In 1939, Robert Moses sprung his latest project upon the world — the Brooklyn-Battery Bridge, connecting the tip of Manhattan to the Brooklyn waterfront, slicing through New York Harbor just to the north of Governor’s Island.
To build it, Moses dictated that the historic Battery Park would need to be redesigned. And its star attraction the New York Aquarium would have to be demolished.
The aquarium was housed in the former military fort Castle Clinton which had seen so much of New York City’s history pass through its walls under the name Castle Garden — first as an early 19th century entertainment venue and later as the Emigrant Landing Depot, which processed millions of newly arriving immigrants.
This valuable link to American history would surely have been lost if not for activists like Albert S. Bard, a revolutionary landmarking advocate who countered and disrupted Moses every step of the way.
In this episode, Greg interviews another landmarking superstar — author and civic activist Anthony C. Wood — on the occasion of his new biography of Bard titled Servant of Beauty: Landmarks, Secret Love, and the Unimagined Life of an Unsung New York Hero.
In his research, Wood discovered a personality far more interesting than his public persona and a man with far more at stake than just his beliefs in preservation.
LISTEN NOW: THE BATTLE FOR CASTLE CLINTON
This week’s featured book — Servant of Beauty: Landmarks, Secret Love and the Unimagined Life of an Unsung New York Hero by Anthony C Wood.
More information here
In 2016, I wrote an extensive tribute to Castle Clinton for this website, on the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service.
FURTHER LISTENING
One of our oldest episodes is on the history of Battery Park and Castle Clinton. Most of the information is contained in today’s new show, but here’s the show if you’d like to listen.