Studio Building aka Studio Apartments (not to be confused with 140 W 57th Street Studio Building – The Beaufort) has just 32 apartments – but what apartments! At this writing, one of those three-bedroom cooperative apartments is on the market for $15.5 million. The mid-block building overlooks the Museum of Natural History on wide W 77th Street; the views more spectacular because living rooms (originally studios) are double height with floor-to-ceiling windows.
The building’s original facade was even more ornate – there was a massive oriel projecting from the top three floors, and an elaborate cornice that added a story to the building’s height. The New York Times notes that three quarters of the original ornament was stripped in the 1940s.
The architects – Herbert Spencer Harde and Richard Thomas Short – had a brief but showy partnership that resulted in four landmarked buildings: this and Red House, Alwyn Court, and 45 E 66th Street.
Studio Building Vital Statistics
- Location: 44 W 77th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue
- Year completed: 1909
- Architect: Harde & Short
- Floors: 14
- Style: Neo-Gothic
- New York City Landmark: 1973 (part of the Central Park West – 76th Street Historic District)
- National Register of Historic Places: 1983
Studio Building Recommended Reading
- Wikipedia entry (Harde & Short)
- NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission designation report
- City Realty review
- The New York Times Real Estate listing (May 13, 2013: click tabs for floor plan, virtual tour, interiors)
- The New York Times Streetscapes column (2005)
- The New York Times Streetscapes column (1992)
- Prewar Passion blog
- Connecting The Windy City blog (Harde & Short)