The local paper for the Upper East Side ON THE FRONT LINES – AND THE HOME FRONT
WEEK OF AUGUST
17-23
<P.12
2017
THE DOGS OF PARK AVENUE PUP ART Portraits of canine companions of King Charles, Queens Victoria and Barbara and George H.W. Bush will grace new midtown museum BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
Developer Peter Kalikow (center left) in front of his building at 101 Park Avenue, which will be the new home of the American Kennel Club and its Museum of the Dog. At far left is AKC President and CEO Dennis Sprung, with AKC executives, dog owners, dog handlers, and of course, dogs. Photo: Nancy Epstein / H.J. Kalikow & Co. LLC
Park Avenue is going to the dogs — literally. Foxhounds, deerhounds, mastiffs, salukis, clumber spaniels, long-haired terriers, Great Danes, Japanese Chins, Alaskan Malamutes and English Setters — or at least their artistic representations — will soon occupy a spanking new home on East 40th Street. It’s a mere trot from Grand Central. And it’s poised to become the city’s new Purebred Central. Why there? As is so often the case in New York, there’s a deeply simple two-word answer: Real estate. The American Kennel Club just signed a lease for 60,000 square feet of space in the Kalikow Building at 101
Park Ave. in midtown. As part of the deal, it is taking 18,500 square feet in which it will house a cultural treasure, the AKC Museum of the Dog. Billed as one of the only museums in the world dedicated to a concept that lives forever – “love and devotion” — it is a one-of-a-kind collection of great canine paintings created by animalloving artists who capture noble and soulful dogs, and the good cheer they bring their owners. “The mission is to share with the dog-loving population the values and the beauty of the human-canine bond through art,” said Gina DiNardo, executive secretary of the American Kennel Club. “We’re thrilled to be coming back to New York and bringing with us the largest collection of fine dog art in the world,” she added. Coming back? Yes, then known as the Dog Museum of America, it was founded in 1982 in the New York Life Insurance Building, at 51 Madison
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HOW SAFE IS YOUR SCHOOL’S WATER? The city’s Department of Education has released the results of lead testing on water in local schools following a Freedom of Information Law request filed by Straus News. See which schools in your neighborhood had elevated lead levels on PAGE 5
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