Tag Archives: residential

200 Central Park South

Manhattan, , , , , , ,

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

Google Map

324 E 51st Street

Manhattan, , , , , , ,

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

Google Map

Schinasi Mansion

Manhattan, , , , , , , , ,

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

Google Map

Clebourne

Manhattan, , , , , , , , , ,

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

Google Map

Graham Court

Manhattan, , , , , , , , ,

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

Google Map

One Lincoln Plaza

Manhattan, , , , , , , , , ,

One Lincoln Plaza (aka ASCAP Building) was the first residential tower to go up in Lincoln Square after completion of Lincoln Center. But it’s not exactly what the developers had in mind, thanks to a scrappy holdout – the owner of a five-story brick-and-brownstone on W 63rd Street.

There are two versions of what transpired between tenement owner Col. Jehiel R. Elyachar and developer Paul Milstein. The New York Times’ account and Holdouts!: The Buildings That Got in the Way differ in some details, but essentially the Colonel kept raising the price of his $50,000 property to more than $600,000. Exasperated, the Milsteins decided to build around the tenement (a city-mandated park had already been cut out of One Lincoln Plaza’s footprint).

One Lincoln Plaza Vital Statistics
  • Location: 20 W 64th Street at Broadway
  • Year completed: 1972
  • Architect: Philip Birnbaum & Associates
  • Floors: 43
  • Style: Postmodern
One Lincoln Plaza Recommended Reading

Google Map

American Youth Hostel

Manhattan, , , , , , , , , , , ,

American Youth Hostel occupies the former Association Residence for Respectable Aged Indigent Females (aka Association Residence for Women). The landmark is one of the three surviving New York buildings designed by Richard Morris Hunt, one of America’s leading architects of the nineteenth century.

The original structure – a home for destitute war widows – was extended in 1908; architect Charles A. Rich followed Hunt’s design for the exterior.

The building – rare as it is – came close to being demolished in 1974. Then known as the Association Residence Nursing Home or Association Residence for Women, the building was vacated with plans to demolish and rebuild. During the July 1977 blackout much of the roof was destroyed by fire. The following May, the City of New York acquired the building; in 1981 the roof was finally repaired.

American Youth Hostels purchased the building and began restoration in 1984; the hostel began operations in 1990. It is reportedly the world’s largest hostel, with more than 650 beds.

American Youth Hostel Vital Statistics
  • Location: 891 Amsterdam Avenue at W 103rd Street
  • Year completed: 1883 / 1908 (addition)
  • Architect: Richard Morris Hunt / Charles A. Rich (addition)
  • Floors: 4
  • Style: Victorian Gothic
  • New York City Landmark: 1983
  • National Register of Historic Places: 1975
American Youth Hostel Recommended Reading

Google Map

Random: April 2014

Brooklyn, Collections, Manhattan, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Highlights from photos shot in April, 2014 – but not yet added to a New York neighborhood or specific building gallery.

In this album:
  • Metro theater, Broadway at W 99th Street – go there, see how the neighboring tower facade mimics the theater accent lines.
  • Saint Michael’s R. C. Church, Sunset Park, Brooklyn. I was drawn to the church’s unusual steeple, but on closer examination the doors were more interesting.
  • Belvedere Castle, Central Park. For a change, I decided to frame the shot.
  • The Alexandria apartments, 201 W 72nd Street at Broadway. The cascade of ladders reveals facade repairs in progress.
  • 171 E 77th Street – terra cotta grill detail.
  • French Embassy Cultural Services – the doors of adjoining buildings on Fifth Avenue (975 and 972) next to the Ukrainian Institute.
  • Guggenheim Museum detail.
  • The Capitol Apartments, 12 E 87th Street. The top half of the cornice was removed; the remaining brackets give the roofline a toothed appearance.
  • Park Avenue Synagogue. Beautiful detailing.
  • 67 and 65 E 93rd Street. Notice the “65” in the transom grille.
  • Essex House: the iconic sign on Central Park South is now reflected in One57, the apartment tower two blocks behind (south).
  • The Dorilton: I usually shoot the maidens head on. This time I shot from the side, to bring them closer together – conversational distance.

194 Riverside Drive

Manhattan, , , , , , , ,

194 Riverside Drive is relatively small, and well-screened by the trees of Joan of Arc Island – it would be easy to miss. But the building’s bold features are well worth seeing close up.

According to the Street Easy real estate website, the seven-story building originally had three 13-room apartments per floor; now there are 42 units.

The architect, Ralph S. Townsend, also designed neighboring 190 Riverside Drive as well as the much showier Kenilworth on Central Park West. In one of his Streetscapes columns, The New York Times’ architectural historian, Christopher Gray, provides some background on the architect.

(A wonderful collection of Gray’s columns was published in 2003 under the title New York Streetscapes. Although it is now out of print, you can still get copies at Amazon.com – both new and used: New York Streetscapes: Tales of Manhattan’s Significant Buildings and Landmarks)

194 Riverside Drive Vital Statistics
  • Location: 194 Riverside Drive at W 92nd Street
  • Year completed: 1902
  • Architect: Ralph S. Townsend
  • Floors: 7
  • Style: neo-Renaissance
  • New York City Landmark: 1989
194 Riverside Drive Recommended Reading

Google Map

Astor Place

Manhattan, , , , , , , ,

Astor Place, a blue-green glass exclamation point in NoHo, leaps up from the center of an architecture-rich neighborhood.* New York critics’ opinions seem as varied as the surrounding buildings.

The New York Times‘ review asked, All That Curvy Glass: Is It Worth It? Suzanne Slesin noted a disconnect “between the grittiness of the neighborhood and the shiny newness of Mr. Gwathmey’s design,” but focused on interiors. She loved the views from within all that wraparound floor-to-ceiling glass, but bemoaned the paucity of solid wall space for paintings and other essentials. (You can peruse floor plans at the Street Easy NY listing.)

The New Yorker called it the Green Monster. Paul Goldberger acidly remarked, “Its shape is fussy, and the glass façade is garishly reflective: Mies van der Rohe as filtered through Donald Trump.”

City Realty’s extensive review is more neutral and academic. Among other things, Carter Horsley reveals that the Gwathmey, Siegel & Associates design is actually the third proposal for that site. (Mr. Horsley previously wrote about real estate and architecture for The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, and New York Post.)

The developer, Related Companies, calls the design “Sculpture For Living.” And whether you like the building or not, the 39 multi-million-dollar condominium units are all sold.

* See Astor Place and Vicinity for a quick neighborhood tour.

Astor Place Vital Statistics
  • Location: 445 Lafayette Street
  • Year completed: 2005
  • Architect: Gwathmey, Siegel & Associates
  • Floors: 21
  • Style: Postmodern
Astor Place Recommended Reading

Google Map