Exhibition: The Park Avenue Armory: A Century of Culture, Competition, and Ceremony

Opens October 2, 2007. Included in the exhibit are photographs of Billie Jean King in tennis competition with Rosie Casals, with additional celebrities Alan King, Bill Cosby, Betty Friedan.

The Park Avenue Armory has been the setting for a wide variety of cultural, social, athletic, political and military events. Built between 1877 and 1881, the innovative Drill Hall and lavish reception and company rooms reflect the importance of the Armory as both a military facility and a gathering place for New York society. The artistic interiors by Louis C. Tiffany, Stanford White, Herter Brothers, and others are landmarks of design and artistic achievement. Equally remarkable, the vast 55,000 sq. ft. Drill Hall with its soaring 80 ft. vaulted ceiling, is reminiscent of the great train sheds of Europe. In its space, concerts and balls, matches and drills, and rallies and memorials took place, attended by queens and first ladies, maestros and champions, actors and activists, debutantes and soldiers. This exhibition looks back on a selection of the notable activities that have taken place here over the last 128 years.

DATE: Wednesday October 3 - February 24, open during show hours

PRESENTED BY: The Park Avenue Armory, curated by Nina Gray and designed by Pentragram

HOST: The Park Avenue Armory, Mary Divver Room