Academy’s Past: A Generous Gift and a New Home
The Lyceum’s next home provided sufficient space for its collection on display as well as its library. A generous gift also cleared the Lyceum’s debts.
Published January 6, 2025
By Nick Fetty
Digital Content Manager
The Stuyvesant Institute | 659 Broadway | 1845-1851
Retaining its connections to the academic institutes of the time, The Lyceum of Natural History in the City of New York (“the Lyceum”) moved into the Stuyvesant Institute, part of the (New York) University Medical Center, at 659 Broadway in 1844. To some extent, the neoclassic building’s front exterior, with four large columns, resembled that of the Lyceum’s previous home. The first formal meeting for the Lyceum was held in 1845.
The new space allowed for the “best” objects from the collection to be on display and provided sufficient accommodation for the library. As a result of the generosity of the Rev. Professor Cyrus Mason, then on the faculty at NYU, the Lyceum was gifted the “three front rooms of the second story” for a term of 10 years, with Mason covering the cost of rent, fuel, light and “servants.” Mason even kept his promise of settling the Lyceum’s outstanding debts.
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Some members questioned Mason’s motives, speculating that he wanted to use the Lyceum to improve NYU’s credibility and fearing that university administrators would eventually try to “acquire the control and membership of the Lyceum.” At this time, NYU, which was founded in 1832, was aggressively competing against Columbia College (now Columbia University) for legitimacy, but ultimately a majority of members voted to accept Mason’s offer. Historian Simon Baatz theorized there was “little doubt that the medical faculty at NYU derived great benefit from its proximity to the Lyceum.” It was also during this time that another of the city’s venerable academic institutions, the City College of New York, would be established with the help of some Lyceum members.
The Lyceum’s time in the Stuyvesant Institute was to be brief, however. In 1851, the building was sold and the Lyceum moved up the street into the new NYU Medical School facility. The Stuyvesant Institute building was home to the New-York Historical Society prior to the Lyceum’s arrival, and, upon the Lyceum’s departure, it served multiple purposes, including as the first home for the newly established New York YMCA as well as the Egyptian Museum, dubbed “the greatest attraction in the city,” before being demolished in 1866.
While the Lyceum was experiencing a positive trajectory during this era, it would face a major setback after moving into its sixth home.
This is the fifth piece in an eleven-part series exploring the Academy’s past homes. Read:
