Mendelssohn on the Hudson

Mendelssohn on the Hudson


Episode 8: Westphalia (Opus 53, No. 1)

September 30, 2021

Southwest corner of Cabrini Boulevard & 190th St. outside 900 West 190th



We’re at the southwest corner of Cabrini Boulevard & 190th, in front of 900 West 190th, or Cabrini Terrace. It’s the neighborhood’s tallest and - built in the mid-1950s - one of its newest structures. Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital of Hungary, which was on the northwest corner, served the uptown population until 1981. If you're curious, here's the Revolutionary War Mural of Washington Heights, NYC. 

Ursula, who lived on this corner, was in a forced-labor camp at Kassel Bettenhausen when she was a teen. Music saved her life during the nine months she was there, right before the Allies liberated the camp in 1945. Decades later, Ursula shares her story with anyone who’d like to hear it, and she still bursts into song.