Augustus Winniett Peters | |
---|---|
1st Manhattan Borough President | |
In office January 1, 1898 – December 29, 1898 | |
Succeeded by | James Jay Coogan |
Personal details | |
Born | Saint John, New Brunswick | June 10, 1844
Died | December 29, 1898 Manhattan, New York City | (aged 54)
Augustus Winniett Peters (June 10, 1844 – December 29, 1898) was a Canadian-born New York City political figure who served as the 1st Manhattan Borough President.[1]
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Transcription
(jazz music) Dr. Zucker: We're in St. Peter's Basilica. Dr. Harris: Standing right beside the baldacchino. Dr. Zucker: In the crossing, directly under Michelangelo's dome, which is so high it's breathtaking. We're looking past the baldacchino, which is actually not easy to do, taking in an extraordinary, I was about to call it a sculpture, but it's more than a sculpture, it's architecture, it's sculpture, it's stained glass. It's the Cathedra Petri. Dr. Harris: The chair is bronze and it encases a older wooden chair. Dr. Zucker: Which is believed by tradition to have belonged to Saint Peter. Dr. Harris: It appears to float effortlessly in the air on a kind of canopy held by four church fathers. Dr. Zucker: It's not that they're lifting, so much as they're restraining the chair. Dr. Harris: Right, it seems to be almost being assumed into heaven and all around, pouring from either side of the chair, pushing up from below, are golden clouds that raise up the throne and that surround it and that almost seem to push it forward in a way, too. Dr. Zucker: It's true, and almost just sink down into our world. Dr. Harris: Right, this kind of pouring into our world, such a baroque thing. Dr. Zucker: The spiritual is also clearly represented by these gold rays that move much more quickly out into our space, out into the cathedral. Dr. Harris: Through the clouds, right? Dr. Zucker: Through the clouds and over and past the pilasters, the actual architecture of the church and that frame themselves a cloud of angels that dance and spin and they, in turn, frame the stained glass, this beautiful stained glass representation of the holy spirit. The dove, which is itself the centerpiece, in a sense, the focal point of the entire cathedral. Dr. Harris: And that dove is represented within concentric oval shapes, so you get this feeling of rising and moving toward the center of the world. Dr. Zucker: That's right, it's a kind of almost visual multiplication and an intensification until we reach the Holy Spirit itself. Dr. Harris: What always amazes me about Bernini and everything that we've seen in Rome is this way that he's willing to think about architecture in a new way, instead of something that is heavy and encloses space, if you think about the Pantheon or just generally what architecture is supposed to do, he makes architecture into this porous thing, almost. Dr. Zucker: It becomes a playful stage. Dr. Harris: Right. Dr. Zucker: It becomes something that can be, in some ways, overwhelmed by the theatricality that he brings to his, almost, set pieces. Dr. Harris: Yeah, but he's painted, essentially, using stucco, painted with gold on top of marble, to me. Dr. Zucker: It's an extraordinary mix. You've got the brilliant light of the stained glass window, which actually is illuminated by the sky beyond, you have the gilded stucco, you have the bronze, which is, in part, gilded, as well, you have the marble, which can be brilliantly white, but also colored, and it becomes this kaleidoscope of form and color and light and it's dizzying and beautiful, but when I say dizzying I don't want to suggest that it's unfocused, because it's tremendously unified. Dr. Harris: And perfect in the scale of it, in the (unintelligible). (jazz music)
Biography
Peters was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, on June 10, 1844. He was raised and educated in New Brunswick, studied law, and became an attorney. In 1867, he moved to New York City as the lawyer for Ralph, King & Halleck, a firm that traded on the New York Gold Exchange. In 1875, he became a member of the Gold Exchange, and in 1876 he was appointed its Secretary. Peters also later became a member of the New York Mining Exchange.[2]
In 1878 Peters became Chairman of the New York Consolidated Exchange, a combination of the several different commodities exchanges.[3] Peters remained as chairman until resigning to take office as Manhattan Borough President. Upon his resignation as chairman, he was appointed the Exchange's Second Vice President.[1]
Peters, a lifelong bachelor, was a veteran of the militia in New Brunswick. He continued his military service in New York, attaining the rank of sergeant major in the New York Old Guard, a ceremonial unit whose members were mostly veterans of previous military service.[4]
A large, athletic man, Peters was involved in several amateur sports clubs and competitions, and was an accomplished cricket player and swimmer. Peters was also a capable singer and amateur actor, and belonged to choirs and drama clubs in New York City.[5]
Peters was also a Freemason and attained the 33rd Degree of the Scottish Rite.[6]
Having become a citizen of the United States soon after arriving in New York, Peters became active in the Tammany Hall Democratic Party organization. In 1893 he became President of Tammany's General Committee, and in 1894 he was an unsuccessful candidate for New York County Sheriff.[7] In 1894 Peters was also an unsuccessful candidate for President of the Board of Aldermen.[8]
In 1897, Peters was elected borough president of Manhattan. The five borough presidencies were created as the result of organizing Greater New York, which consolidate the five boroughs under one Mayor.[9][10]
Peters served as borough president until his sudden death from a heart attack at his Manhattan, New York City, home on December 29, 1898. His remains were returned to New Brunswick for burial.[1]
References
- ^ a b c "Augustus W. Peters Dead" (PDF). The New York Times. December 30, 1898.
- ^ Mitchell C. Harrison, New York State's Prominent and Progressive Men: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Biography (1902), vol. 3, pp. 275 to 276.
- ^ The Republic Press, Club Men of New York (1893), p. 360.
- ^ Mitchell C. Harrison, New York State's Prominent and Progressive Men.
- ^ Scottish Rite Supreme Council for the Northern Jurisdiction, Annual Meeting Proceedings (1899), pp. 215 to 216.
- ^ Morgan, Henry James, ed. (1898). The Canadian Men and Women of the Time: A Handbook of Canadian Biography (first ed.). Toronto: William Briggs. p. 816.
- ^ Martin B. Brown & Co., [The Brown Book: A Biographical Record of Public Officials of the City of New York City for 1898–99] (1898), pp. 48–50.
- ^ New York Times, The City's Official Vote, November 24, 1894.
- ^ New York Times, Tammany's Conventions, October 8, 1897.
- ^ New York Times, New Borough President, January 6, 1899.