3. There Was a Farm on the Roof with 500 Chickens, Ducks, Goats and a Small Bear
The developer of The Ansonia, William Earl Dodge Stokes, was the son of Caroline Stokes, the heiress to the Ansonia copper fortune. Part of his original Utopian vision for The Ansonia (far advanced for his time) was to have a self-sufficient building with its own rooftop farm. Unlike the rooftop farms popular in New York City today, this one had its own menagerie of livestock. Fresh eggs were delivered to tenants daily from the 500 chickens and surplus was sold in the basement to the public at cheap prices. The Department of Health got wind and shut down the operation, and like most other unwanted animals in New York City, they went to the Central Park Zoo. The article didn’t have much to say about the small bear, but we’d like to know more.
Other amenities in the building included a bank, dentist, physicians, apothecary, barbershop, flower shop, tailor, wholesale wine, liquor and cigar shop, and laundry.
