The Chatsworth Apartments and Annex are magnificent Beaux Arts buildings at the foot of West 72nd Street, overlooking the Hudson River and Riverside Park. The eight-story annex was built two years after the 12-story main building; the two are distinctively separate except for a unifying limestone base. Although not apparent from the front (W 72nd Street), the Chatsworth itself is two buildings. The second, with a less elaborate facade, is now visible only from W 71st Street. Donald Trump’s Harmony House condo (2003) blocks the buildings’ west facades, which used to overlook the abandoned West Side rail yard (and the Hudson River, beyond).
The most lavish of Chatsworth’s 66 apartments ranged from five to 15 rooms, which rented for $900 to $5,000 per year (1904 dollars!). The smaller Chatsworth Apartments Annex had one apartment per each of its eight floors.
Take time to read the Daytonian in Manhattan piece for some fascinating history; The New York Times three pieces detail tenants’ battles with the landlord and with Donald Trump.
Chatsworth Apartments and Annex Vital Statistics
- Location: 344 and (annex) 340 W 72nd Street at Riverside Drive
- Year completed: 1904 and 1906 (annex)
- Architect: John E. Scharsmith
- Floors: 12 and 8 (annex)
- Style: Beaux Arts
- New York City Landmark: 1984
- National Register of Historic Places: 1985
Chatsworth Apartments and Annex Recommended Reading
- NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission designation report
- Beyond the Gilded Age blog
- Daytonian in Manhattan blog
- City Realty listing
- The New York Times Streetscapes column (1992: the Trump Threat)
- The New York Times article (1996: tenants get relief)
- The New York Times article (2002: Chatsworth v. Trump)
- The Chatsworth website