Circa 1905  //  ARCHITECT: Schwartz & Gross  //  BUILDER: Undetermined   Schwartz and Gross who designed these two buildings, were amongst the most prolific of all the architects working in the residential field in NYC during the first half of the 20th Century. Until now, most of...

Circa 1925  //  ARCHITECT: Sugarman & Berger  //  BUILDER: Golding Brothers   I made a very brief post about this building a few months back, but I did not provide a great deal of detail at the time. Just this past week, however, I had the pleasure of showing a customer a Classic...

Circa 1929-1932  //  ARCHITECT: Farrar & Watmaugh  //  BUILDER: Henry Mandel   The Parc Vendome is actually a pair of buildings connected at Ninth Avenue, one facing south over 56th Street (333-353 West 56th Street), and the other facing north over 57th Street (340-350 West...

Life in New York before the stock market crashed in 1929 was very different indeed. Almost every apartment of 2 bedrooms or more contained at least one Maid’s Room, and a tiny adjacent bathroom. The typical Maid’s Room was around 6’ to 6’-6” in width, and 11’ to 13’ in length....

Circa 1915  //  ARCHITECT: Schwartz & Gross  //  BUILDER: Undetermined   I had the good fortune to be contacted by the owner of an Edwardian 5 at 771 West End Avenue, who was hoping to determine an accurate construction date for the building — his own research led him to either...

Circa 1927  //  ARCHITECT: Undetermined  //  BUILDER: Undetermined   639 WEA is a very attractive smaller building, clad in very light brick with detailing done in a yellow-hued stone. There is a vague Mediterranean feel to the detail and the red barrel tile roof of the penthouse,...

Circa 1920  //  ARCHITECT: Gaetan Ajello  //  BUILDER: Paterno Brothers 905 is the third and final of the three buildings built by the Paterno Brothers and designed by Ajello along the western side of the Avenue between 103rd and 104th Streets. Like 885 WEA, 905 is 13 stories and is...

Circa 1916  //  ARCHITECT: Gaetan Ajello  //  BUILDER: Paterno Brothers   Here is another ‘set’ of three buildings, all designed by the same architect and built as speculative ventures by the Paterno family construction company. Comparing the three illustrates some of the subtle...

Circa 1912  //  ARCHITECT: Gaetan Ajello  //  BUILDER: Paterno Brothers   This building is the first three buildings built between 103rd and 104th on West End Avenue via collaboration between the Paterno Brothers and architect, Gaetan Ajello. More elaborately detailed than the...

Circa 1925  //  ARCHITECT: Emery Roth  //  BUILDER: for Sam Minskoff 201 West 89th Street at Amsterdam Avenue is actually part of a pair of very similar buildings taking up the entire block front on Amsterdam Avenue between 89th and 90th streets. The idea of that block having a pronounced...