Tag Archives: residential

Gramercy House

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Gramercy House is one of New York’s most colorful apartment houses, designed by George and Edward Blum. The prolific architects designed at least 70 apartment buildings and 60 commercial structures in New York, but only three in the Art Deco style.*

Like most of the Blums’ apartment houses, Gramercy House is distinctive for its unusual brickwork and ample terra cotta – notably the bold geometric band above the first story. Even the rear light courts (viewed from E 23rd Street) have broad blue terra cotta bands. The corners of the E 22nd Street facade have bricks set at an angle, and setbacks in the upper floors have unusual inset chamfers. Contrasting brick bands break up the facades on E 22nd Street and Second Avenue.

* The other two are 210 E 68th Street (1929) and 315 E 68th Street (1930).

Gramercy House Vital Statistics
  • Location: 235 E 22nd Street at Second Avenue
  • Year completed: 1930
  • Architect: George and Edward Blum
  • Floors: 17
  • Style: Art Deco
Gramercy 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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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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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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101 Central Park West

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101 Central Park West is a prestigious address, referred to as a “white glove” cooperative where apartments still include maids’ rooms, elevators still have operators, and price tags are in the millions. It’s plainer than some other famous Central Park West addresses – possibly because it was built during the Great Depression.

101 Central Park West Vital Statistics
  • Location: 101 Central Park West between W 70th & W 71st Streets
  • Year completed: 1930
  • Architect: Schwartz & Gross
  • Floors: 17
  • Style: neo-Renaissance
  • New York City Landmark: 1990 (Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District)
101 Central Park West Recommended Reading

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214 Riverside Drive

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214 Riverside Drive, the Chatillion, is a distinctive Beaux Arts apartment building. Its picturesque, curving form is right in character with undulating Riverside Drive.

Originally conceived as a luxury building, with just two grand apartments per floor, Chatillion has been subdivided to 15 apartments per floor!

The coop appears to have more than its share of history. The property’s website recounts “Murder, suicide, crime, disasters, political intrigue” at the address.

214 Riverside Drive Vital Statistics
  • Location: 214 Riverside Drive at W 94th Street
  • Year completed: 1902
  • Architect: Stein, Cohen & Roth
  • Floors: 7
  • Style: Beaux Arts
  • New York City Landmark: 1989 (Riverside-West End Historic District)
214 Riverside Drive Recommended Reading

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243 West End Avenue

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243 West End Avenue was built in 1925 as Hotel Cardinal, an apartment hotel designed by Emery Roth, one of New York’s foremost residential architects. The red brick facade is embellished with elaborate polychrome terra cotta window treatments on the bottom three and top three floors – recalling the classic base-shaft-capital design of early tall buildings.

The NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) notes in its West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension Designation Report that the original cornice and windows have been replaced. Originally, the windows were six-over-six double-hung sashes (archi-speak for 12-paned windows).

For a time, the building was also known as the Coliseum Plaza.

LPC adds a musical note: Music publisher Frederick Benjamin Haviland, whose songs included “The Sidewalks of New York,” lived here before his death in 1932. Fast forward to 2015: there’s a song titled “243 West End Avenue” performed by The Virgin Lips. You heard it here first!

243 West End Avenue Vital Statistics
  • Location: 243 West End Avenue at W 71st Street
  • Year completed: 1925
  • Architect: Emery Roth
  • Floors: 16
  • Style: Renaissance Revival
  • New York City Landmark: 2013 (West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension)
243 West End Avenue Recommended Reading

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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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