WHERE: Riverside Drive at West 99, West 100, West 106, West 111, and West 112 Streets, Manhattan
Route of today’s walk. Map courtesy Google Maps.
SUBWAY AT START: 96 Street (1, 2, 3; fully accessible)
SUBWAY AT FINISH: 116 Street - Columbia University (1)
DISTANCE: 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers)
Photographs by Michael Cairl.
On a New York City Website, NYC Open Data (https://opendata.cityofnewyork.us/), there’s a list of stair streets in the city that I recently came across. It isn’t 100 percent accurate but it will be a good aid to me as I plan these stair streets expeditions. It helped me plan today’s trip to Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
North from West 91 Street, there are several sections of Riverside Drive where the main roadway is accompanied by a narrow, one-way side roadway at a different elevation, connecting with all the transverse (numbered) streets. On the Upper West Side there are five stair streets linking the two roadways. This seemed a good way to tackle a group of stair streets in one neighborhood on a not-too-long subway ride from home. Starting at the subway station at West 96 Street and Broadway, I walked north to West 99 Street and turned west toward the Hudson River. In the block between West End Avenue and Riverside Drive I encountered what would be the most difficult part of today’s walk: a fairly steep downhill toward Riverside Drive. The sidewalk is in good condition but the slope made me walk slowly and with care. I made it down to Riverside Drive and the first of today’s stair streets: 20 steps down to the main roadway.
Clockwise, from upper left: Downhill slope on West 99 Street, the 99 Street steps, accessible bus stop at Riverside Drive and West 100 Street accounting for the different elevation between the street and the footpath, memorial to architect John Merven Carrère on the stairs from West 99 Street and Riverside Drive to Riverside Park.
The next stair street is one block north, at West 100 Street, 30 steps up. From there I walked one block north to West 101 Street and along a path back to the main part of Riverside Drive. Then it was north to West 106 Street, also known as Duke Ellington Boulevard. Fittingly, a jazz combo was starting up as I climbed up the 16 steps. Then, north to West 111 Street and 10 steps down. The handrail on these steps is quite loose at the top of the steps, which I had to negotiate with care. Then it was up 24 steps and down 6 steps at West 112 Street, then east to Broadway and north to West 116 Street. Most of the shops and restaurants along Broadway have changed since I was a graduate student at Columbia University in the 1970s but there’s something of the same vibe. I still am fond of that neighborhood, Morningside Heights.
Total vertical on today’s walk, courtesy Google Maps.
The total number of steps today was 106 but the walk had its challenges. It was a good walk to do in a fairly short time, not the long stair streets I’ve encountered elsewhere but definitely worth doing and a fun way to spend some time on a brisk Sunday afternoon.
This walk had the unexpected bonus of a lot of public art along the way. First, at West 99 Street and Riverside Drive, was a tablet honoring architect John Merven Carrère (1858 - 1911), who with his business partner Thomas Hastings designed many Beaux-Arts buildings in New York and elsewhere at the turn of the 20th century. A notable example is the New York Public Library’s main branch at 5 Avenue and 42 Street, about which more later. Near the top of the West 100 Street stairs is the Firemens’ Monument and, on the small plaza in front, a memorial to the horses that once pulled fire engines.
Clockwise from top left: Firemens’ Monument from the west, plaque honoring fire horses, east face of the Firemens’ Monument (inscription: To the Men of the Fire Department of the City of New York who died at the call of duty, soldiers in a war that never ends, this memorial is dedicated by the people of a grateful city, Erected MCMXII), scene looking north on Riverside Drive.
At the West 106 Street steps is an equestrian statue of Franz Sigel (1828 - 1902), a patriot both in his native Germany and his adopted home of the United States. Sigel is also memorialized by Franz Sigel Park in the Bronx near Yankee Stadium. At the West 112 Street steps is a monument to Samuel J. Tilden (1814 - 1886), onetime Governor of New York and failed presidential candidate in 1876. Tilden’s trust was later combined with the free libraries of John Jacob Astor and James Lenox to found the New York Public Library. The Astor Library’s building (1854) on Lafayette Street is now the Public Theater.
Clockwise from top left: Franz Sigel statue, information about Franz Sigel, the West 111 Street steps, the Samuel J. Tilden statue,