The Former Bronx Zoo Platypuses

I am a fan of the platypus. But I have never seen a platypus in person, for I live in New York City and not Australia. But thanks to a 2023 article in Mental Floss, I now know that New York City's Bronx Zoo welcomed three platypuses in 1947 and three more in 1958 after the last of the three 1947 platypuses passed away (it previously had a platypus in 1922). All three of the 1958 platypuses died within a year of arriving in the Bronx Zoo, which seems to have caused the Bronx Zoo to give up on […]

https://social.emucafe.org/naferrell/the-former-bronx-zoo-platypuses-04-04-26/

City Beautiful Blog takes a look at Chelsea — one of Manhattan's most layered neighborhoods. The Oreo was invented in what is now Chelsea Market. The Hotel Chelsea sheltered Mark Twain, Bob Dylan, and Leonard Cohen. The land under London Terrace once belonged to the author of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. And the High Line transformed an abandoned freight rail line into one of the city's most celebrated parks.
#NYCHistory #Architecture #NYC #LocalHistory #UrbanDesign
https://citybeautifulblog.com/chelsea-highlights/

Julia Vitullo-Martin of Untapped New York covers the Robert Rauschenberg centennial exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York — a show that is as much about the downtown Manhattan world Rauschenberg inhabited as it is about the artist himself. Jasper Johns, Merce Cunningham, John Cage, Trisha Brown — the people who shaped his work and his city are all here. Open through April 19, 2026.
#NYCHistory #ArtHistory #NYC #RobertRauschenberg #ArtsAndCulture
https://www.untappedcities.com/robert-rauschenbergs-new-york/?ref=daily-newsletter

City Beautiful Blog profiles the Helmsley Building on Park Avenue — the Beaux-Arts skyscraper built as headquarters for Cornelius Vanderbilt's New York Central Railroad. Traffic passes through its base via two monumental portals, its copper roof was once gilded in gold leaf, and a 6,000-watt lantern in the cupola was visible for miles. A building with layers worth knowing about.
#NYCHistory #Architecture #BeauxArts #GildedAge #NewYork
https://citybeautifulblog.com/the-helmsley-building/

City Beautiful Blog takes a close look at the animal imagery inside St. Bartholomew's Church on Park Avenue. The symbolism runs deep. From the pelican piercing its own breast to the unicorn as an allegory for the Incarnation, each creature carries a theological message rooted in medieval bestiaries. A thoughtful piece for anyone drawn to the intersection of art, architecture, and history.
#NYCHistory #Architecture #ArtHistory #MedievalHistory #Symbolism
https://citybeautifulblog.com/animal-depictions-inside-the-st-barts/

The Waldorf Astoria began as a calculated social insult. William Waldorf Astor built a luxury hotel next to his aunt's mansion just to annoy her. City Beautiful Blog traces the full story, from that Gilded Age family feud to FDR's secret railway platform beneath the Park Avenue building. A well-told piece of New York history.
#NYCHistory #GildedAge #Architecture #NewYork #LocalHistory
https://citybeautifulblog.com/the-waldorf-astoria-on-park-avenue/

City Beautiful Blog has put together a guide to NYC's most beautiful restaurant interiors, and the history behind each space is as compelling as the design. A railroad tycoon's pantsless office inside Grand Central. The sheepfold that became Tavern on the Green. Aaron Burr's carriage house in the West Village. Fraunces Tavern, where Washington said farewell to his officers. Worth reading slowly.
#NYCHistory #Architecture #NYC #LocalHistory #HistoricPreservation
https://citybeautifulblog.com/nycs-restaurants-with-beautiful-interiors/

The Domino Sugar sign, originally from the 1920s, was rebuilt as a replica for Brooklyn's waterfront. Radio City Music Hall's 1932 neon is synonymous with the city itself. The Pepsi-Cola sign, rescued from a shuttered bottling plant, now stands in Gantry Plaza as a designated NYC landmark. Meanwhile, the beloved Kentile Floors sign was saved and will be reinstalled in Gowanus, preserving Brooklyn's industrial heritage.
#NYCHistory #Architecture #IndustrialHeritage
https://www.untappedcities.com/new-york-city-signs/?ref=daily-newsletter

Rugelach arrived in NYC with Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants in the late 1800s, appearing at bakeries across the Lower East Side, Upper West Side, and Brooklyn. Jewish bakeries became community staples, serving dairy products and opening six days a week to keep kosher.
#NYCHistory #JewishHistory #FoodHistory #Rugelach
https://www.untappedcities.com/history-rugelach-nyc/?ref=daily-newsletter

The northernmost building on Broadway in Manhattan is a C-Town supermarket at 5249 Broadway in Marble Hill—and it's geographically located in the Bronx. In the late 1800s, the Army Corps of Engineers cut through this section of Manhattan to create a faster shipping route, turning Marble Hill into an island. Today it has Manhattan jurisdiction but Bronx zip codes and services.
#NYCHistory #Broadway #MarbleHill #UrbanPlanning
https://www.untappedcities.com/the-northernmost-building-on-broadway-in-manhattan-is-actually-in-the-bronx/