New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-02-08
THE ACADEMY'S NEW SITE.
GREATER SENTIMENT IN FAVOR OF IT
THAN WAS EXPECTED

Regarding the advantages of the site on Am
sterdam-ave, between One hundred-and-nnt and
One-hundred-and-tcnth SITS, purchased by the Ma
tonal Academy Of Design. and the plans Of the
Academy for the future. James ID. Smile, the
treasurer. said yesterday to a Tribune reporter:
THE meeting on Wednesday night at which the
vote was taken. was much stronger in its ex-
preston Of sentiment in favor OF the hundred
and-tenth-st movement than expected by its
| friends The vote. when opened and counted at
the subsequent meeting OF the Committee on Site
and Plan proved be forty for One-hundred-
and-tenth-st. sixteen for Fifty-seventh-st and
one for neither. so that those who favor the One
dred-and-tenth-st site feel encouraged TO be-
ieve that the opponents are neither many nor
so determined as it was feared they might be.
Every expression now points to harmonious ac-
ton
Some have thought that the going Of the
Academy TO One-hundred- and feminist. would be
on abandonment Of the field, and they have said
that the field abandoned would surely be oc-
oupied by the Society OF American Artists. But
that can hardly be a well-grounded fear mas
much as in the first place there is no field aban-
doned. and in the next place the two institutions
are active on lines different that one cannot
take the place of the other The best interests of
art make 1t desirable that those two institutions
should be maintained In Wig )rous operation
Forty years ago the Academy bought tho lots
ar Iwenty-third-st. and Fourtl-ave. a strong
town II was some years before the ground was
built upon. ana now, thirty years after the open
ing OF those galleries, find they are too far
downtown, and those who have urged the move
mcnt TO one hundred-an -tenth-st find as their
predecessors did. an opposition who insist that II
Is 100 FAR uptown But 1t is hoped that time Will
prove that that opposition has no better founda-
ton than had the opposition 10 the Twenty-third-
ST. site. The difficulty OF finding a site having
the requirements demanded by the Academy can
hardly be overestimated. and the institution may
now be congratulated upon having secured a site
that. in size and location makes possible the
most desirable results. II Is yet too early to
speak OF plans. 1t is probable that there will be
entire plot Will be evolved; although there Is no
probability that such scheme would be carried
Metropolitan Museum OF Art ana the es American ae
Museum Of Natural History. It would be a matter
volve galleries schools and administrative de-
partment The schools. or school accommodations
home Of the Academy might be built later as
me ,Academicans might decide The entire group
might Involve large expenditures much in excess
OK the means now at the command of the Academy
much accomplished all the aid required would be
rgadiy siyen and the discredit OF being behind
inadequate housing of Academy and art
schools would be removed from the metropolis
With the thoroughly trained men who are grow,
Ing up now among us. having the advantage OF
education in the best schools abroad there is no
reason eI why the Academy should not now, develop
longer absolutely necessary for our students 70 go
abroad for an artistic education.
There Is a large population west OF the Park
when S constantly increasing in numbers and
he same Is true in the Harlem direction. TO
them The galleries Of the Academy will be easily
accessible, and ii is not at all unreasonable 10
think that by the time the Academy could have
galleries erected there would be quite as large "A
number or visitors IA now go to the galleries I'm
twenty -third-st But. as has been said before
mat matter i not pressing. Gallery accommoda-
TONS downtown are assured. il they are desired
Tor several years TO come. We can occupy the
present Academy building until June l. 1895 and
our exhibitions Will be held there until that time
the Committee on Site ana Plan IS going right
ahead with the matter of plans. II will select |
number OF architects and give them commissions
10 make drawings, the acceptance OF any par |
ticular work being subject for after considera-
uon. Ihere Is no reason why the school buildings
shOuld not be ready for use next winter"