Thursday, December 27, 2007

Preparations for Hamilton Grange Move Begin
A chain link fence (photos below) has been installed around the construction perimeter of the park where the Hamilton Grange will be moved into St. Nicholas Park. Preparations of the area include taking down the large trees where the house will eventually be reconstructed. Ground breaking on the area for the foundation may take place on Alexander Hamilton's Birthday - January 11th.

The National Parks Service presented their plans to the Friends and Manhattan Borough Parks Commissioner William Castro during a meeting in November and then once again during a public meeting in Shepard Hall at City College.

For the move, the Grange will be cut in half and transported from its current spot on Convent Avenue (between 141st and 142nd streets) to the area of St. Nicholas Park within the boundaries of Hamilton's original estate land.


The move will take place along Hamilton Terrace and across 141st street into St. Nicholas Park.

The house move is expected to take place in the spring of 2008. Street closures are expected along Convent, Hamilton Terrance and West 141st Street for 1-2 days. The house will be transported by backing it out of its current location down to Hamilton Terrace (where a few trees might need to be removed) and across the street into St. Nicholas Park.

Once the house is moved and secured, a renovation will take place where contractors will rebuild the original porches which had to be removed in order to fit the house in its current space (between St. Luke's Church and an Apartment Building).

Landscaping around the Grange's new home will include tree plantings, a stone wall and paths. The Grange will have security detail during the day and possible video monitoring during the evening hours.

Above is a rendering of the placement of the Grange in the park. (Click to make the image larger) On the right side is the Grove School of Engineering at CCNY.

The house is expected to open to the public in the Spring of 2009.

The Friends are hard at work trying to obtain some renderings to place on this site. Please check back for updates in the next few months. For up to date photos of the Grange's move please check our Hamilton Grange Flickr photo set.
Posted by William_Guffman at 10:24 AM
Labels: Hamilton Grange

3 comments:
Friends of St. Nicholas Park said...
Please leave a question or comment on the Grange by filling out the comment box. During the Grange's move and reconstruction we will be fielding questions on this forum. Thank you!
12:32 PM

cadboy said...
Hello FriendsAt this time there is a proposal to "jack up" the house 20 feet and move it in one piece out onto Convent St. I have been given the job to "model' this move on 3D cad for there approval. This computer model will include all of the superstructure built to support the jacks, the rails to roll the house on as it is moved out to the street and the final placement of the house on the moving dollies. I will heep you all up-to-date as we procede.
10:27 AM

Anonymous said...
True enough, the Hamilton Grange was moved once before and when moved to St. Nicholas it will still be within the original land owned by Alexander Hamilton.St. Nicholas Park is located within Hamilton Heights and on the border of WestSide Harlem and Central Harlem two distinct and separate communities.

There is a great disconformity with the move as National Parks made agreements with the Community 1i 1995 regarding the relocation and the use of the vacated site and now are claiming not to have the funds to fulfill the 1995 Agreement and the orientation of the grange house within St. Nicholas is not as originally agreed and many community leaders are in disagreement with National Parks on that issue as well.

The 1995 agreement permitted the transfer of the St. Nicholas Park land from the City to the Federal Government for the relocation of the Grange.Community Board 9 which covers all of WestSide Harlem has taken these issue with Congressman Charles B. Rangel who originally brokered the arrangement between National Parks and the Community and funded the project.

WestSide Harlem encompasess the three historical neighborhoods of Morningside Heghts, Manhattanville and Hamilton Heights.

Sugar Hill, Vinegar Hill and Carmanville are sub-neighborhoods of Hamilton Heights.

Cathedral Heights and University Heights are sub-neighbohoods of Morningside Heights.

Manhattanville is also usually referred to as West Harlem.
4:49 PM


http://stnicholaspark.blogspot.com/2007/12/preparations-for-hamilton-grange-move_27.html