The Rotunda was built at the initiative of American artist
John Vanderlyn to display panoramic paintings. Historians,
Edwin G. Burrows and
Mike Wallace, note that Vanderlyn was motivated by the refusal of the city's cultural elite to exhibit works such as his nude
Ariadne Asleep on the Island of Naxos, which they deemed an affront to public decency. Backed by
John Jacob Astor and other wealthy New Yorkers, he built the Rotunda. Widely regarded as the city's first art museum, it operated on a commercial footing. In the painting, to the right of the
Latona Fountain, Vanderlyn painted himself pointing towards Czar
Alexander I of Russia and King
Frederick William III of Prussia. Before his painting was completed and ready for public viewing, Vanderlyn obtained other panoramas to put on display, including
View of the Interior of the City of Paris by
Thomas Barker,
Attack of the Allied Forces on Paris March 30, 1814 by
Henry Aston Barker, and
Battle of Lodi by
Robert Ker Porter. The first exhibit at the building, Barker's panorama of Paris, opened to the public in October 1818. , New York City In August 1819, just two months after
Versailles was put on display, Vanderlyn was in debt and the Rotunda's Board of Trustees rented out rooms in the building to four artists—including
Louis Antoine Collas,
Ralph Earl and
John Rubens Smith—who lived there until 1820. Vanderlyn's
Versailles was displayed at the Rotunda until the fall of 1820. Other panoramas subsequently displayed in the building included the
View of Athens (loaned by
Harvard College) and the
View of the City of Mexico by
Robert Burford. Vanderlyn's request to renew the initial lease was rejected by the city, which ultimately took over the Rotunda in September 1829 and converted the building into a courthouse. The Rotunda was first used by the Court of Sessions and later by the Marine Court. It then became a naturalization office in 1834. After
Great Fire of New York in 1835 burned down the post office located in the basement of the
Merchants' Exchange on
Wall Street, the city offered the Rotunda to the federal government as a replacement. The post office remained at the Rotunda until February 1845, when it was relocated to the
Middle Dutch Church on
Nassau Street. From July 1845 until June 1848, the Rotunda was occupied by the New York Gallery of Fine Arts, which displayed the art collection formerly held by
Luman Reed. When the institution was later dissolved in 1858, its art collection was transferred to the
New-York Historical Society. In time the Rotunda's use changed again to housing government agencies, and the building was altered accordingly; modifications included two-story additions to the north and south sides of the building, with the latter including a
portico with four
Doric columns. The Croton Aqueduct Board was succeeded by the Croton Aqueduct Department in 1849, and
Alfred W. Craven was appointed as the chief engineer of the department. On November 5, 1852, in the offices of the Croton Aqueduct Department, the
American Society of Civil Engineers and Architects was founded at a meeting chaired by Craven. The civil engineering society held meetings at this location from 1853 to 1855. The Croton Aqueduct Department and other municipal offices occupied the building for a period of twenty years. ==References==