Architects
Randolph Gerner
"Asiatic Allegoria Secondary Road Palisades Northwest Passage"
Henry Hudson, sailing on behalf of the Dutch East India Company sought to find a water route to India as an alternate to the treacherous Silk Road. After several attempts at finding northeast routes to Asia, he focused on a westerly direction. Having heard rumors by way of Jamestown and John Smith, a southwest exploration seemed logical, leading to the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. After the search proved fruitless and with frustration mounting, he steered his ship, the Halve Maen (Half Moon) to Giovanni da Verrazano’s 1524 discovery of a “large lake” which was in fact the river that today bears Hudson’s name.
Along his journey in 1609, sailing the large lake, later also known as the North River, he encountered and traded with several native tribes obtaining shells, beads and furs. This voyage, claiming land for the Dutch, led to a prosperous fur trade and to the founding of New Amsterdam (lower Manhattan today), the 1625 capital of New Netherland. Hudson and his crew observed the ever changing and meandering waterway flanked by the sheer cliffs of the Palisades, and the wide basins of Tarrytown contrasted by fiord–like passages near Cold Spring. Further north, the gentle slopes of the eastern shore appeared incongruous with the western mountains. His exploration ended near where the Mohawk River empties its contribution to the “River of Mountains.”
Northwest Passage explores Hudson’s journey north on the great river. Had he passed the Mohawk, might he have found Asia?
Viewers encounter miniature topography of the waterways and embankments that Henry Hudson and his crew sighted on their journey in 1609. It has been arrayed, in colored pebbles and seeded mounded dirt, upon the actual topography of a bit of the Byrdcliffe Arts Colony woods. Visitors standing beside it perceive an aerial overview of a region that extends 150 miles upriver.
On this short foot path through a wooded clearing, one can imagine entering the wide bay where the Hudson River merges with the Atlantic Ocean. The water is neither sweet nor salty, yet both. The striped bass swim with the ebbing and flooding tides as the steady movement of water is compressed by the narrows. What is now Upper New York Bay clearly feels like an inland lake.
As the river narrows, the majestic Palisades march along the western shore of the river. These steep cliffs stretch approximately 20 miles upriver ranging in height from 350 to almost 550 feet, only half of their original height. The local natives would call the cliffs “Weehawken”, meaning “rocks that look like rows of trees.” The cliffs were formed 20 million years before Hudson’s journey by the intrusion of molten magma upward into sandstone. The cliffs are crowned by lush vegetation.
Later, the natural widening of the river, named the Tappan Zee, derived its name from the Tappan Native American sub–tribe of the Delaware/Lenni Lenape and the Dutch word “Zee” meaning sea. The hopes for finding the Northwest Passage must have heightened when passing through such a broad body of fresh water.
As the river then narrowed, hope must have begun to fade. However, the beauty of the river probably served as some consolation.
In places, the river chose to cut directly through the mountain range, bringing their base to the very edge of the flowing waters. Then they recede into the background leaving large meadows and forests gently sloping away from the river.
The now distant mountains frame the westerly landscape reaching high into the sky to capture the setting sun.
As the mountains fade from view, so do the hopes for finding the inland route to silk and spice. The river now narrows, the water shoals and many more islands dot the waterway.
Worst of all, the river has only brought them further north. Did they travel as far north as the tributary now called the Mohawk? Did they think this might be the way west? Unfortunately, this would have been the passage of false hope.
Here at Byrdcliffe, sailing past the Mohawk brings you to Hudson’s goal, Asiatic Allegoria. This peaceful respite, the point where the treacherous overland passage merges with the gentle waters of Husdon’s Northwest Passage, is where three bells toll, marking your celebrated arrival!
Special thanks to assistants: Ingnatius Burke and Jody Buckles.
Bio
Randolph (Randy) Gerner is an architect and founding principal of Gerner Kronick & Valcarcel Architects of New York City. He, his wife Joan, and yellow Labrador Apple reside part–time in Woodstock, New York. His work has taken him around the world. Most recently he oversaw the design for the Istanbul Park Hyatt Hotel. He strives to make his practice as multi–faceted as possible. His work includes office, residential, institutional and hotel buildings as well as private residences, including several villas on the Mediterranean Sea coast.
Randy Gerner has designed commercial projects in Europe and New York City, including Olive Grove Tower for the Garanti Bank, one of Europe’s fastest growing financial institutions; the Park Hyatt Hotel in Istanbul, Turkey; Bear Stearns headquarters on Madison Avenue; and the Mercedes Benz showroom on Park Avenue.
A recipient of the Architectural League’s 40 Under 40 award, Gerner was featured as a design leader of the next generation. He has also received the Lumen Award, which honors excellence and meritorious contribution to the art and science of lighting, and three Big “I” awards from Interior magazine. In addition to lecturing frequently, he has been an instructor at The Parson’s School of Design.
Randy Gerner attended The City College of the City University of New York, where he graduated summa cum laude, with a Bachelor of Science in Architecture. He received his Master of Architecture from The University of Pennsylvania, where he received an Alpha Rho Chi Medal, was awarded a teaching assistantship, and graduated summa cum laude.
