New Visions of Old New York Exhibit Brings Thrill of History to Hall of Records Building

There’s a new history exhibit in town!

It’s called “New Visions of Old New York” and it’s not in a museum but rather one of the city’s grandest municipal structures, the incredible—and open to all, for free—Hall of Records Building at 31 Chambers Street.

Designed in the French Second Empire Beaux-Arts that embodied the newly consolidated city’s late 19th and early 20th aesthetic ideals, the stunning seven-story edifice was constructed from 1899 to 1911, with various financing and other disputes accounting for the delay.

Its final cost of $7 million—around $200 million today—seems like a pretty good deal given its stunning design and the incomprehensible public construction costs of today.

Among the building’s construction materials are an exterior made of Hallowell granite from Maine; oak from England; mahogany from the Dominican Republic; interior marble from Italy, Belgium, Asia and the U.S.; and literally tons of custom cast bronze.

A great quote from Mayor Robert Van Wyck (1898-1901)—best known today for his namesake expressway in Queens—skeptically acknowledges the Hall of Records opulence: “We’re building an office, not an opera house.”

In any case, the Hall of Records was officially renamed the Surrogates Courthouse in 1962 in recognition of another of its functions. This was unfortunate, as even then the Surrogate Court system was a sink of political hackery and corruption—especially in its disposition of estates with no wills—that good government advocates across the political spectrum decry to this day.

Thankfully, the memory and functions of the Hall of Records remain at 31 Chambers, including the Municipal Archives and perhaps the greatest of all city agency acronyms, DORIS, short for Department of Records and Information Services.

It’s DORIS—a feisty but friendly old dame who shares her name with this genealogy reporter’s paternal grandmother—who New Yorkers have to thank for the “New Visions of Old New York” exhibition, as well as the other numerous exhibits that have graced its rooms over the years.

Created in collaboration with the New Amsterdam History Center, the exhibit’s stated purpose is to examine “the lives of women, enslaved people, and Native Americans and how they shaped the culture of the Dutch West India Company settlement that eventually became New York City.”

While Dutch colonial rule lasted only fifty years, from 1624 to 1674, its legacy was much longer lasting, with Dutch speakers—and their slaves, and indentured servants—prominent in parts of Kings and Queens counties well into the 19th century. Remarkably, some Dutch era buildings survive in both of these boroughs.

In Manhattan, it’s the Dutch streetscape, if not its architecture, that’s yet recognizable, a fact which the “New Visions” exhibit brings dramatically to life in its large interactive map of 17th century Lower Manhattan, from the Battery to around Wall Street.

This map, which is shown on giant touch enabled video screen, starts with an aerial view of lower Manhattan, with has red dots marking eleven key locations.

Pressing the red dot begins an animation in which the viewer is brought down to street level at Stuyvesant House; Kierstede House; Fort Amsterdam; a Dutch Church; Broadway; City Hall; House of Enslaved Workers; Canal; Company Garden; and The Wall, this last being the northern defensive border of the city at what ultimately named Wall Street.

Each location features people, animals, structures as well as an explanatory text at the end and the animation runs around 25-30 seconds. There’s so much fascinating detail in each location most visitors will want to watch them multiple times.

Other artifacts and maps are also on display, most with a “QR Code” one can scan with their phone for further information. Bravo!

New Visions of Old New York is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday, through December 19, 2025. Admission is free.