A Vanity and a Burden: The Real-life History of The Gilded Age in NYC, Season 3 Episode 1

If you’re not yet watching the fabulous, fascinating, sometimes frivolous, and always fashion-forward The Gilded Age, please let this be your excuse to do so. Now in its third season streaming on HBO, the show features an incredible ensemble cast, and covers a lot of great real-life New York City history (last season featured the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge!). Last Sunday was the Season 3 premiere, and because I love this show so much, and now have a space where I can write at great length about it, here’s some of the real-life NYC history from Season 3 Episode 1, “Who Is in Charge Here?”

New York City in the Snow

Folks enjoying sleigh rides on the west side of Central Park, with the Dakota Apartments behind. From Harper’s Weekly, February 27 1885, Vol 30 Iss 1523.

During snowy months, it was common to see carriages replaced with sleighs. This “sleighing carnival” served as an opportunity for members of society to be seen laden with opulent furs and expensive winter accessories. The sleighs themselves included intricate wooden carvings and elegant lines, and even the silver sleigh bells would be shined to absolute perfection for a ride.

Lightweight sleighs were called “cutters” and could go at a very fast clip, although they were forbidden from entering Central Park. It was common to see cutters racing on long stretches, including Harlem Lane, just north of the park.

The Seventh Regiment Armory

The Seventh Regiment Armory, on Park Avenue between 66th and 67th Streets. From King’s Handbook of New York City, 1892.

Many of the sons of important society families joined the 7th Regiment, New York State National Guard. Nicknamed the “Silk Stocking” Regiment, the men nevertheless distinguished themselves with their service, including being the first volunteer militia unit to answer Abraham Lincoln’s call in 1861.

Designed by member Charles W. Clinton, the armory featured a Veterans Room and Trophy Room designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany and Stanford White. The regiment held fundraisers such as concerts and balls that were attended by prominent New Yorkers, and the funds to build the lavish armory came from families like the Livingstons, Morgans, Roosevelts, Lenoxes, Vanderbilts, and Belmonts.

The Female Normal and High School

The Normal College, on Lexington Avenue between 68th and 69th Streets, fronting Park Avenue. From Scientific American, December 19, 1873, Volume 31, No 25 (New Series).

Established in 1869 as the Female Normal and High School, this was the female equivalent to the Free Academy, which was only for men; these institutions are now Hunter College and The City College of New York, respectively. The Normal College, as it was later named, included a Kindergarten, which was free for students to attend, along with a grammar school, where expectant teachers could get experience.

The Five Points

A depiction of the Five Points in the mid-1820s. From The Five Points, D.T. Valentine’s Manual, 1855.

The Five Points had long been one of the city’s most notorious neighborhoods by the 1880s. Named after the junction of several intersecting roads, it had many buildings that were built on swampy land left after the old Collect Pond had been drained and filled in, causing the houses (and the nearby Tombs Prison) to sink. This created noxious living conditions, and those without the means to live elsewhere crowded into the neighborhood. The streets were covered in slop and garbage, which attracted pigs (which were still common to see in the city) and rats.

Cheap groceries could be found on every corner, which sold immense amounts of beer and liquor to both men and women (at the time women weren’t allowed in saloons). The neighborhood was the haunt of vicious gangs like the Dead Rabbits and Plug Uglies, who fought openly in the streets, a situation ignored by police, who were more than often paid off by the gangs to look the other way. Prostitution was commonplace, with numerous “public houses,” some of which were seen as particularly scandalous for serving black patrons. Following the Civil War, the Five Points was one of the most crowded districts in the world

Hell’s Kitchen

One of the most notorious rookeries in the city, dubbed “Hell’s Kitchen.” It may have given its name to the surrounding neighborhood. From Harper’s Weekly, December 31, 1881, Vol 24, No 1306.

Hell’s Kitchen is a neighborhood on the far west side of Manhattan, and the neighborhood name persists today. It was once home to a large slaughterhouse district, and held many animal stock pens, as there was easy access from the piers along the Hudson River. Immigrants, including large numbers of Irish and Germans moved to the neighborhood, which was packed with shanties and tenements, and many worked the docks or in the slaughterhouses.

Marcella Sembrich and La Traviata

The Metropolitan Opera House c. 1890. From King’s Handbook of New York City, 1892.

Marcelle Sembrich as Rosina in “The Barber of Seville.” From Chapters of Opera: Being Historical and Critical Observations and Records Concerning the Lyric Drama in New York from Its Earliest Days Down to the Present Time by Henry Edward Krehbiel.

Marcella Sembrich sang the part of Violetta in La Traviata in a March 31, 1884 performance at the Metropolitan Opera House. She first achieved great acclaim singing this same role in her 1856 debut, and was the featured singer on the second night that the Metropolitan Opera House was open.

Railroads

Grand Central Depot, c. 1886. From Valentine’s Manual of the City of New York, edited by Henry Collins Brown, 1922.

A “Chicago Flyer” engine about to be coupled to a train. The train shed behind Grand Central Depot can be seen to the right. The tracks were at grade here, with bridges built above the yard for passengers. From Shepp’s New York City Illustrated, 1894.

George references taking a train from New York City to Chicago. By 1884, someone looking to travel to Chicago could take a train from New York via the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern tracks, as “Commodore” Cornelius Vanderbilt had acquired the line.

The 42nd Street elevated spur, c. 1890. Built in 1878, it was the temporary terminus of the 3rd Avenue el before the el was extended to the north. Following the opening of the Lexington Avenue line in 1918, the spur was considered redundant, and it was demolished in December 1923. From Shepp’s New York City Illustrated, 1894.

Expectant passengers would alight from Grand Central Depot on 42nd Street, which could be reached by hansom cab, streetcar, or even via the 3rd Avenue elevated, which had a spur connection directly to the depot.

They would be directed to the west side of the depot, where the Hudson River Railroad ticketing windows and waiting room were located. Once it was time to board, they would head out into the grand train shed, which was a tourist destination in its own right. A conductor would take the ticket and usher them through a large gate, and the passenger could alight right from the high-level platform onto the train car, avoiding the strain of having to climb any stairs, which was a novelty at the time.

This trackage would later become part of the New York Central’s famous “Water Level Route,” which was used by the equally famous 20th Century Limited.

Catch up on all of The Gilded Age posts from Season 3: