Seaman-Drake Arch, Marble arch entrance in Inwood, Manhattan, United States
The Seaman-Drake Arch is a freestanding marble gateway on West 216th Street in the Inwood neighborhood of Manhattan, New York. It stands between newer commercial buildings, and part of it is currently used for storage by a nearby business.
The arch was built in 1855 as the entrance to a large hilltop estate owned by the Seaman family in Inwood. The mansion was eventually torn down, but the gateway was left standing.
The arch takes its name from two families, the Seamans and the Drakes, who were among the most powerful landowners in northern Manhattan during the 1800s. Passersby today see a freestanding marble gateway wedged between modern storefronts, a quiet reminder of how the neighborhood once looked.
The arch sits on a busy street in Inwood and is easy to reach on foot from the neighborhood. Because part of it is used for storage, access is limited, but the gateway is fully visible from the sidewalk.
The marble in the arch was quarried in Inwood itself, from deposits that once made this corner of Manhattan a source of building stone for projects across New York City. Almost no one passing by today realizes the stone underfoot and overhead came from the same ground.
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