se ...

. Built between 1847 and 1851 as a storehouse for arms and ammunition for the New York State Militia, 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. Thompson's symmetrical structure of brick in English bond, 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 The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche ...

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 is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, 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.J ...

with ornamental scrolls and arabesques. Following plans to tear it down due to dislike of its appearance, the building fell into more broad use by the 1920s and was renovated in the 1930s. The building currently houses the offices of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, City Parks Foundation, Historic House Trust, and the nearby Central Park Zoo as well as an art gallery known as the Arsenal Gallery, but it has also served as a zoo, a police precinct and a weather bureau and housed the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...

's collections while the museum's permanent structure was being erected. The "Greensward Plan", the original plan for Central Park, is stored on the third floor.

References

{{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