New York City and the Arts

It is no secret that the various arts are connected. Music, dance, literature, and yes, even architecture, are all different ways of reflecting the society that they spring from. The arts are a way to illuminate the values of a society, which frequently leads to an overlap of the values of the society’s artists, no matter which medium they are working in. An unusual architectural example of this principle that can be found in the city of New York is Belvedere Castle. The castle’s intended purpose (or rather, its lack thereof) reflected the artistic values of its day in an almost perfectly metaphorical way. However, its later and now current usages reflect the change in the values of American architecture and arts specifically, and the wider American culture more generally.
Designed in 1865, in the midst of the Victorian Era, Belvedere Castle was meant to be a “folly”, which is defined by Random House Dictionary as “a whimsical or extravagant structure built to serve as a conversation piece, lend interest to a view, commemorate a person or event, etc.: found esp. in England in the 18th century.” And while obviously Belvedere Castle was constructed in 19th century New York City, and not 18th century Great Britain, the term is clearly appropriate. From the beginning, Belvedere Castle was not meant to be lived in, gathered in, or used in any truly productive fashion. Its very name, which comes from the Italian for “beautiful view”, subtly highlights the true purpose of this grand structure: to look interesting, and provide people with a lovely view of the park.
It is in this way that Belvedere Castle reflects the artistic values of the Victorian Period. For example, Victorian literature, as exemplified in the novels of Charles Dickens and in the poetry of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and Lewis Carroll, was not necessarily devoid of meaning, but certainly placed a greater emphasis on euphony, potent imagery and (at least in Carroll’s case) wordplay than it did on imparting a substantial meaning beyond the occasional heavy-handed moral. In the same way that Lewis Carroll’s poetry was all interesting sounding words with little deeper message to convey, Belvedere Castle was meant to be a harmless building that would add a little something to the landscape of Central Park, and provide those who entered with a beautiful view.
However, with the 20th century came drastic changes to both Western society and Belvedere Castle. In 1919, the National Weather Service began taking meteorological data from Belvedere Castle to determine wind speed and direction. Just to the south of the castle, rainfall and other data were taken. What was once a pretty, purposeless structure became a place of science. In the society surrounding Belvedere Castle, the long-term effects of the Industrial Revolution were beginning to show themselves. Architecture as a general field was changing, too. Building design was moving towards a more Functionalist ideology, revealing a decreased interest in beauty for beauty’s sake that pervaded the greater culture.
Unfortunately, Belvedere Castle began to deteriorate, and it was not until 1983 that the building was renewed by the park service and reopened to the public. It retained its usage as a data collection facility, but gained a new purpose: the Henry Luce Nature Observatory. In its current incarnation, Belvedere Castle is home to papier-mache birds, and the “beautiful views” are encouraged to be utilized by birders and other scientifically-minded enthusiasts. The castle has been restored to its late-19th century grandeur, and is still capable of being as much of “a conversation piece” as it ever was. In this way, the structure reflects the need for all aspects of society to adapt to the new way of the world by providing multiple services simultaneously. Our world is increasingly interconnected, and the various structures of Western society, whether they are political and abstract, or a very real building such as Belvedere Castle, can no longer exist in isolation from the world. It is now no longer practical to build building with no purpose beyond looking nice, for many reasons. In today’s society no pragmatic architect would ever construct such a structure, and, as seen in the case of Central Park’s Belvedere Castle, we no longer have the luxury of maintaining those structures that lacked a purpose to begin with.