Photos of Lewisohn Stadium that used to be at City College for most of the 20th century rarely show the view of the Hudson as can be seen in the image from 1915. What is even more interesting about this perspective is that the old Hebrew Orphan Asylum is also in the vantage point and impressively holds court behind the classical arena. There is also a good sense of scale to both of the old structures as they stood in Hamilton Heights before their demise decades later. The Hebrew Orphan Asylum would be razed eventually in 1955 and Lewisohn Stadium (which was once famous for its summer concerts) would meet the same fate in 1973. Check out our old post where one can see the stadium in a notable film right before it was demolished:
LINK. Archival photo via
the digital collection at the Museum of the City of New York
I attended City College in the early 70s and I remember sitting across the street with a girl I knew while we watched a wrecking ball swing slowly back and forth, punching holes in the eastern facade of this stadium. I was too young then to know any of the history of the place, just that it was an old derelict structure that had to be cleared away. How sad.
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