Audubon Terrace is a cultural complex comprising eight buildings in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex occupies most of a city block and is bounded by Broadway to the east, 155th Street to the south, and 156th Street to the north. Developed for several cultural institutions between 1904 and 1930, Audubon Terrace was commissioned by Archer Milton Huntington. The complex is designated a New York City landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
The buildings, designed in the Beaux Arts and American Renaissance styles, are arranged in two parallel rows surrounding a multi-tiered plaza. Archer's cousin Charles P. Huntington drew up the master plan for the site and designed the initial buildings. The later structures were designed by William M. Kendall, Cass Gilbert, and H. Brooks Price. The buildings have similar exterior architectural design details such as colonnades and elaborate entablatures. The complex also contains artwork by Archer's wife Anna Hyatt Huntington.
The site was originally part of the estate of John James Audubon, which was later developed into the Audubon Park district. The first buildings were completed in 1907 for the Hispanic Society of America and the American Numismatic Society (ANS)—both organizations where Huntington held leadership positions. Additional buildings were designed for the American Academy of Arts and Letters (AAAL), the American Geographical Society (AGS), the Heye Foundation's Museum of the American Indian (MAI), and Our Lady of Esperanza Church, all of which received significant funding from Huntington. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the AGS, ANS, and MAI moved out. Boricua College, the Hispanic Society, and AAAL took over the other three institutions' buildings; Boricua College itself moved out during 2026.
Site Audubon Terrace is a cultural complex in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex occupies a site bounded by 155th Street to the south, Broadway to the east, and 156th Street to the north. The surrounding area is part of Audubon Park, a historic district that includes several apartment houses; the district is sometimes itself called "Audubon Terrace". The complex is directly across 155th Street from Trinity Church Cemetery, and the Church of the Intercession is also located nearby.
The complex is one block from the 157th Street station on the New York City Subway, served by the . As originally designed, Audubon Terrace was oriented to the north, toward a plaza containing the subway entrance. However, its location considerably north of Midtown Manhattan has resulted in a perceived detriment to easy access for visitors. The surrounding neighborhood is also primarily residential and low-density commercial. As such, while residents of Manhattan's West Side could access Audubon Terrace more easily than similar museums on the East Side, people did not typically travel to Audubon Terrace unless they were already destined for Washington Heights. The New York Times writer Christopher Gray called Audubon Terrace's location "the Arctic Circle of New York's cultural globe" in 2010.
Audubon Terrace occupies part of the former estate of the naturalist and artist John James Audubon, who had bought the land in 1841. The estate was known as Minniesland—after his wife Lucy, who was called "Minnie"—and was Audubon's residence in his final years. The estate covered and was likely bounded roughly by Amsterdam Avenue to the east, 158th Street to the north, 155th Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west, though it may have stretched south toward 153rd Street (near the modern Trinity Church Cemetery). Audubon's own house, demolished in 1931, was located at 156th Street near the riverbank. There was also a small stream, fed by a spring at 157th Street. The eastern part of the block was sold in the mid-19th century to Charles Kerner, who held onto it until 1902; that site was resold five times in three years.
Architecture Audubon Terrace was built in phases between 1904 and 1930 and was commissioned by Archer Milton Huntington (1870–1955). Huntington was an heir to the Southern Pacific Railroad fortune, a philanthropist, and a Spanish scholar; his cousin, the architect Charles P. Huntington, drew up the master plan for the site. Charles designed many of the initial structures before his death in 1919, and William M. Kendall, Cass Gilbert, and H. Brooks Price finished the remaining buildings. Archer's wife, the sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington, commissioned multiple sculptures in the complex; many of these sculptures were created for the Hispanic Society of America, one of the original tenants.
The complex consists of eight sites, four each on 155th and 156th streets, which surround a plaza. The buildings have similar exterior architectural design details, but their interiors originally hosted a wide variety of museum collections. Archer had intended Audubon Terrace as an academic and cultural complex. One writer likened Audubon Terrace to New York University's Bronx campus (now Bronx Community College) and Columbia University's Morningside Heights campus. The complex may have been inspired by the Columbia campus and by the City College of New York campus in Hamilton Heights. The New York Times wrote in 2004 that Audubon Terrace, along with the Cloisters museum at Washington Heights' northern extremity, "bookend the neighborhood".
Resident institutions Audubon Terrace was built for five major institutional tenants, all of which were private nonprofit organizations with their own building. One of the remaining institutions is the Hispanic Society's library and museum. Its collection, consisting of manuscripts, books, and photographs, is sourced mostly from the Iberian Peninsula, alongside some items from Latin America.Hispanic Society – Collections . Retrieved March 30, 2008 Another remaining institution is the American Academy of Arts and Letters (AAAL), for which two buildings were constructed; a third building was acquired in 2005. The other three institutions are no longer resident on Audubon Terrace. These are the American Geographical Society (AGS), the Heye Foundation's Museum of the American Indian, and the American Numismatic Society (ANS). The complex also housed a sixth organization, the National Institute of Arts and Letters (NIAL), an AAAL affiliate that occupied the AAAL buildings until the organizations merged in 1976.
Also part of the complex is the Our Lady of Esperanza Church () at 624 West 156th Street, a Spanish-speaking Catholic congregation. A vacant lot with trees is situated between the Hispanic Society Library and the Our Lady of Esperanza Church, on the northern edge of Audubon Terrace.
+ List of buildings Built Architect Original use Current use A1911Charles Huntington American Geographical Society (AGS) Vacant (previously Boricua College) B1923–30H. Brooks Price Hispanic Society of America Library C1909–12Lawrence G. White Church of Our Lady of Esperanza D1928–30Charles Huntington American Academy of Arts and Letters (AAAL) auditorium E1923William M. Kendall American Academy of Arts and Letters main building F2009James Vincent Czajka, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners American Academy of Arts and Letters entrance link G1907Charles Huntington American Numismatic Society (ANS) American Academy of Arts and Letters annex H1904–08Charles Huntington Hispanic Society of America main building I1915–22Charles Huntington Museum of the American Indian Hispanic Society of America annex
AGS building
The AGS building (later Boricua College) is located at 3755 Broadway at the northeast corner of the complex, facing 156th Street and Broadway. It was designed by Charles Huntington and opened in 1911.; The three-story building is designed in the Italian Renaissance Revival style. The original portion of the building measures across, with seven bays each on the northern and southern elevations. These elevations were later expanded four bays westward.;
The base, corresponding to the basement, is rusticated and has window openings. There are also ornate doorways flanked by globes with foliate ornament; these originally had double doors, later replaced with single metal doors. The midsection, comprising the first and second stories, has double-height bays flanked by engaged columns in the Ionic order. The first-story windows are arched and are topped by keystones, while the second-story windows are arranged in pairs. Above the second story is an entablature, which has a frieze wrapping around the building. The section of the entablature on the eastern elevation contains the name American Geographical Society, while the sections on the northern and southern elevations bear the names of American explorers. The frieze is topped by a cornice with dentils and modillions. Above the cornice is a parapet with copper cresting and inset attic windows.
The interiors were built with finishes such as terrazzo floors, marble stairs, and quartered-oak windows. When built, the original building was internally divided into two sections. There was an administrative portion with offices, departmental rooms, lecture halls, and exhibit spaces; next to it was a storage section with six levels of library stacks. The four newer bays contained offices, workspaces, a library, and exhibition rooms.
Hispanic Society Library
The Hispanic Society Library, designed by H. Brooks Price, opened in 1930.; It was built on the site of an entrance to Audubon Terrace that formerly existed on 156th Street (see ). The building measures eight stories high and across, with the longer dimension extending along 156th Street. Standalone "wing walls" extend along the street west and east of the building.
The southern elevation, facing the complex's southern courtyard, is a neoclassical Indiana limestone design. It lacks window openings because of the presence of storage areas inside; and because it was intended as a background for the plaza's sculptural group. This elevation contains a protruding central section with a center panel and volutes on either side; it is ornamented with animal groups sculpted by Anna Huntington in 1933–1936. These are flanked by the recessed wing walls, which also have panels. The wing walls have two carved reliefs of equestrian figures by Anna: Don Quixote (1942) and Boabdil (1943–1944). Below these reliefs are inscriptions excerpted from two of Archer Huntington's poems.
From the courtyard, there are entrances on the central section's western and eastern elevations, as well as three infilled window openings. The northern, or 156th Street, elevation of the facade is made of brick. This elevation has limestone trim and includes several tiers of small windows and a bronze door. There are two arts and crafts exhibit rooms inside, which are decorated with wooden wall panels and are situated on the first floor. The rest of the interior houses the library stacks.
Our Lady of Esperanza Church
Our Lady of Esperanza Church is located at 624 West 156th Street, between the Hispanic Society Library to the east and the American Academy of Arts and Letters auditorium to the west. It is an Italian Renaissance-style building completed in 1912, with an addition and remodeling in 1924 by Lawrence G. White, son of Stanford White.; Unlike all the other buildings in Audubon Terrace, the church faces outward toward the street, rather than inward toward the plaza, and lacks a public entrance from the plaza. As built, it functioned as a chapel. As expanded, the church is three and a half stories high.