Parks Dept. fast-tracks monument's restoration

With Koppell funds

By N. Clark Judd

Riverdale’s bronze statue in tribute to the man who aimed for China, missed and found Albany instead will get an $800,000 facelift in time for the 400th anniversary of his visit to the Bronx thanks to City Councilman Oliver Koppell.

The statue in Henry Hudson Park that commemorates its namesake surveys New York Harbor from a height of 100 feet. It has perched atop a white granite column since its installation in 1938, thanks to the initiative of Robert Moses. The explorer’s marble pedestal was erected in 1912 with private money to celebrate the 300th anniversary of his voyage, but the project ran out of money and remained stalled until the legendary master builder picked up the torch in 1935.

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz had previously procured $50,000 to conserve the monument’s lower portion.

Mr. Koppell procured $300,000 for the project last year, but Parks officials said that wouldn’t be enough to get it done on time, he said. The councilman worked out a plan to procure the last $500,000 while paddling canoes on the Bronx River with Hector Aponte, the Bronx borough commissioner of the Parks Department, and Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepeduring a Bronx River Alliance event, said Mr. Koppell.

“Aponte came back and he said, ‘Well, with $300,000 we’d have to do it in-house, and it would take a lot of time,’” Mr. Koppell said. “‘We can’t do it inhouse and have it ready for the 400th anniversary’” — meaning Sept. 2, 2009, the 400th anniversary of the day the English explorer under Dutch flag dropped anchor near Spuyten Duyvil — “and I said, ‘Well, I’ll see if I can get you the money on time.’”

When the Dutch East India Company commissioned Henry Hudson in 1609, he was expected to sail east, around Russia, until he found a way to get to Asia. Ice blocked his route, and the tenacious explorer sailed west instead. Thinking he had found validation in the river that now bears his name, he sailed past Riverdale on his way to Albany, where the river became too narrow and he was forced to head home. He never found a route to Asia — his crew mutinied during his last voyage in 1611, and he’s believed to have died, set adrift by his men, somewhere in the ice north of Canada.

This will be the first renovation of the monument since 1985. A ladder within the monument will be reattached, rusty bolts will be replaced, and the bronze statue itself, which in 1998 was found to have water damage and discoloration, will be restored. Workers will also clean the statue and ensure it is structurally sound.

Parks experts expect to complete an on-site analysis of the monument in August, after which, said Parks spokeswoman Jesslyn Tiao, they’ll know more about the extent of the work that must be done.

The Institute of Museum and Library Sciences announced Tuesday it would give Wave Hill a $124,375 grant for an art installation and an exhibition on the life of Native Americans along the Hudson River related to the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s visit to Spuyten Duyvil in 1609.