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The Armory

“The Seventh Regiment Armory stands as the finest example of the American Aesthetic Movement in the country”.

- New York Landmarks Commission

Located on Park Avenue between 66th and 67th Streets, in the heart of Manhattan’s Upper East Side, the Amory was designated an exterior city landmark in 1986 and an interior landmark in 1994. The New York City Landmarks Commission has described the Armory’s magnificent reception and company rooms, designed by leaders of the American Aesthetic Movement, as the single most important collection of 19th-century interiors to survive intact in one building. In 2000, the Armory was named one of the 100 most endangered sites in the world by the World Monuments Fund, the only New York venue on the list.

The Seventh Regiment Armory was constructed from 1877 to 1881 for the prestigious Seventh Regiment. The Seventh Regiment had a glorious history. It was the first militia to respond to President Lincoln’s call for volunteers in 1861, and the name National Guard originated with this regiment. Their Armory was designed by Regiment Veteran Charles W. Clinton. Completed in 1879, the 55,000-square foot Drill Hall was considered a marvel of engineering in its time. Measuring approximately 200 by 300 feet, with an 80-foot high barrel vault and two levels of clerestories, it remains one of the largest unobstructed interiors in New York City.

After completing the Drill Hall and the three-floor Administration Building along Park Avenue, the Regiment hired the most prominent design firms in New York to create the luxurious interiors. One of the most well-known firms, Associated Artists, included Louis Comfort Tiffany, Stanford White and Candace Wheeler.

The Aesthetic Movement, popularized in the US by the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, emphasized the ‘aesthetic” or artistic in the applied arts and reached its culmination in the design of interior decoration. The design is characterized by visual complexity and profusion of surface ornament, embracing many different historical styles, including Japanese, Moorish and other exotic motifs. The regimental rooms, most notably the Veterans Room and the Library, are among the most stunning spaces anywhere in New York City.

The Armory was an exercise in adapting medieval Gothic aesthetic design to modern military, urban and social needs. It uses both traditional building masonry and design at the Park Avenue end and the newest construction techniques and material in the Drill Hall facing Lexington Avenue. The exterior of the building was significantly altered in 1910 and again in 1929; alterations include the removal of the central tower and the addition of brick parapets around the perimeter of the building, obscuring the beautiful vaulted Drill Hall roof and giving the once castle-like Armory the fortress appearance that we know today.

Today, while thousands attend various art and antique shows in the Drill Hall every year, few members of the public are able to enjoy the magnificence of the Armory’s reception and company rooms. The building currently suffers from severe neglect due to minimal maintenance of its delicate, museum-quality interiors. In addition, there are numerous structural and mechanical problems as well as hazardous material contamination of lead and asbestos throughout the building. In 1998, a New York Times editorial called the Armory a “splendid crumble” and exhorted the Governor and the Mayor to take action.

When the restoration is complete, thousands of New Yorkers and visitors will have an opportunity to appreciate the aesthetic style, culture and history that the Seventh Regiment Armory represents.

Visit the below links for more history of the Armory.