The Famous Players-Durland's Riding Academy Perplexity

"Ruins of Famous Players Film Company's Studio on West 26th Street, New York City, Destroyed by Fire Sept. 11." (The Moving Picture World, October 9, 1915.)

Not long after a September 11, 1915 fire destroyed the Famous Players Film Company studio at 213-229 W. 26th St. in New York City—which took with it Mary Pickford's original production of The Foundling directed by Allan Dwan, among other films—the company leased an old riding academy at 124-130 W. 56th St. While the new building was being renovated, production continued at the Famous Players auxiliary studio on old Clara Morris estate in Yonkers and existing plans for a new studio on Marble Hill in NYC remained underway. (It's worth noting, the extravagant Marble Hill "film city" never came to fruition and new facilities were ultimately constructed in Astoria, NY.)

What the press reported at the time, and thus what history now tells, is that the building Famous Players acquired was the old Durland's Riding Academy—arguably NYC's finest and most well-known riding academy. Contemporary headlines, several of which excessively long, read: "Durland's Academy Will Be Studio of Famous Players' Company," "Famous Players Gets Durland Academy," "FAMOUS PLAYERS' - New York City Studio - Durland's Riding Academy, a Large Building Centrally Located, Being Remodeled for Film Purposes," "GET DURLAND RIDING ACADEMY - Famous Players Secure Mammoth Structure and Will Reconstruct Building at Once for a Temporary Motion Picture Studio." And that is the perplexity. There seems to be no evidence that 124-130 W. 56th ever had anything to do with the Durland's Riding Academy!

Somehow I started digging into this and from what I can tell, the building was, in fact, the old Dickel's Riding Academy—not Durland's. If this is true, just about every source describing the history of Famous Players in one way or another—from books to the internet at large—is wrong. This is certainly a bold claim on my part, but see for yourself. 

124-130 W. 56th Street (More or less at least.  At times, the neighboring address numbers were included, omitted, etc. Other times only single address numbers were used.) [left] Dickel's Riding Academy, ca. 1893. [right] Famous Players Film Company studio, ca. 1916. Of course the buildings are clearly the same, but that is not proof enough as the property was utilized by several occupants over the years.

While this post is not a detailed writeup on the history of New York City's riding academies, a brief history of both Durland's and Dickel's is in order.

Durland's

In 1883, William Durland opened a horse stable at W. 60th St. and Broadway. Several years later, in 1887, he opened a riding academy in what was once a nearby rollerskating rink at W. 59th and Central Park West (the triangular tract of land north of Columbus Circle.) Finally, in 1901, Durland constructed a new building—self-described as “the largest and most handsomely equipped riding academy in the world”—at W. 66th and Central Park West. While Durland’s ceased operations in 1927, the building remained in the horse business for some time, but in 1949, ABC acquired it and it found a new life in television production.

Incidentally, there was a fire at Durland's W. 59th St. location in 1902 that was filmed for the Edison Company by none other than Edwin S. Porter. The Burning of Durland's Riding Academy is a 3-minute account of the fire and survives today. Porter would go on to direct several of Mary Pickford Famous Players films, including one of her best, Tess of the Storm Country (1914.) 

Dickel's

At some point in the 1800s, Christian Frederick Dickel opened the Dickel's Riding Academy. It is unclear exactly when or where it opened, but by 1853, it was located at 7-11 E. 13th St. In 1865, Dickel’s moved to the corner of 5th Avenue and E. 39th, and on December 3, 1878, before Durland's existence, it opened in the newly-constructed 124-130 W. 56th. By that time, Dickel's was reportedly the oldest riding academy in the city. In 1902, the building, along with several neighboring properties, were purchased by multi-millionaire James Henry Smith to be used for the "entertainment of his friends." The academy still shows at the address in the 1904 Trow's Directory, but it seems operations, under new ownership, were soon reorganized as the Metropolitan Riding Company the same year. In 1906, Smith died before his plans could come to fruition. After Metropolitan, several other businesses made use of the building including the Jandorf Automobile company in the early-1910s, and in late 1915, about when Famous Players acquired it, the Little Riding School was moving out to a new location.

As these two, albeit brief and concise, histories show, there is no record of Durland's having anything to do with the W. 56th St. building that went on to become the Famous Players studios. In fact, the building was even constructed for Dickel's. After scouring countless contemporary newspapers, publications, and directories, not even a single mention could be found.

So, what's the deal? Can an innocent mistake in a press release have caused this? Or was it a clever "mistake" done for publicity? It's a stretch, but Durland's was a well-known name in NYC at the time so why not use it? But then again, why wouldn't New York City's newspapers, which were surely aware of these riding academies, get it right? (Well, perhaps that last question is a bit rhetorical.) It's a mystery.

Ultimately, is this tiny detail the end of the world? Not really. But if history is wrong, it should be corrected. Or, am I missing something?

[left] Dickel's Riding Academy on W. 56th in 1885. [right] The building is unmarked in 1916. (source New York Public Library)