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Lot Essay
Until recently, the present lot was the final remnant and marker of the former grounds of the expansive casino and theatre, Eldorado, which sat atop the Palisades in Weehawken, New Jersey. Eldorado was the collaborative effort of a troupe of Hudson Valley investors, including former mayor, Herman Walker, who became known as the Palisades Amusement and Exhibition Company. The casino, comprising arenas, an amplitheatre and a towering Moorish-style castle, drew well-to-do New York City revellers for Orientalist-themed theatrics, daily concerts and sweeping panoramas of Manhattan and the Hudson.
The griffin itself either graced the entrance of the park as one of a pair, or was an integral part of a monumental fountain awash with Nereids, hippocampi and dolphins which sat within steps of the entrance. When the attraction of the park eventually faded late in the 19th Century, the main Moorish-style edifice and other surrounding buildings were purchased by Austrian-born architectural sculptor, Karl Bitter, who converted the structures into a residence and studio before the main structure burned in 1898.
In May of 1979, the figure mysteriously disappeared from the current owner's residence where the casino once stood. After weeks of intensive investigation and outside aid from a New York City fine arts detective, the griffin was finally recovered and returned to its perch overlooking the Hudson River.
An example of this model was exibited by J.W. Fiske & Co. at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition (see illustration).
The griffin itself either graced the entrance of the park as one of a pair, or was an integral part of a monumental fountain awash with Nereids, hippocampi and dolphins which sat within steps of the entrance. When the attraction of the park eventually faded late in the 19th Century, the main Moorish-style edifice and other surrounding buildings were purchased by Austrian-born architectural sculptor, Karl Bitter, who converted the structures into a residence and studio before the main structure burned in 1898.
In May of 1979, the figure mysteriously disappeared from the current owner's residence where the casino once stood. After weeks of intensive investigation and outside aid from a New York City fine arts detective, the griffin was finally recovered and returned to its perch overlooking the Hudson River.
An example of this model was exibited by J.W. Fiske & Co. at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition (see illustration).