A novel by J.B. Fox
Tear Down the PromenadeLast Walk Before the New York Public Library
They blew up a promenade to build a promise.
Buy on AmazonJoin the Springhouse SocietyRead the history
A novel by J.B. Fox
They blew up a promenade to build a promise.
Buy on AmazonJoin the Springhouse SocietyRead the historyAbout the book
They blew up a promenade to build a promise.
New York, 1899. As the city prepares to tear down its great Croton Reservoir and build a magnificent public library in its place, an entire world stands on the brink of disappearance.
Through the lives of ordinary New Yorkers, ambitious architects, powerful benefactors, and forgotten dreamers, Tear Down the Promenade tells the story of what a city chooses to preserve and what it is willing to sacrifice in the name of progress.
Rich in historical detail and deeply human, this is a novel about memory, class, ambition, loss, and the extraordinary promise of a place where knowledge belongs to everyone.
Before the lions stood guard, someone had to give up their world.
The real history
Before the New York Public Library, the block between 40th and 42nd Streets on Fifth Avenue held the Croton Distributing Reservoir, a walled, Egyptian-style basin that stored water carried down from the Croton River.
Opened in 1842 as part of the Croton Aqueduct, the reservoir's thick stone walls rose high above the street.
A public walkway ran along the top of the walls. New Yorkers climbed up to stroll there and look out over the city.
In 1895 the Astor and Lenox libraries and the Tilden Trust combined to form the New York Public Library, and the reservoir site was chosen for its main building.
The building by Carrère and Hastings opened in May 1911, with two marble lions by Edward Clark Potter at the Fifth Avenue steps.
Timeline
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