Tag Archives: New York City

Holtz House

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Holtz House seems taller than 12 stories, thanks to the four-story “wings” that Charles Holtz and Bruno Freystedt annexed in 1910 to expand their two-story restaurant in New York’s Ladies Mile Historic District. Architect William C. Frohne designed a memorable storefront that is still largely intact.

The builder, Philip Braender, was a prolific developer who erected more than 1,500 structures in the last two decades of the 19th century according to the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC).

The three-story base is the building’s most notable feature: Two large doorways flank the two-story storefront – an elaborate wall of five casement windows topped by oval panes and an ornate metal frieze displaying winged dragon-cornucopias on either side of the name “HOLTZ.” Above the base is a nine-story arch containing the central windows.

Two years after opening, Holtz House was connected to the adjoining buildings (numbers 5 and 11) to accommodate Holtz and Frystedt’s expanding business, the LPC reported.

The loft building originally housed all commercial tenants, then in 1987 the top eight floors were converted to residential units, notes the Daytonian in Manhattan blog.

Holtz House Vital Statistics
  • Location: 7 E 20th Street between Broadway and Fifth Avenue
  • Year completed: 1908
  • Architect: William C. Frohne
  • Floors: 12
  • Style: neo-Renaissance
  • New York City Landmark: 1989
Holtz House Recommended Reading

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160 E 22nd Street

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160 E 22nd Street is a brash condominium tower cantilevered over a pair of holdout townhouses on Third Avenue. It’s an astounding sight: 16 stories of grey limestone and glass suspended 25 feet over the fragile-looking (and nearly vacant) mid-block buildings.

It looks odd, but the final structure is an improvement over three earlier plans, which had been ridiculed as “Fortress of Solitude,” “Green Monster,” and “The Thing That Ate Gramercy.”

Owners of the holdout buildings weren’t willing to sell their sites, but they did sell air rights. The moral of this real estate tale: If you can’t buy, cantilever.

(The Curbed NY blog has start-to-finish coverage. Also see The New York Times’ The Hangover: Cantilevered Buildings of New York.)

160 E 22nd Street Vital Statistics
  • Location: 160 E 22nd Street at Third Avenue
  • Year completed: 2014
  • Architect: Perkins Eastman
  • Floors: 21
  • Style: Postmodern
160 E 22nd Street Recommended Reading

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Lord & Taylor Building

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Lord & Taylor Building, an individual New York City landmark and part of Ladies Mile Historic District, was decaying despite its protected status, until Spanish investors resuscitated the structure in 2009. However, 901 Broadway is only part of the store that existed from 1870 to 1914. A larger, L-shaped portion was separated in 1914 and remodeled – it’s now known as 897 Broadway.

The store was not the first cast iron building in New York, but architect James H. Giles innovated by letting the cast iron show, instead of disguising it as stone – common practice at the time, according to the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Lord & Taylor Building Vital Statistics
  • Location: 901 Broadway at E 20th Street
  • Year completed: 1870
  • Architect: James H. Giles
  • Floors: 5
  • Style: French Second Empire
  • New York City Landmark: 1977, 1989
Lord & Taylor Building Recommended Reading

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Warren Building

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Warren Building is a neo-Renaissance gem with exquisite detail, refurbished in 2012. Though stripped of its original first floor colonnade and fourth floor balconies, the building’s marble and terra cotta trim, combined with roman brick, are stunning.

The prominent firm of McKim, Meade & White designed this seven-story building – and also designed the Goelet Building diagonally across Broadway. Broadway cuts diagonally across E 20th Street, making corners a little awkward (because we expect building corners to be right angles). McKim, Mead & White finessed the Warren Building’s corner with a chamfer; the Goelet Building’s corner is rounded.

Warren Building Vital Statistics
  • Location: 903-907 Broadway at E 20th Street
  • Year completed: 1891
  • Architect: McKim, Mead & White
  • Floors: 7
  • Style: neo-Renaissance
  • New York City Landmark: 1989
Warren Building Recommended Reading

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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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