Audubon Park Historic District

AP

Audubon House circa 1920

Nestled into Riverside Drive's retaining wall, the Audubon house is a sorry site, though not as sad as it appears in some pictures from the period (see smaller photo at left with a broken tree and laundry hanging in the yard).  A low garage at the left is one of a series that sat below Riverside Drive.  They were reached by an alley coming off of 158th Street (still in existence) euphemistically called Audubon Lane.

During the early part of the 20th Century, various groups attempted to save the Audubon House, but all efforts failed, as did attempts by the Washington Heights Taxpayers Association, with very vocal support from Reginald Pelham Bolton, to have the area turned into a park.  Today, 765 Riverside Drive sits on this site.

Image courtesy of:

Milstein Division of United StatesHistory, Local History, & Genealogy,

The New York Public Library, astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations