Claremont Riding Academy

The Claremont Riding Academy, which stood for over a century on West eighty-ninth Street, began its life in eighteen ninety-two as a livery stable. At that time, horses were the primary mode of transportation in New York City, even predating the appearance of the automobile on city streets by six years. The building was designed with an ingenious system of interior ramps that allowed horses to be moved easily between the basement and upper floors, a feature that kept it functional long after the city’s other stables had been converted into garages.