Cruger HouseMManyold New Yorkers remember the Cruger house in Fourteenth Street about halfway between Sixth and Seventh avenues, when it was occupied by the late Mrs. Douglas Cruger.21The house, having a frontage of seventy-five feet, stood in the middle of a courtyard extending on either side about one hundred feet, separated from the street by a high wall. Now the courtyard has disappeared and the house, crowded closely on both sides by high buildings, seems completely dwarfed. Decorated with fire escapes and signs it has fallen from its high estate, and the whole street, formerly a quiet dwelling street, is now nearly given over to trade and noisy bustle. The entrance hall, twenty-five feet in width, extended from front to rear eighty-five feet, a wide staircase rising from the center at the end, the conservatory at the rear being of the width of the house. The rooms on either side were rather curiously divided, losing somewhat in what might have made a more imposing effect, not, however, enough to prevent their being an excellentplace for the disposition of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum, which leased the house in 1873 for five years. The house is described in the annual report for that year as a “large and elegant building surrounded by spacious grounds, upon which grounds new galleries may be built, should they be required....”22The rooms certainly had more unobstructed light than could be found in most private houses. It is now occupied by the Salvation Army.
M
Manyold New Yorkers remember the Cruger house in Fourteenth Street about halfway between Sixth and Seventh avenues, when it was occupied by the late Mrs. Douglas Cruger.21
The house, having a frontage of seventy-five feet, stood in the middle of a courtyard extending on either side about one hundred feet, separated from the street by a high wall. Now the courtyard has disappeared and the house, crowded closely on both sides by high buildings, seems completely dwarfed. Decorated with fire escapes and signs it has fallen from its high estate, and the whole street, formerly a quiet dwelling street, is now nearly given over to trade and noisy bustle. The entrance hall, twenty-five feet in width, extended from front to rear eighty-five feet, a wide staircase rising from the center at the end, the conservatory at the rear being of the width of the house. The rooms on either side were rather curiously divided, losing somewhat in what might have made a more imposing effect, not, however, enough to prevent their being an excellentplace for the disposition of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum, which leased the house in 1873 for five years. The house is described in the annual report for that year as a “large and elegant building surrounded by spacious grounds, upon which grounds new galleries may be built, should they be required....”22The rooms certainly had more unobstructed light than could be found in most private houses. It is now occupied by the Salvation Army.