Sources & original documents | Gramercy Park Block Association

The history reading room

The documents, books, maps and reports used for the history pages.

1831

Founding document

The Gramercy Park indenture

The four-page reproduction records the conveyance by Samuel B. and Mary R. Ruggles to five trustees. It describes the intended garden, surrounding properties and provisions for continuing care.

The signature and acknowledgment text is dated December 17, 1831. The accompanying Edwin Smith map is not included in this copy.

Read the complete indenture · PDF, 142 KB

Historical context: The garden held in trust.

1921

John B. Pine

The Story of Gramercy Park, 1831–1921

Published by the Gramercy Park Association for the ninetieth anniversary of the Park’s founding. This 63-page scan includes the text, illustrations and historical list of Trustees.

Read the complete original book · PDF, 14.8 MB

1966
& 1988

Landmarks Preservation Commission

Historic district reports

The original designation report and the later extension report record the City’s recognition of the district and of 36 Gramercy Park East.

September 20, 1966 · Original district report · PDF Official LPC report, hosted by the Trust for Architectural Easements.
July 12, 1988 · District extension report · PDF Official LPC report, hosted by the City of New York.
January 23, 1980 · National Register record National Park Service, NRIS 80002691. Federal recognition is separate from City designation. The NPS online record currently provides a notice that the nomination file has not yet been digitized.

Maps

Plans, boundaries and photographs

Read the landscape

Historical notes & sources Edwin Smith’s 1831 Ruggles plan, a Perris atlas sheet from the 1857–1862 edition, and two Sanborn insurance maps from 1903, with sources.
Detroit Publishing Co. · Gramercy Park, 1909–1915 Library of Congress, LC-DIG-det-4a20041. Elevated view across the garden; no known restrictions on publication.
E. P. MacFarland · James Harper House, March 27, 1934 Historic American Buildings Survey; Library of Congress.
LPC · Gramercy Park Historic District map Official boundary map for LP-0251; map prepared in 2019, designation dated 1966.
LPC · Historic District Extension map Official map of the 1988 extension, LP-1559.
Ruggles’s plan for the neighborhood, December 31, 1831. Edwin Smith; engraving by D. R. Harrison. Samuel B. Ruggles papers, NYPL. Image via the National Park Service.
Gramercy Park, Nos. 3–5, November 27, 1935. Berenice Abbott · The New York Public Library.
Paths and benches in the garden, about 1922. Possibly Charles I. Berg · Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection, Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ppmsca-16151.
A fountain in Gramercy Park, about 1922. Possibly Charles I. Berg · Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection, Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ppmsca-16153.
The growing neighborhood in the Perris atlas, 1857–1862 edition. William Perris · The New York Public Library, image 1268337.
Edwin Booth as Hamlet, 1870. J. Gurney & Son · Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ds-04503.
James Duane, painted in 1805. John Trumbull, after Robert Edge Pine · New York City Hall portrait collection. Public domain.
The former Friends Meeting House: historic and later exterior views. Brotherhood Synagogue · Building history.
Troops and rioters on First Avenue during the Draft Riots, 1863. Illustrated London News, August 15, 1863, p. 168 · NYPL Picture Collection.
34 and 36 Gramercy Park East, photographed in 1988. Forster · NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission, 1988 designation report, p. 16.
The Players, 16 Gramercy Park South, drawn in 1947. Josephine Barry, 75.43.85. Museum of the City of New York.
The Park and the adjoining western blocks, mapped in 1903. Sanborn Map Company, vol. 2, plate 45 · The New York Public Library, image 1996145.
National Arts Club and Gramercy Park South, about 1977. Edmund Vincent Gillon, 2013.3.2.266. Museum of the City of New York.
The entrance to 36 Gramercy Park East, photographed in 1988. Forster · NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission, 1988 designation report, p. 18.
Looking west along Gramercy Park South, about 1916. George F. Arata, X2010.11.2075. Museum of the City of New York.
From 60 Gramercy Park North, about 1939. Wurts Bros. (New York, N.Y.), X2010.7.1.17157. Museum of the City of New York.
The original Gramercy Park Historic District boundary, 1966. NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission · Original designation map.
The sanctuary after its adaptation as Brotherhood Synagogue. Brotherhood Synagogue · A later view from its building history.
Looking toward 18 Gramercy Park South, May 5, 1929. Samuel H. (Samuel Herman) Gottscho (1875-1971), 88.1.1.669. Museum of the City of New York.
The Fantasy Fountain’s unveiling in Gramercy Park. Photograph from the Fantasy Fountain Fund’s history.
The historic district and its extension to 36 Gramercy Park East. NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission · Map in the July 1988 designation report.
Arlene Harrison speaking at City Hall during the 1994 neighborhood campaign. the Gramercy Park Block Association archive.
Volunteers prepare meals in the neighborhood relief effort, 2001. Photograph by Linn Sage and Lyndee Yamshon · GPBA archive.
Work on the Park’s brownstone curb, March 2009. Trustees of Gramercy Park · Restoration update.
The Christmas Grove behind the Ruggles Fountain, December 2011. Trustees of Gramercy Park · December 2011 update.
The central flower beds in summer 2013, before that autumn’s perimeter project. Photograph by Sean Brady · GPBA archive.
Historic-district street signs introduced around the Park in April 2014. the Block Association archive.
Street-tree planting on the Park’s perimeter, 2022. A later chapter in the care of the sidewalk canopy · GPBA archive.
Commissioners’ Plan of 1811 · Bridges and MaverickLibrary of Congress. The street grid before Ruggles created the Park. Open the catalogue’s image viewer to inspect the plan.
J. H. Colton · Topographical map, 1836Library of Congress. A view of the city five years after the founding deed.
Matthew Dripps · Map of New York, 1852Library of Congress. A large-scale record of buildings after the first houses filled the square.
Matthew Dripps · Plan of New York, 1867Library of Congress. Lots and buildings in the city after the Civil War.

The Museum of the City of New York’s Gramercy Park collection offers further drawings, photographs and postcards. The museum’s drawing of The Players appears in the neighborhood chapter, with a link to its individual catalogue record.

Ruggles’s papers and plans

Samuel B. Ruggles papers · New York Public LibraryMssCol 2643. The finding aid dates Ruggles’s birth to April 11, 1800 and describes his correspondence, property records and civic work.
Ruggles’s memorandum · July 12, 1832Museum of the City of New York, The Greatest Grid. The handwritten plan and commentary explain the T-shaped junction that kept Irving Place from continuing through the Park.

Places

Institutional histories

The people and places around the square

National Arts Club · Mission and history First-party account of the 1898 founding, 1906 move, membership and Tilden mansion.
The Players at 16 Gramercy Park South The house, Edwin Booth’s founding gift, the club’s collections and the Booth memorial, with source links.
Brotherhood Synagogue · Our building The 1859 Friends Meeting House, Quaker history and its adaptation for Brotherhood Synagogue in 1974–1975.
Brotherhood Synagogue · Congregational history A first-party account of its founding, move and community service.
Fantasy Fountain Fund · History The artist’s foundation describes the sculpture’s early history. See the dating note below.
MCR · Gramercy Park Hotel The current owner’s account includes the 1925 opening.
Smithsonian · Native perspectives on Manhattan National Museum of the American Indian, Native Knowledge 360°. Context for land, exchange and colonial history before the Park’s founding.

Records

Contemporary reports and local testimony

The modern Park, documented

Dated notices, photographs and reports from 1989 on. Each linked page gives its original sources.

1989 steam explosion · GPBA retrospective, July 23, 2018 Local testimony with links to contemporary New York Times reporting and New York magazine’s October 30, 1989 account.
The founding of the Block Association · 1994Arlene Harrison’s account of the founding in March 1994.
The Block Association’s first year · 1994–1995 Early priorities and neighborhood reporting.
September 11 · Relief records, 2001–2002 Contemporary accounts, later recollections and documentary links.
175th-anniversary events · 2006 Town & Village reports on the neighborhood walk and gathering at The Players.
The enclosure · Restoration and repair reports Fence, curb and gate projects from 2006 through 2026, with dated photographs.
The water nymph · Town & Village, April 21, 2011 A report on efforts to locate the earlier sculpture.
Christmas Grove · Trustees’ report, December 2011 A photograph and account of the memorial.
Calder’s Janey Waney · 2011–2021 Installation, travel, return photographs and removal records for the loan.
Street trees after Sandy · October 28, 2013 Dated report on replacement trees outside the fence.
Perimeter planting · October 25, 2013 The Trustees’ landscape project inside the fence.
Ruggles Fountain · October 2025 and June 2026 Announcement and completion reporting for the Trustees’ restoration.
Arthur Lewin · Black history in Gramercy, February 21, 2022 A GPBA-commissioned essay by the Baruch professor, with its illustrated original.
Women in Gramercy’s history Biographical research and associated sources across the neighborhood.

Reading

Books, reporting and further research

A wider bibliography

Stephen Garmey · Gramercy Park: An Illustrated History of a New York Neighborhood (1984) Balsam Press, 1984. Further reading; library catalogue reference.
“Gramercy Park” · The New Yorker, November 20, 1926, p. 20 Contemporary criticism of redevelopment around the Park.
“Ruggles” · The New Yorker, May 16, 1931 A centenary-era remembrance. The deed and Pine give the conveyance and lot counts more precisely.
Browse News & Letters Dated letters and original notices for following later projects and local events.
Charles King · New York’s growth, 1851Pine reproduces passages from King’s December 29, 1851 address to the Mechanics’ Institute. The fifty-acre scale, earth-moving quantities and $180,000 refer to Ruggles’s larger operation, not the garden alone.
War Letters of William Thompson Lusk (1911)Austin Flint’s memoir, printed p. 46, recalls Lusk’s command of a detachment in Gramercy Park during the Draft Riots.
The Reminiscences of Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1913)Volume I includes his recollection of cannon stationed by the Park during the Draft Riots.
Valentine’s Manual of Old New York · 1920 issueThe earlier publication of Pine’s Park history, later expanded for the 1921 anniversary volume.