Tag Archives: New York City

Langham

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The Langham is an elegant bookmark separating the more famous Dakota (to the south) and San Remo. The building is a restrained Beaux Arts / French Second Empire; the lower 10 floors are dignified rusticated limestone and brick, with restrained decoration and Juliette balconies. The 11th floor is more heavily decorated, and the 12 and 13th floors – in the mansard roof – are the most elaborate.

Originally, the building had just four apartments per floor: Each a luxury home that included three or four bedrooms, two servant’s rooms, library, living room, and dining room. All were entered via an elegant foyer (or if you were a servant or tradesman, via a back service elevator). The Langham touted a central refrigeration system to provide ice to each apartment (before mechanical refrigerators), mail delivery via conveyor belt, and a central vacuum cleaning system. A carriageway on W 73rd Street provided access via a back lobby. More importantly, in the days before air conditioning, each apartment had windows facing in four directions, thanks to three light courts along the back (west) side.

The building now has 64 units. But the apartments now range from two to eight bedrooms (a combination of a five-bedroom and a three-bedroom), with rents ranging from $4,250 to $60,000 per month. In 2008, The Gawker listed The Langham as one of the 20 most expensive rentals in New York City.

The Langham has had more than its share of celebrity tenants: Irving Bloomingdale, vice president (and son of the founder) of Bloomingdale’s; Isadore Saks, with his son, Joseph. Isadore Saks founded Saks & Company; Martin Beck, head of the Orpheum theater chain, who built the Palace Theater; Edward F. Albee, head of the Keith and Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chains and grandfather of the playwright Edward Albee; Lee Strasberg, the actor and teacher. Last, but not least, actress Mia Farrow had an 11-room apartment in The Langham, which was used in the filming of Woody Allen’s “Hannah and Her Sisters.”

The Langham Vital Statistics
  • Location: 135 Central Park West from W 73rd to W 74th Street
  • Year completed: 1907
  • Architect: Charles W. Clinton & William Hamilton Russell
  • Floors: 13
  • Style: Beaux Arts / Second Empire
  • New York City Landmark: 1990
  • National Register of Historic Places: 1982
The Langham Recommended Reading

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31 E 79th Street

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31 E 79th Street is two buildings in one, though you wouldn’t know it at first glance. The original, eastern section was built in 1925 with one seven-room apartment per floor; the western section, added three years later, contained triplex apartments.

From the outside, only three clues that the building was built in parts: Inconsistent cornice, cracks developing in E 79th Street facade, and unusual horizontal spacing of windows.

See Andrew Alpern’s “New York’s Fabulous Luxury Apartments“ for floor plans (not to mention 73 other luxury apartment houses).

31 E 79th Street Vital Statistics
  • Location: 31 E 79th Street at Madison Avenue
  • Year completed: 1925 / 1928
  • Architect: G.B. Beaumont
  • Floors: 15
  • Style: neo-Renaissance
31 E 79th Street Recommended Reading

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55 Central Park West

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55 Central Park West, among the first Art Deco apartment houses on the avenue, has become known as the “Ghostbusters Building.” In the 1984 movie, the building is attributed to insane architect Ivo Shandor.

Schwartz & Gross, the real architects, must be spinning in their graves. They designed an innovative brick, stone and terra cotta structure that changes color as it rises, from dark red to white. Massive fluted projections in the base and as finials at the setbacks emphasize the building’s vertical lines.

Inside, 55 CPW was fairly modest: apartments ranged from three to six rooms on lower floors. But all apartments had the innovation of a sunken living room.

Upper floors have larger apartments – including a massive 12-room duplex penthouse that sold for $35 million in 2013.

55 Central Park West Vital Statistics
  • Location: 55 Central Park West at W 66th Street
  • Year completed: 1930
  • Architect: Schwartz & Gross
  • Floors: 19
  • Style: Art Deco
  • New York City Landmark: 1990
  • National Register of Historic Places: 1982
55 Central Park West Recommended Reading

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Prasada

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Prasada is one of New York’s most distinctive pieces of architecture, though not everyone’s favorite. The Beaux Arts apartment building is too heavily ornamented for some, even those who appreciate the building’s landmark qualities. One critic derides the “banded limestone ‘marshmallow’ columns that I have always regarded as one of the truly tasteless architectural elements of all time.”*

Modern viewers have been deprived of the architect’s vision, however. The original French Second Empire mansard roof, balconies and iron railings were removed over the years, altering the structure’s visual balance. Prasada’s original three-apartments-per-floor has (through combination and division) ballooned to 47. Those apartments were two-, three- and four-bedroom affairs – plus one or two servant’s rooms!

Nonetheless, there’s high demand for Prasada’s cooperative apartments: In 2013, the penthouse changed hands for a reported $42 million. Monthly maintenance on the 6,500-square-foot unit is reportedly $19,114. That probably doesn’t include washing the 45 windows.

*Francis Morrone, “The Architectural Guidebook to New York City.”

Prasada Vital Statistics
  • Location: 50 Central Park West at W65th Street
  • Year completed: 1907
  • Architect: Charles W. Romeyn and Henry R. Wynne
  • Floors: 12
  • Style: Beaux Arts
  • New York City Landmark: 1990
Prasada Recommended Reading

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Harperly Hall

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Harperly Hall, briefly infamous as Madonna’s residence and dance studio, is notable as a rare (for New York) example of Arts and Crafts style in architecture.

Henry W. Wilkerson, the architect, partnered with several other creative types to develop the building as a cooperative – the first on Central Park West.

The building has a T-shaped courtyard on W 64th Street, with three entrances at the top of the T. An iron fence and gatehouse guards the courtyard.

Harperly Hall Vital Statistics
  • Location: 41 Central Park West / 1 W 64th Street
  • Year completed: 1910
  • Architect: Henry W. Wilkinson
  • Floors: 12
  • Style: Arts and Crafts
  • New York City Landmark: 1990
Harperly Hall Recommended Reading

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200 Central Park South

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200 Central Park South disguises its height well; the curvy, balconied and glass-wrapped 21-story base takes all the attention away from the 35-story tower. On the other hand, those deep curving balconies give the impression of a beachfront resort instead of a luxury apartment building.

Apartments range from studios to three bedrooms. The three-bedroom units include a room labelled “den or maid’s room” – old-style luxury survives!

For tenants, of course, the prime attraction is that precious commodity – a protected view of Central Park.

200 Central Park South Vital Statistics
  • Location: 200 Central Park South at Seventh Avenue
  • Year completed: 1964
  • Architect: Wechsler & Schimenti
  • Floors: 35
  • Style: Postmodern
200 Central Park South Recommended Reading

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324 E 51st Street

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324 E 51st Street is not your typical townhouse. It’s startling, even for New York architecture. But there is reason behind the perforated skin.

The building may remind you of Cassa NY, though on a smaller scale. The architect explains the facade as a way to reference rather than mimic its neighbors: The perforations are the size and shape of bricks.

Why?

Behind the street wall there are no traditional rooms to hold traditional windows. The stair and elevator core was moved to the front, to consolidate space and create a “vertical loft.” See the project video – it makes sense.

Thinking outside the box, even if it looks like a box.

324 E 51st Street Vital Statistics
  • Location: 324 E 51st Street between First and Second Avenues
  • Year completed: 2009
  • Architect: Peter L. Gluck + Partners
  • Floors: 4
  • Style: Postmodern
324 E 51st Street Recommended Reading

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Schinasi Mansion

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Schinasi Mansion, the last privately owned freestanding mansion in Manhattan, has history and quirks as rich as its French Renaissance architecture.

The mansion was commissioned by Morris (originally Mussa) Schinasi, a Turkish immigrant who became wealthy from his invention of a cigarette rolling machine – and use of strong Turkish tobacco. The architect was none other than William Tuthill, known for his design of Carnegie Hall (1891). Despite his wealth, Schinasi refused to pay Tuthill – who sued.

Why Schinasi wouldn’t pay is a mystery – as is the secret tunnel (now sealed) from the mansion’s basement to the Hudson River.

Morris Schinasi lived in the house until he died in 1928; his family sold the mansion in 1930 and it became the Semple School for Girls, a finishing school.

Rosa Semple, the school’s founder, herself died in the mansion in 1956. Columbia University bought the property in 1960 and established “Children’s Mansion Day Care Center.”

Columbia decided to sell in 1979 – to Hans Smit, one of its own law professors, who wanted to restore and resell the home.

After nearly three decades of slow interior restoration, Hans Smit (who never lived in the house) tried to sell – but he died in 2012. His son succeeded in selling Schinasi Mansion in late 2013.

Schinasi Mansion Vital Statistics
  • Location: 351 Riverside Drive at W 107th Street
  • Year completed: 1909
  • Architect: William Tuthill
  • Floors: 5
  • Style: French Renaissance
  • New York City Landmark: 1974
  • National Register of Historic Places: 1980
Schinasi Mansion Recommended Reading

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Clebourne

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The Clebourne (Cleburne) stands out, even on an avenue of standout architecture; its ornate facade and porte-cochere give the building an elegant presence. (Alas, stanchions block what was once a drive-through entrance.)

Each floor has five apartments of six to nine rooms; layouts are old-fashioned, with some very long hallways, galleries, maid’s rooms and servant’s entrances.

Of historical note, Clebourne is on the site of a former mansion owned by Isador and Ida Straus. Isador Straus was a co-owner of Macy’s; he and his wife perished with the Titanic. A memorial to the couple is in Straus Park, one block north.

Clebourne Vital Statistics
  • Location: 924 West End Avenue / 2745 Broadway at W 105th Street
  • Year completed: 1913
  • Architect: Schwartz & Gross
  • Floors: 13
  • Style: Arts and Crafts
Clebourne Recommended Reading

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Graham Court

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Graham Court is sometimes called “Harlem’s Dakota,” but it’s actually much closer in style to the 1908 Apthorp Apartments, on Broadway at W 78th Street.

The building’s grandeur stems from its sponsor: Graham Court was commissioned by William Waldorf Astor, and designed by the firm of Clinton & Russell. Before joining the firm, Charles Clinton was the architect of the Park Avenue Armory, Manhattan Apartments and New York Athletic Club, among others. With William Russell, the firm went on to design the Apthorp Apartments, Langham Apartments, and Astor Apartments (and a score of important commercial buildings).

The last 50 years have been hard on Graham Court: Successive owners haven’t been as quality-conscious as the original builders. One commentator after another (see Recommended Reading list) has lamented the security problems, disrepair, and financial problems of the landmark.

But beyond the unfriendly iron front gates and crudely hand-painted “No Parking” sign at the service entrance, Graham Court is still mighty impressive. I hope I look as good when I’m 113!

Graham Court Vital Statistics
  • Location: 1925 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. at W 116th Street
  • Year completed: 1901
  • Architect: Clinton & Russell
  • Floors: 8
  • Style: Italian Renaissance
  • New York City Landmark: 1984
Graham Court Recommended Reading

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