begins. To commemorate the centenary of the inauguration of the nation's
first President a temporary arch was erected in the spring of 1889. The
original structure reached from corner to corner across Fifth Avenue,
opposite the Park, and the expense was borne by Mr. William Rhinelander
Stewart and other residents of Washington Square. It added so much to
the beauty of the entrance to the Avenue that steps were taken to make
it permanent, and the present Arch was the result of popular
subscription. One hundred and twenty-eight thousand dollars was the cost
of the structure, which was designed by Stanford White. Comparatively
recent additions to the Arch are the two sculptured groups on northern
façade, to the right and left of the span. They are the work of H.A.
MacNeil.

Of all the blocks in the stretch of tradition that carries the Avenue up
to Fourteenth Street, the richest in interest is, naturally, that which
lies immediately north of the Square. Dividing this block in two, and
running respectively east and west, are Washington Mews and MacDougall
Alley. When Fifth Avenue was young and addicted to stately horse-drawn
turnouts, it was in these half streets that were stabled the steeds and
the carriages. Of comparatively recent date is the remodelling that has
converted the old stables into quaint, if somewhat garish artist
studios.

From the top of a north-bound bus as it leaves the Square may be seen
the beautiful gardens that have always been a feature of these first
houses. Mrs. Emily Johnston de Forest, in her life of her grandfather,
John Johnston, has described these gardens as they were from 1833 to
1842. "The houses in the 'Row,' as this part of Washington Square was
called, all had beautiful gardens in the rear about ninety feet deep,
surrounded by white, grape-covered trellises, with rounded arches at