776
 

THE ICONOGRAPHY OF MANHATTAN ISLAND
 

As I now look back on this lovley (sic) country home, with the pleasant memories of my
early years, I think of it as a remnant of Paradise. The garden was filled with the choicest fruit,
and many exquisite flowers, shrubs and trees. There was a cedar of Lebanon, said to have been
brought by Mr. Coster himself from Mount Lebanon. We had also a large conservatory of rare
fruits and flowers. The floor of the basement story was paved with white Dutch tiles brought
expressly from Holland, as well as the bricks with which the house was filled in.

The secluded nature of the neighbourhood is well Illustrated by the following extract

from Some Memories of James Stokes and Caroline Phelps Stokes, Arranged for their Chil¬
dren and Grandchildren, 1892 (p. 103):

It would give an idea of the absolute retirement of the roads in the vicinity, to say that one
of the members of the family and a friend, had a side-saddle put on one of the horses one day,
and took turns in riding {it was "ride and tie," in fact), and went two miles or more without
encountering any observation or annoyance.

For a plan and further information regarding the Coster or Hosack place after its pur¬
chase and alteration by Mr. Phelps, see Stokes Records, by Anson Phelps Stokes, Vol. I.
The house was still standing in November, 1868, but was demolished soon afterwards,
as is indicated by an agreement recorded in Liber Mortgages DCCCXCIX: 132, reciting
the intended demolition of the old buildings and the erection of new ones on the ground.
The site is now covered by tenements at Nos. 515-519 First Avenue and No. 349 East
30th Street. Model tenements, erected in 1910 by Miss Olivia E. Phelps Stokes, a grand¬
daughter of Anson Greene Phelps, now occupy a site on the old place, at Nos, 339-349
East 32d Street.

In Valentine's Manual for i860, opp. p. 276, is a lithograph by Hayward of "The Old
Henry Coster House, bought hy Anson G. Phelps in 1835, cor. 301!' St. & ist Avenue,
N. Y.," and there is in the author's possession a daguerreotype, made about 1855, of "Clif¬
ton Cottage," which stood on the Phelps property just west of the main house, and which
was occupied at this time by Mr. James Stokes.
 

Lithograph.
 

Plate 154
The Citv of New York

42 X 72^              Date depicted: 1879.

Date issued: Copyright 1879.
 

Liberty  Street  (specialists  in
 

Draughtsman: William I. Taylor.

Lithographers  and  publishers: Gait & Hoy,  111

"Views of Cities and Summer Resorts").
Owner: LN.P.S.
Other copies: N. Y. Hist. Society, etc.

Earliest known state. The map was reprinted by Peter W. Gillin, about 1900, with
many alterations, having been brought up to date by the addition of new buildings, etc.,
but still showing many old landmarks which in reality had long since disappeared. The
N. Y. Public Library owns the only known copy of this state, which lacks the advertisements
In the blank spaces.   In this form the plate seems never to have been put on the market.

This remarkable map—a monument of patience and skill—shows, in considerable de¬
tail, practically every building on Manhattan Island, It was evidently issued primarily
as an advertising medium.   In addition to the numerous "cards" printed upon it, the map
 

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