Tag Archives: Manhattan

1 Fifth Avenue

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1 Fifth Avenue, a pre-war apartment cooperative, was built as a “hotel” to justify its 27-story height. To meet zoning requirements, apartments lacked kitchens, instead had “pantries” – which tenants later converted to kitchens.

Thin vertical stripes of white and black brick on the flat facades give the illusion of projecting pillars, from a distance, emphasizing the building’s height.

1 Fifth Avenue Vital Statistics
  • Location: 1 Fifth Avenue at E 8th Street
  • Year completed: 1927
  • Architect: Helme & Corbett, Sugarman & Berger
  • Floors: 27
  • Style: Art Deco
  • New York City Landmark: 1969
1 Fifth Avenue Recommended Reading

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Manhasset Apartments

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Manhasset Apartments are near-twin Beaux Arts landmark buildings on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, instantly recognizable for their two-story slate mansard roof and imposing orange brick form.

The buildings were originally designed by architect Joseph Wolf as eight-story structures – then the legal limit for apartments. When the original developer went bankrupt, the new developer hired Janes & Leo to add three stories, taking advantage of new building codes. In the process, Janes & Leo changed the decorative style to Beaux Arts.

In 1910, a new set of owners added retail stores along Broadway.

The building’s current owners rebuilt the roof starting in late 1996; while the scaffolding was still up in March of ’99, an absent-minded restaurant chef set the building on fire.

Manhasset Apartments Vital Statistics
  • Location: 301 W 108th Street / 300 W 109th Street at Broadway
  • Year completed: 1905
  • Architect: Joseph Wolf, Janes & Leo
  • Floors: 11
  • Style: Beaux Arts
  • New York City Landmark: 1996
Manhasset Apartments Recommended Reading

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Scheffel Hall

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Scheffel Hall, named for German poet Joseph Victor von Scheffel, recalls the days of Kleindeutschland (Little Germany), home of German immigrants on the Lower East Side.

Carl Goerwitz, a waiter who emigrated to New York in 1873, took over the lease on 190 Third Avenue in 1894. He hired the architectural firm of Weber & Drosser to remodel the building and join it to adjacent buildings that he already owned. The elaborate facade mimics Friedrichsbau at Heidelberg Castle. According to the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission, the building is among the earliest surviving examples of terra cotta cladding.

In 1904 Goerwitz subleased the building, and it was eventually bought by adjacent Allaire’s restaurant. In the early 1900s the establishment was popular with politicians and writers (including O. Henry).

In more recent years the building was home to jazz club Fat Tuesday’s. It is now a pilates studio.

Scheffel Hall Vital Statistics
  • Location: 190 3rd Avenue
  • Year completed: 1895
  • Architect: Henry Adam Weber, Weber & Drosser
  • Floors: 4
  • Style: German Renaissance
  • New York City Landmark: 1997
Scheffel Hall Recommended Reading

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19 E 72nd Street

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19 E 72nd Street belies its Great Depression heritage. Clad in expensive limestone top to bottom, designed by two of New York’s premiere architects, this landmark apartment building is quietly elegant. Quite at home with the neighboring mansions and Madison Avenue boutiques.

19 E 72nd Street Vital Statistics
  • Location: 19 E 72nd Street at Madison Avenue
  • Year completed: 1937
  • Architect: Rosario Candela, Mott Schmidt
  • Floors: 16
  • Style: Modern, Neo-classical
  • New York City Landmark: 1981
19 E 72nd Street Recommended Reading

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30 E 85th Street

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30 E 85th Street towers over its Madison Avenue neighbors and sports an illuminated crown, but it’s the high ceilings and real plaster walls that make this condo stand out from contemporary apartment buildings.

According to The New York Times, some potential buyers forced another “prewar” touch – larger apartments. Original plans called for 104 apartments; some units were combined, reducing the total to 90.

30 E 85th Street Vital Statistics
  • Location: 30 E 85th Street at Madison Avenue
  • Year completed: 1987
  • Architect: Schuman, Lichtenstein, Clamon & Efron (SLCE)
  • Floors: 30
  • Style: Postmodern
30 E 85th Street Recommended Reading

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37 Washington Square West

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37 Washington Square West (aka Macdougal Street), a 16-story apartment house designed by Gronenberg & Leuchtag, is notable for its rich use of terra cotta – particularly the colorful detailing in the building’s base.

The 1928 structure is now owned by New York University (NYU), and used for faculty housing.

37 Washington Square West Vital Statistics
  • Location: 37 Washington Square West (aka Macdougal Street) at W 4th Street
  • Year completed: 1928
  • Architect: Gronenberg & Leuchtag
  • Floors: 16
  • Style: Italian Gothic
  • New York City Landmark: 1969 (Greenwich Village Historic District)
37 Washington Square West Recommended Reading

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71-75 E 93rd Street

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71-75 E 93rd Street (aka 1180 Park Avenue) is a beautifully maintained Neo-Federal mansion in Manhattan’s Carnegie Hill section, and the cornerstone of a complex of four adjoining buildings at the corner of E 93rd Street and Park Avenue.

The five-story building was originally built for financier Francis F. Palmer, and completed in 1918. (The building is still sometimes referred to as the Francis F. Palmer House.)

George F. Baker, Jr., another financier, purchased the mansion in 1927 and expanded it with three extensions: a garage (69 E 93rd Street), ballroom wing (1180 Park Avenue) and townhouse residence for his father (67 E 93rd Street). All four buildings were designed by Delano & Aldrich, a prominent architectural firm of the early 1900s. With the main house, the ballroom and garage form a courtyard open to E 93rd Street.

(George Baker, Sr. died before his home was completed; his daughter-in-law later occupied the house.)

The Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia – exiles from Soviet oppression – purchased the main house and ballroom wing in 1958 with funds donated by Russian-born banker Serge Semenenko.

Financier Richard Jenrette purchased 67 and 69 E 93rd Street in 1987 and 1988. These homes are now headquarters of Classical American Homes Preservation Trust.

The George F. Baker, Jr. House Complex is subject of three NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission designations – and part of the Expanded Carnegie Hill Historic District.

71-75 E 93rd Street Vital Statistics
  • Location: 75 E 93rd Street at Park Avenue
  • Year completed: 1918
  • Architect: Delano & Aldrich
  • Floors: 5
  • Style: Neo-Federal
  • New York City Landmark: 1969
71-75 E 93rd Street Recommended Reading

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101 Central Park West

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101 Central Park West is a prestigious address, referred to as a “white glove” cooperative where apartments still include maids’ rooms, elevators still have operators, and price tags are in the millions. It’s plainer than some other famous Central Park West addresses – possibly because it was built during the Great Depression.

101 Central Park West Vital Statistics
  • Location: 101 Central Park West between W 70th & W 71st Streets
  • Year completed: 1930
  • Architect: Schwartz & Gross
  • Floors: 17
  • Style: neo-Renaissance
  • New York City Landmark: 1990 (Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District)
101 Central Park West Recommended Reading

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214 Riverside Drive

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214 Riverside Drive, the Chatillion, is a distinctive Beaux Arts apartment building. Its picturesque, curving form is right in character with undulating Riverside Drive.

Originally conceived as a luxury building, with just two grand apartments per floor, Chatillion has been subdivided to 15 apartments per floor!

The coop appears to have more than its share of history. The property’s website recounts “Murder, suicide, crime, disasters, political intrigue” at the address.

214 Riverside Drive Vital Statistics
  • Location: 214 Riverside Drive at W 94th Street
  • Year completed: 1902
  • Architect: Stein, Cohen & Roth
  • Floors: 7
  • Style: Beaux Arts
  • New York City Landmark: 1989 (Riverside-West End Historic District)
214 Riverside Drive Recommended Reading

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243 West End Avenue

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243 West End Avenue was built in 1925 as Hotel Cardinal, an apartment hotel designed by Emery Roth, one of New York’s foremost residential architects. The red brick facade is embellished with elaborate polychrome terra cotta window treatments on the bottom three and top three floors – recalling the classic base-shaft-capital design of early tall buildings.

The NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) notes in its West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension Designation Report that the original cornice and windows have been replaced. Originally, the windows were six-over-six double-hung sashes (archi-speak for 12-paned windows).

For a time, the building was also known as the Coliseum Plaza.

LPC adds a musical note: Music publisher Frederick Benjamin Haviland, whose songs included “The Sidewalks of New York,” lived here before his death in 1932. Fast forward to 2015: there’s a song titled “243 West End Avenue” performed by The Virgin Lips. You heard it here first!

243 West End Avenue Vital Statistics
  • Location: 243 West End Avenue at W 71st Street
  • Year completed: 1925
  • Architect: Emery Roth
  • Floors: 16
  • Style: Renaissance Revival
  • New York City Landmark: 2013 (West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension)
243 West End Avenue Recommended Reading

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