The Rotunda was built at the initiative of American artist John Vanderlyn to display panoramic paintings. According to historians Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, Vanderlyn was motivated by the refusal of the city's cultural elite to include paintings such as his nude Ariadne Asleep on the Island of Naxos[2] in public exhibitions on the grounds that it was an affront to public decency.[3] Backed by John Jacob Astor and other wealthy New Yorkers, he built The Rotunda. Widely regarded as the city's first art museum,[4][5][1] it operated on a commercial footing.[3]
The building was designed on the model of The Pantheon in Rome. It was fifty-six feet (17 m) in diameter, crowned with a thirty-foot (9.1 m) dome.[3]
In time its use changed to housing government agencies, and the building was altered accordingly.[4][1] On November 5, 1852, in the offices of the Croton Aqueduct Department, the American Society of Civil Engineers and Architects was founded.[5] The society held meetings at this location from 1853 to 1855.[7]
Today, a bronze plaque inside the park marks the site of the Rotunda.[5]