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Williamsburgh Savings Bank (Tower)

Brooklyn, , , , , , , , , ,

Williamsburgh Savings Bank is New York architecture that entertains from afar – and from close up. The tower’s graceful taper dominates the Brooklyn skyline for miles; the Rene Chambellan sculpture around the base fascinates passers-by. More sculpture, mosaics, and majestic vaulted ceilings overwhelm visitors inside.

The landmark fulfills architect Robert Helmer’s wish that the tower “be regarded as a cathedral dedicated to the furtherance of thrift and prosperity of the community it serves.” Not bad for a tiny bank that started out in the basement of a (now-demolished) church in 1851, before Williamsburgh dropped the “h” from its name.

Architects Halsey, McCormack & Helmer specialized in banks, so it is a little ironic that one of the firm’s non-bank buildings was the Central Methodist Episcopal Church – right next door to their “cathedral of thrift.”

The building is based on a steel “portal frame” – a special structure designed to support the weight of the massive tower above the equally massive void of the banking hall. (Think of this as a 35-story office building on top of a six-story church.) The bank insisted – over the architects’ objections – on a gilded dome as a crown for the tower. The dome was an architectural reference to Williamsburgh Savings Bank’s original headquarters in downtown Williamsburg.

When built, this was the tallest building in Brooklyn, and the clock was the largest four-sided clock tower in the world. “Brooklyn’s wristwatch” sometimes had trouble keeping time, but it seems to have been fixed. Although this was its headquarters, Williamsburgh Savings Bank only used two floors (above the banking level) as offices. The rest of the tower was rented – and for some reason, mostly to dentists!

Williamsburgh Savings Bank was acquired by Republic National Bank, and then merged into HSBC. In 2005, a partnership of the Dermot Company and Canyon-Johnson Urban Funds bought the tower. The lower floors were converted to Skylight One Hanson – event space – while the upper floors became 1 Hanson Place luxury condominiums.

The tower has the distinction of being triple-designated by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission: as an individual landmark (1977), as part of an historic district (1978), and as an interior landmark (1996).

Urban Omnibus has an exceptional narrative on the building’s history.

Williamsburgh Savings Bank Vital Statistics
  • Location: 1 Hanson Place at Ashland Place
  • Year completed: 1929
  • Architect: Halsey, McCormack & Helmer
  • Floors: 41
  • Style: neo-Romanesque
  • New York City Landmark: 1977, 1978 (Brooklyn Academy of Music HD), 1996 (interior)
Williamsburgh Savings Bank Recommended Reading

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Riverside Memorial Chapel

Manhattan, , , , , , , , , , ,

Riverside Memorial Chapel is suitably somber, suitably monumental for a funeral home. The structure is actually two buildings: The smaller 180 W 76th Street was given a new facade and joined to 331 Amsterdam Avenue in 1946.

The building underwent renovation and restoration in 1994-1998.

Riverside Memorial Chapel Vital Statistics
  • Location: 331 Amsterdam Avenue / 180 W 76th Street
  • Year completed: 1926
  • Architect: Frank J. Furman and Ralph Segal; renovation by Belmont Freeman
  • Floors: 4
  • Style: neo-French Renaissance with Gothic elements
  • New York City Landmark: 1990
Riverside Memorial Chapel Recommended Reading

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235 W 76th Street

Manhattan, , , , , , , ,

235 W 76th Street, aka The Colorado,* is a pre-war apartment building in Renaissance Revival style, enlivened by colorful terra cotta in the base and crown.

The building’s architect – Robert T. Lyons – is best known for his Beaux Arts masterpiece on Central Park West, the St. Urban.

* Not to be confused with the same-named Upper East Side condo.

235 W 76th Street Vital Statistics
  • Location: 235 W 76th Street at Broadway
  • Year completed: 1925
  • Architect: Robert T. Lyons
  • Floors: 15
  • Style: Renaissance Revival
235 W 76th Street Recommended Reading

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334 Amsterdam Avenue

Manhattan, , , , , , , , ,

334 Amsterdam Avenue, aka Samuel Priest Rose Building, is the home of the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan. The gray brick and blue glass cube is striking; its materials, style and colors stand out on an avenue dominated by earth-tone classic masonry structures.

The building’s recreational facilities – including a gymnasium and tenth-floor swimming pool – created unusual design challenges.

Architectural trivia: The center’s after-school activities include construction classes for budding architects! Dubbed “Crazy Constructions,” the program lets 6- and 7-year-olds “Design and build towers, bridges, houses, rollercoasters, and other superstructures. Join Dazzling Discoveries as you explore and experiment with plastic bricks, wood, paper, and many other materials. Students will learn about engineering, architecture, and physics while inventing and creating their own toys and projects.”

334 Amsterdam Avenue Vital Statistics
  • Location: 334 Amsterdam Avenue at W 76th Street
  • Year completed: 2002
  • Architect: Diamond Schmitt Architects
  • Floors: 13
  • Style: Postmodern
334 Amsterdam Avenue Recommended Reading

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The Laureate

Manhattan, , , , , , ,

The Laureate is a modern condominium in a neighborhood dominated by landmark buildings almost a century older. The building is striking for its rounded corner, plentiful, ornate balconies, and sparkling white facades.

The Laureate Vital Statistics
  • Location: 2150 Broadway at W 76th Street
  • Year completed: 2010
  • Architect: SLCE
  • Floors: 18
  • Style: Postmodern
The Laureate Recommended Reading

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Beacon Hotel and Theater

Manhattan, , , , , , , , ,

Beacon Hotel and Theater share a Broadway facade, but it’s the theater’s interior that keeps getting rave reviews. Conceived as part of the Roxy theater chain, the showplace was described by the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) as “…a lavish space with stylistic effects drawn from the traditions of Greek, Roman, Renaissance, and Rococo architecture.”

The buildings are a collaboration of Samuel L. Rothafel – better known as Roxy – and The Chanin Construction Company. LPC explains, “Undoubtedly pleased with the success of combining three theaters with the Hotel Lincoln, thereby providing common building services for all, the Chanins saw a combination theater-hotel structure to be a logical solution for the site.”

Alas, Roxy’s plans did not pan out. Warner Bros. Pictures wound up with the theater lease. The Beacon continued as a movie theater until 1974, when the programs switched to live performances. The LPC designated the interior a landmark in 1979. In 1986 developers wanted to convert the Beacon to a disco – plans that were halted by a judge who said the conversion would irreparably harm the landmark’s architecture. Madison Square Garden Entertainment’s parent company, Cablevision, leased the Beacon in 2006. Cablevision restored the theater at a reported cost of $10 million. Madison Square Garden Company now manages the Beacon.

P.S. It’s called Beacon Hotel because of an airplane beacon on the roof.

Beacon Hotel and Theater Vital Statistics
  • Location: 2130 Broadway at W 75th Street
  • Year completed: 1929
  • Architect: Walter W. Ahlschlager
  • Floors: 24
  • Style: Beaux Arts
  • New York City Landmark: 1979 (theater interior)
  • National Register of Historic Places: 1982
Beacon Hotel and Theater Recommended Reading

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West End Avenue (W 76 – W 86)

Collections, Manhattan, , , ,

West End Avenue – the stretch of 11th Avenue above W 59th Street – is one of New York’s architectural time capsules. The avenue boasts four historic districts, from W 70th Street to W 94th Street. The West End Preservation Society even argued that the entire avenue should be an historic district.

Personally, I find this half-mile section between W 76th and W 86th to be the most picturesque.

West End Avenue Selected Buildings

Odd-numbered buildings are on the west side of the avenue; even-numbered buildings are on the east side.

  • Address/Name | Architect | Year Completed
  • W 75th – W 76th Streets
  • 333 WEA | Emery Roth | 1925
  • 336 WEA | Boak & Paris | 1932
  • W 76th – W 77th Streets
  • 341 WEA | Lamb & Rich | 1891
  • 343 WEA | Lamb & Rich | 1891
  • 345 WEA | Lamb & Rich | 1891
  • 347 WEA | Lamb & Rich | 1891
  • 349 WEA | Lamb & Rich | 1891
  • 351 WEA | Lamb & Rich | 1891
  • 353 WEA | Lamb & Rich | 1891
  • 355 WEA | Lamb & Rich | 1891
  • 357 WEA | Lamb & Rich | 1891
  • 340 WEA | Edward L. Angell | 1890
  • 342 WEA | Edward L. Angell | 1890
  • 344 WEA | Edward L. Angell | 1890
  • 346 WEA | Edward L. Angell | 1890
  • 348 WEA | Edward L. Angell | 1890
  • 350 WEA | Clarence True | 1892
  • 352 WEA | Clarence True | 1892
  • 354 WEA | Clarence True | 1892
  • 356 WEA | Clarence True | 1892
  • 358 WEA | Clarence True | 1892
  • W 77th – W 78th Streets
  • 365 WEA | Sugarman, Hess & Berger | 1924
  • 375 WEA | Schwartz & Gross | 1911
  • 360 WEA – West End Collegiate Church | Robert W. Gibson | 1892
  • 378 WEA | Schwartz & Gross | 1915
  • W 78th – W 79th Streets
  • 380-390 WEA – Apthorp Apartments | Clinton & Russell | 1908
  • W 79th – W 80th Streets
  • 411 WEA | George F. Pelham, Jr. | 1936
  • 400 WEA – Wexford | Margon & Holder | 1931
  • W 80th – W 81st Streets
  • 425 WEA | Townsend & Harde | 1900
  • 431 WEA – Calhoun School | Costas Machlouzarides | 1975
  • 420 WEA | Schwartz & Gross | 1916
  • W 81st – W 82nd Streets
  • 441-451 WEA | George F. Pelham | 1926
  • 440 WEA | Schwartz & Gross | 1928
  • 450 WEA | Boak & Paris | 1931
  • W 82nd – W 83rd Streets
  • 460 WEA – Mickey Mantle School (Public School 9) | C.B.J. Snyder | 1896
  • W 83rd – W 84th Streets
  • 483 WEA | Schwartz & Gross | 1915
  • 495 WEA – Hohenzollern | George F. Pelham | 1907
  • 490 WEA | Neville & Bagge | 1913
  • W 84th – W 85th Streets
  • W 85th – W 86th Streets
  • W 86th – W 87th Streets
  • 263 W 86th Street – Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew | R.H. Robertson | 1897
West End Avenue Recommended Reading

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215 W 75th Street

Manhattan, , , , , , , ,

215 W 75th Street, aka Majestic Towers, is a sedate Upper West Side cooperative now – but it roared in the ’20s as a brothel and speakeasy!

According to a history originally published on the building’s now-dormant website, the structure was designed as a bordello. Celebrities and celebrated madam Polly Adler called this home. During police raids, patrons could escape via reputed “secret” staircases. (Naysayers pooh-pooh the idea, and say the stairs were just fire escapes required by the building code of the time.)

Architecturally, the building follows the traditional base-shaft-crown organization. The three-story crown is the most expressive feature, with white terra cotta decoration.

Majestic Towers became a cooperative in 1989.

215 W 75th Street Vital Statistics
  • Location: 215 W 75th Street at Broadway
  • Year completed: 1924
  • Architect: Schwartz & Gross
  • Floors: 15
  • Style: Renaissance Revival
215 W 75th Street Recommended Reading

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Brooklyn Fire Department Headquarters

Brooklyn, , , , , , , , ,

Brooklyn Fire Department Headquarters, “architecturally one of the finest buildings in Brooklyn,” has been restored to its 1892 magnificence. Amazingly, the downtown landmark was renovated without displacing tenants – and all 18 units of the formerly city-owned building were retained as “affordable housing.”

In his “Streetscapes” column, Christopher Gray notes that this building was Brooklyn’s answer to Manhattan’s Fire Department Headquarters (now the home of Engine 39/Ladder 16). After the City of Brooklyn became part of New York City in 1898, the headquarters functions shifted to Manhattan. The fire department used the building into the 1970s, then the city leased it to Polytechnic University. In 1989 the city converted the building to 18 apartments for low-income and senior residents.

After years of decay, the city launched a complex rehabilitation plan in 2013. As reported in The Brownstoner, the rehab involved The Pratt Area Community Council (PACC) as the developer, with financing from the City of New York (HPD), the Community Preservation Corp (CPC), and LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation). The project also received funding though Historic Preservation Tax Credits, and a grant through the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation. Nomad Architecture was the project architect, and the Historic Preservation Consultant was Thomas A. Fenniman, Architect. MDG Design & Construction was the development partner and the contractor.

The arched doorway no longer admits fire trucks, and the legend “FIRE HEAD-QUARTERS” has been replaced by terra cotta scrollwork. Otherwise, welcome back to 1892 and the City of Brooklyn.

Brooklyn Fire Department Headquarters Vital Statistics
  • Location: 365 Jay Street between Willoughby and Tillary Streets
  • Year completed: 1892
  • Architect: Frank Freeman
  • Floors: 7
  • Style: Richardsonian Romanesque
  • New York City Landmark: 1966
  • National Register of Historic Places: 1972
Brooklyn Fire Department Headquarters Recommended Reading

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Bronx County Hall of Justice

Bronx, , , , , , , ,

Bronx County Hall of Justice reverses centuries of tradition: The aluminum and glass facades are designed for openness and transparency instead of monumental intimidation.

According to the architects, “The image of the courthouse in society was of primary concern in the design of the building. The program is organized in a linear manner around an open civic space and layered from public to private, with the public circulation, animated by a series of cantilevered stairs, facing the open space. Within the courtyard sets a free-standing public building that serves as the jury assembly room, gives scale to the space, and is the symbolic as well as formal focus of the project. The exterior wall design responds to the various functions within and orientations of the building. The curtain wall facing the south and west takes the shape of a folded plane with integrated light shelves that reflect light into the courtrooms and shade the adjacent corridor. The intent is to express the building as open and inviting, a metaphor for the transparency of the judicial process.”

The building is a dazzling contrast to the Bronx Criminal Court, next door, and the Bronx County Building (originally Bronx County Courthouse) at Grand Concourse, just two blocks west.

Despite its openness, the Hall of Justice was built with security in mind: The glass walls are bullet- and blast-resistant.

While the building’s design was exceptional, the construction was anything but. The construction site was contaminated, the low-bidding contractor was disqualified for suspected mob ties, the underground garage was deemed unsafe, and air conditioning for the court computers didn’t work. The four-year, $325 million project stretched accordion-like to six years and $421 million, opening in 2008.

Bronx County Hall of Justice Vital Statistics
  • Location: 265 East 161st Street between Sherman and Morris Avenues
  • Year completed: 2008
  • Architect: Rafael Viñoly Architects
  • Floors: 10
  • Style: Postmodern
Bronx County Hall of Justice Recommended Reading

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