Tag Archives: Manhattan

249 West End Avenue

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249 West End Avenue stands squeezed between apartment buildings three times its height, thanks to the perseverance of its owner, Mary Cook.

The five-story building, once typical of West End Avenue townhouses, was constructed as one of five homes designed to look like one large building (see the Daytonian in Manhattan blog for the “before” picture).

Mrs. Cook, a widow, declined offers from developers both north and south of her home. In 1915, 255 West End Avenue rose 14 stories to her north. In 1925, 243 West End Avenue rose 15 stories to her south.

Mrs. Cook died in 1932; the building became home of the Continental Club, and in the late 40s it was converted to apartments.

249 West End Avenue Vital Statistics
  • Location: 249 West End Avenue between W 71st and W 72nd Streets
  • Year completed: 1893
  • Architect: Clarence Fagan True
  • Floors: 5
  • Style: Romanesque Revival
  • New York City Landmark: 2013 (West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension)
Recommended Reading

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295 Park Avenue South

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295 Park Avenue South was built in 1892 as the home of the New York Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The terra cotta children seen at the seventh floor are modeled after those designed by Andrea Della Robbia at the Ospedale degli Innocenti in Florence, according to Gramercy Neighborhood Associates.

The building was converted to rental apartments in 1982, and is now known as Park 23 (for its East 23rd Street location).

If every building has a story, this one is about Mary Ellen McCormack. The 10-year-old child, who was whipped daily for no apparent reason and dressed in rags, attracted the attention of a social worker. At the time, no city agency could help. In desperation the social worker reached out to the founder of the ASPCA, who enlisted a lawyer… Long story short, the abusive mother was found guilty of assault and battery, Mary found a good home, and the NY Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was born. But you should read the full story.

295 Park Avenue South Vital Statistics
  • Location: 295 Park Avenue South at E 23rd Street
  • Year completed: 1892
  • Architect: Renwick, Aspinwall & Renwick
  • Floors: 9
  • Style: Renaissance Revival
Recommended Reading

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480 Park Avenue

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480 Park Avenue is one of those buildings that makes a non-architect wonder: Why is so much decoration put so high, where no one can see it?

Modest decoration appears on the three-story base; but at the 13th floor and above, there’s a proliferation of terra cotta. Garlands, grotesques, medallions, dentil and egg-and-dart moldings, brackets, balustrades, sculpted balconies and wrought-iron railings galore!

This is one of Emery Roth’s lesser-known buildings in New York – he has more than 200 to his credit. It’s still a joy to study, and another reason to look skyward when walking the streets of New York.

480 Park Avenue Vital Statistics
  • Location: 480 Park Avenue at E 58th Street
  • Year completed: 1929
  • Architect: Emery Roth
  • Floors: 19
  • Style: Renaissance Revival
480 Park Avenue Recommended Reading

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502 Park Avenue

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502 Park Avenue, aka Trump Park Avenue, is now in its fifth incarnation. Built in 1929 as the Viceroy Hotel, it was victim of the stock market crash and quickly became the Cromwell Arms, then Delmonico’s. It has been a hotel, rental apartments, a cooperative, back to hotel, and finally as a condominium.

Donald Trump’s conversion added a seven-story glass box to the top of the north side of the tower, adding floor space at the expense of the building’s appearance.

502 Park Avenue Vital Statistics
  • Location: 502 Park Avenue at E 59th Street
  • Year completed: 1929; condo conversion 2004
  • Architect: Goldner & Goldner; conversion: Costas Kondylis
  • Floors: 32
  • Style: neo-Renaissance
502 Park Avenue Recommended Reading

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Aramco Building

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Aramco Building reminds one, with its brick, curved corner, and strip windows, of the Starrett-Lehigh Building in West Chelsea. It served as headquarters of the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco) from 1949 to 1973.

According to a New York Times article, the Aramco Building was designed with a view to possible future conversion to residential use. In 1987 the building was updated by Der Scutt, the architect responsible for the Trump Building, Grand Hyatt, and 100 United Nations Plaza Tower, among others. In the renovation, Der Scutt created a two-story lobby and modern two-story base clad in polished brass, tinted glass and marble.

Aramco Building Vital Statistics
  • Location: 505 Park Avenue at E 59th Street
  • Year completed: 1949; renovated 1987
  • Architect: Emery Roth & Sons; Der Scutt (renovation)
  • Floors: 21
  • Style: International
Aramco Building Recommended Reading

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Mayfair House

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Mayfair House was designed as a residential hotel by James Carpenter, one of New York’s premier apartment house architects. For a time, the building operated as the Mayfair Regent Hotel.

Colony Capital bought the building at a bankruptcy auction in 1998, and partnered with Trump International to convert the 210 hotel rooms and suites to 70 condominium apartments. At the same time the new owners expanded the ground floor restaurant, and swapped entrances: The restaurant entrance is now on E 65th Street and the residential entrance is on Park Avenue.

Thankfully, no glass boxes were added (as was done four blocks away, at Trump Park Avenue).

Mayfair House Vital Statistics
  • Location: 610 Park Avenue at E 65th Street
  • Year completed: 1925; conversion 1998
  • Architect: James Carpenter; Costas Kondylis & Partners (conversion)
  • Floors: 15
  • Style: neo-Gothic / neo-Renaissance
  • New York City Landmark: 1981 (Upper East Side Historic District)
Mayfair House Recommended Reading

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1185 Park Avenue

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1185 Park Avenue is one of a handful of luxury New York apartment houses built around a central courtyard – and the only one of note without a name. (You’ve probably heard of the others: The Dakota, Apthorp, Belnord and Graham Court.) The architects, Schwartz & Gross, specialized in hotels and apartment buildings and were known for exceptional apartment layout.

There are 12 apartments to a floor (though some have been combined) arrayed around the courtyard. Six separate lobbies serve those apartments, so that each elevator landing has only two apartments. The NY Curbed archive takes a peek at some of 1185 Park’s multi-million-dollar homes.

If you Google “1185 Park Avenue,” many of the results will refer to the book of that name, a memoir of Annie Roiphe. That’s getting off the subject of architecture, but her tale is a reminder that money and plush surroundings aren’t everything. So don’t feel bad that you don’t live here.

1185 Park Avenue Vital Statistics
  • Location: 1185 Park Avenue between E 93rd and E 94th Streets
  • Year completed: 1929
  • Architect: Schwartz & Gross
  • Floors: 16
  • Style: neo-Gothic
  • New York City Landmark: 1993 (Expanded Carnegie Hill Historic District)
1185 Park Avenue Recommended Reading

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Beekman Mansions

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Beekman Mansions is a charming neo-Renaissance cooperative apartment building nestled among diplomatic missions and residences, three blocks north of the United Nations.

The upper floors are rather plain, but the four-story brick-and-stone base is enchanting, with the third-story arcade flanked by pseudo towers. The five Gothic-arched entryways reveal the building’s inventiveness: The center doors lead to a conventional elevator lobby; the flanking doors lead to maisonettes – duplex apartments with private entries from the street. (sample floor plan here)

Van Wart & Wein designed the similarly styled Campanile almost directly behind Beekman Mansions. Set at the end (450) of E 52nd Street, on a bluff overlooking FDR Drive, the 14-story building has unimpeded views of the East River, Roosevelt Island and the 59th Street Bridge.

Beekman Mansions Vital Statistics
  • Location: 439 E 51st Street at Beekman Place
  • Year completed: 1925
  • Architect: Van Wart & Wein
  • Floors: 10
  • Style: neo-Renaissance
Beekman Mansions Recommended Reading

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Beresford

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The Beresford is among the most celebrated creations of one of New York’s most celebrated architects, Emery Roth. The building’s 200-foot-square, 22-story mass is highly visible, its three towers permanently etched in the skyline – the view protected by Central Park to the east and the American Museum of Natural History to the south.

Beresford was built just in the nick of time – completed just weeks before the stock market crash. Nonetheless, the Great Depression eventually claimed the grand building, and it was sold at auction in 1940. (See Luxury Apartment Houses of Manhattan: An Illustrated History for more details.) But Beresford bounced back, becoming a cooperative (1962) and attracting the rich and famous.

The Renaissance-style structure is built around a T-shaped courtyard that opens to the west, providing light and air to interior-facing rooms. There are four entries: Two on W 81st Street, one (the main address) on Central Park West, and a service entrance on W 82nd Street.

Emery Roth’s other major works include the San Remo and Ardsley, also on Central Park West; the Normandy (Riverside Drive), Oliver Cromwell (W 72nd Street), Ritz Tower (W 57th Street) and Hotel Belleclaire (Broadway).

Beresford Vital Statistics
  • Location: 211 Central Park West between W 81st and W 82nd Streets
  • Year completed: 1929
  • Architect: Emery Roth
  • Floors: 22
  • Style: Renaissance
  • New York City Landmark: 1987
  • National Register of Historic Places: 1982
Beresford Recommended Reading

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75 Central Park West

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75 Central Park West is a lesser-known work of a master of New York apartment house architecture, Rosario Candela.

This building seems to have reversed the normal progression of older, luxury buildings: Apartments have been combined rather than divided; the original 55 units are now 48.

Over the years, many of the windows have been altered. Originally, all of the windows were pairs of three-over-three double-hung windows. Many of the pairs have been combined and/or changed to casement or fixed windows.

75 Central Park West Vital Statistics
  • Location: 75 Central Park West at W 67th Street
  • Year completed: 1929
  • Architect: Rosario Candela
  • Floors: 15
  • Style: neo-Renaissance
  • New York City Landmark: 1990
75 Central Park West Recommended Reading

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