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Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden II
Full name	Madison Square Garden
Location	New York City, New York
Coordinates	40°44′34″N 73°59′08″W / 40.74278°N 73.98556°WCoordinates: 40°44′34″N 73°59′08″W / 40.74278°N 73.98556°W
Opened	1890
Closed	1925
Capacity	8,000
Tenants
	Democratic National Convention (1924)

Madison Square Garden II was the name of an indoor arena in New York City. Built in 1890 and closing in 1925, the arena hosted the Democratic National Convention in 1924. Its seating capacity was 8,000 spectators. It was eventually replaced by the third Madison Square Garden.

It was located at 26th and Madison Avenue was designed by Stanford White, who would later be killed at the Garden's rooftop restaurant. White kept an apartment in the tower; there are conflicting accounts of whether the infamous "red velvet swing" was located there, or in a nearby building on 24th Street.^[1]

The new structure was 200 feet (61 m) by 485 feet (148 m) of Moorish architecture with a minaret-like tower soaring 32 stories over Madison Square Park and was the city's second tallest building. The Garden's main hall, which was the largest in the world, measured 200 by 350 feet (110 m) with permanent seating for 8,000 people and floor space for thousands more.

Topping the garden was a statue of Diana, by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. The original bronze statue was 18 ft (5.5 m) tall and weighed 1,800 lb (820 kg)., but spun with the wind. It was placed on top of the tower in 1891, but was soon thought to be too large by Saint-Gaudens and White, the architect. (It was removed and placed on top of a building at The World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago - the bottom half was destroyed by a fire after the close of the Exhibition, and the top half was lost.) In 1893 a gilded, hollow copper, 2nd version of Diana, replaced the original on top of the Garden tower. This 2nd version was 13 ft (4.0 m). tall and is now at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and a copy is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Saint-Gaudens made several smaller variants in bronze, one of which was on display in the entryway of Madison Square Garden III, and also in a similar location in the current Garden, MSG IV.

It hosted the 1924 Democratic National Convention, which nominated John W. Davis after 103 ballots. Afterwards, it was torn down to make way for the landmark New York Life Insurance Building.

White was a member of the architecture firm McKim, Mead and White which designed Pennsylvania Station which was torn down to make way for MSG IV. The firm also designed the James Farley Post Office which is being proposed as the anchor for the proposed new Pennsylvania Station. The New York Life Insurance Company decided to demolish Madison Square Garden.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

^ Dworin, Caroline H. (2007-11-04). "The Girl, the Swing and a Row House in Ruins". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/nyregion/thecity/04swin.html. Retrieved 2008-08-19.

[edit] External links

Arena information

Preceded by San Francisco Civic Auditorium	Host of the Democratic National Convention 1924	Succeeded by Sam Houston Hall

[0] Dworin, Caroline H. (2007-11-04). "The Girl, the Swing and a Row House in Ruins". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/nyregion/thecity/04swin.html. Retrieved 2008-08-19.

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