Turtle Bay Association

Neighborhood Walking Tour Highlights Historic Sites

Just as Turtle Bay residents are starting to yearn for springtime walks in the neighborhood, the Turtle Bay Association plans to send each of its members a copy of "A Day in Turtle Bay," a 30-page pocket guide featuring 20 area sites organized as an easy-to-follow walking tour.

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The fully illustrated booklet has been researched and written by journalist and Turtle Bay resident Debra Pickrel, who has donated her work, along with a series of site photographs, to the TBA. Turtle Bay neighbor and preservation advocate Walter Cronkite has written the guide's foreword.

"A Day in Turtle Bay" is currently in production and will be mailed to all TBA members within the next few weeks.

"We're extremely pleased to share this fine work with the community," says TBA President Bill Curtis. "We hope it will foster a growing appreciation of our unique neighborhood's history, and provide residents with some memorable walks in the area."

Sites in the booklet range from the well known, like Turtle Bay Gardens (1850) and the Chrysler Building (1930), to the lesser-known clapboard houses on 53rd Street (1866), the former Beaux Arts Institute of Design (1927) and the former Rockefeller/Museum of Modern Art Guest House (1950).

Debra Pickrel has written about architecture and preservation for several leading magazines. She first became seriously interested in Turtle Bay's history three years ago when she started working on a master's degree in historic preservation through Goucher College in Baltimore.

"I began using our neighborhood as the basis for my academic research and wrote a walking tour of Turtle Bay for one of my courses," she says. "As I worked on the project, I saw its potential for enhancing awareness of the neighborhood's historic resources and the need to preserve them for future generations."

The guide will include a brief history of Turtle Bay, a walking tour map, notes on the area's historic restaurants and an accompanying feature about the neighborhood's brownstones written by Charles Lockwood, author of "Bricks and Brownstones: The New York Row House, 1783-1929." Debra's research sources are listed in the back of the guide as a resource for residents who want to read more about Turtle Bay's history.

"I am so pleased that the TBA recognized the benefit of this work to the community and decided to publish it," Debra says. "I extend my sincere appreciation to Bill Curtis, who designed the booklet; TBA Vice President Millie Margiotta who managed the project; and Bruce Silberblatt, who developed the map and provided invaluable background information on the neighborhood. And, I am especially indebted to Walter Cronkite for providing the guide's foreword."

In his foreword, Mr. Cronkite concludes by saying: "I wish you a memorable day as you explore Turtle Bay."