Tag Archives: New York City

1185 Park Avenue

Manhattan, , , , , , , , , ,

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

Google Map

Beekman Mansions

Manhattan, , , , , , , , ,

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

Google Map

Beresford

Manhattan, , , , , , , , , ,

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

Google Map

75 Central Park West

Manhattan, , , , , , , ,

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

Google Map

Poppenhusen Institute

Queens, , , , , , , , , ,

Poppenhusen Institute represents not only post-Civil War architecture in New York, but also the amazing power of a single individual. Or two.

A modest brick and brownstone building, the Institute is five stories high including its mansard roof. Round-arched windows and strong horizontal bands mark it as Italianate style, while the mansard roof crowns the building in French Second Empire.

Conrad Poppenhusen, a German immigrant, became wealthy in the 1800s manufacturing whalebone products: combs, corset stays, etc. In 1852 he switched from whalebone to the just-invented Goodyear-process hard rubber. Poppenhusen’s factory was in what is now College Point, and he was dedicated to the welfare of his community. So dedicated that in 1868 he gave $100,000 to build the Institute, and in 1871 another $100,000 endowment to maintain the building and its work. That work included the country’s first free kindergarten (a German invention, after all), free vocational classes for adults, library, and civic center.

The generous endowment couldn’t last forever. By 1980 the Institute’s Board of Control, after selling art works and other assets, decided to sell the building. Enter Susan Brustmann, who proved to be just as dedicated as Conrad Poppenhusen to continuing the Institute. She organized a grass-roots fight to save and restore the Institute and to this day continues to fight for financial support – NY State assistance ended in 2008. (See Christopher Gray’s Streetscapes column. See the Queens Tribune story for an update.)

The Poppenhusen Institute continues to offer community services, exhibits, classes and events; the Institute is open weekdays – check the website for details. The Institute is close to Flushing’s historic sites and Chinatown (there’s frequent Q65 bus service to/from Main Street).

Poppenhusen Institute Vital Statistics
  • Location: 114-04 14th Road at 114th Street
  • Year completed: 1870
  • Architect: Mundell & Teckritz
  • Floors: 5
  • Style: Italianate with French Second Empire
  • New York City Landmark: 1970
  • National Register of Historic Places: 1977
Poppenhusen Institute Recommended Reading

Google Map

River Mansion

Manhattan, , , , , , , , ,

River Mansion has had a storied life, starting as the residence of a wealthy Broadway actress, devolving into a rooming house, then the home of (minor) royalty, back to a rooming house, then as a music school and now restored as a residence. It is part of New York’s Riverside-West 105th Street Historic District, an enclave of just 30 five-story town houses sharing similar architecture.

The building (and its neighbor 322 W 106th Street) was completed in 1902, just four years after completion of Riverside Park.

For the fascinating story of the River Mansion’s occupants, read the Daytonian in Manhattan blog. And to get a better sense of the house’s neighbors, read The New York Times‘ account, “The Heist, the Getaway and the Sawed-Off Leg.”

River Mansion Vital Statistics
  • Location: 337 Riverside Drive at W 106th Street
  • Year completed: 1902
  • Architect: Robert D. Kohn
  • Floors: 5
  • Style: Beaux Arts
  • New York City Landmark: 1973
  • National Register of Historic Places:
River Mansion Recommended Reading

Google Map