Circa 1916  //  ARCHITECT: Robert T. Lyons  //  BUILDER: Bing & Bing Cons. Co.

A few weeks back, I posted about “house architects — i.e. the on-staff architects of major builder-developers in the prewar era. In the case of Bing & Bing, they worked with several prominent architects, most famously Emery Roth, whose own fame certainly has eclipsed the Bing brothers — and his protégés, Boak & Paris. However, the Bings’ actual “house architect” was Robert Lyons. 955 Park Avenue and 993 Park Avenue — two buildings I have written about — are late Edwardian Era collaborations between Bing & Bing and Lyons. 1155 Park Avenue, a 13-story cooperative, is another such collaboration of that time.

Larger than either 955 or 993, it’s facade follows the same basic formula, a two-story stone base, a transitional floor above, little ornament on the brick body, and embellishment on the top three floors. The taste of the time demanded by the upper middle-class called for relatively “quiet” buildings that blended with their neighbors. As originally conceived, there were four apartments per floor served by two passenger elevators, and two service elevators, built around a fully enclosed interior courtyard (32 feet x 34 feet). The two apartments at the front of the building facing Park Avenue are each 12 rooms. The unit that looks north over East 92nd Street is nine-rooms (and I think has the best floor plan), and the “all-interior” apartment is a Classic-6. The layouts are all good, albeit the 12-room units have hallways  that are a bit long. The rooms are very large and the closet space is ample.

WHAT A BUYER CAN EXPECT TO PAY: A 9 Room will cost you around $4M, and a 12 Room around $6.5M to $7.5M

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Circa 1929 // ARCHITECT: Emery Roth // BUILDER: Bing & Bing Cons. Co.

This set of six 11-story coop buildings takes up much of the north and south sides of this stretch of 73rd Street between Second & Third Avenues. Although somewhat unremarkable from the exterior, each building is slightly different from the others and is accented in an understated neo-Romanesque style. The Eastgate complex (originally referred to as the “East Village”) are solid examples of understated prewar architecture.

The buildings house a variety of nicely laid out studio, one, and two bedroom (and a small number of three bedroom) apartments, as one would expect from Roth. Each building is topped by penthouses with set-back terraces and these are really most interesting. Since this set of six buildings are of a consistent height, the views from the set-back terraces are special, not just because of the city-scape surrounding it, but of the roof-scape of the complex itself. One really feels like they’re perched in a magical village in the sky when sitting on the terraces here. Having visited several of these penthouses, they truly are a delight.

WHAT A BUYER CAN EXPECT TO PAY: Studio are $400,000 and up, one bedrooms are $600,000 and up, two bedrooms are $1.25M and up, and the larger penthouses are $2.5M and up.
 
 

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Circa 1930  //  ARCHITECT: DePace & Juster  //  BUILDER: Samuel Silver

This is one of Park Avenue’s premier full-service cooperative buildings. Located at the intersection of 89th Street — and I think it is, also, one of the most handsome structures on the Avenue. Rising 18-stories plus a penthouse, it contains 80 large apartments ranging in size from six to thirteen rooms, all with fine proportions, very large Living Rooms, wood-burning fireplaces, and set-back terraces at the top.

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Viewed from the exterior, there is a three-story yellow marble base over which is a dark brown brick facade that has been beautifully detailed with terra cotta ornamental balconies and cornices. Unfortunately, the fenestration is inconsistent, with a mish-mash of original casements (good), and single pane “view windows” (bad). I suspect over time the last remaining casements will be replaced with the alternative, at least bringing the entire building into uniformity. That said, the loss of the richness provided by the original casements is unfortunate. I will never understand why these buildings did not seek to maintain the architect’s original concept, and keep the multi-pane casements.

The building consists of four apartments on a typical floor, The A Line on the southeast corner is 11 rooms, the B Line on the northeast corner is 8 rooms, the C (6 Rooms) & D (8 rooms) lines facing south over 89th Street. The 16th, 17th, 18th, and penthouse floors begin to set back, allowing for very gracious, and unusual terraced apartments. Architecturally, this building is definitely in Candela’s league.

WHAT A BUYER CAN EXPECT TO PAY: A Classic 6 will cost over $3.5M; a large A Line over $7M. A duplex penthouse will cost over $20M.

La Touraine: 50 Morningside Drive

Mont Cenis: 54 Morningside Drive

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 the S&G buildings I have posted about are examples of their later work. Here, we travel back 20 years to a pair of notable buildings they designed earlier in their careers, “La Touraine” (50 Morningside Drive) and “Mont Cenis” (54 Morningside Drive) located between 115th and 116th Street.

Schwartz and Gross were responsible for much of the development of Morningside Heights, which was mostly open land until the late 19th Century when Columbia University moved to their present-day location at 116th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue. Shortly thereafter, the subway reached this part of upper Manhattan and a huge building boom ensued. This neighborhood was solidly middle class, so, compared to the contemporaneous works of J.E.R. Carpenter on Park Avenue, these apartments are quite modest.

50 & 54 Morningside Drive are not identical twins. Instead, they are two very similar, yet separate cooperatives. Currently (at the time of this post), I’m working with a couple that wants to move back to Morningside Heights where they both attended graduate school. They’re looking to move from the Upper East Side where they have lived for 20+ years. Their current apartment is a 2,000sqf+ post-war where they have raised their children.

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My search for them led me to this pair of buildings. Morningside Drive is a quiet drive that runs north/south from 110th Street to 122nd Street, bordered on the east by Morningside Park. The park is built on land that drops away steeply, so Morningside Drive is perched high atop the eastern edge of Morningside Heights. This is just one block east of the Amsterdam Avenue main gate of Columbia University. The University President’s house (really more of a mansion) sits just north of 116th Street on Morningside Drive, across the street from #54. There is a reason McKim Mead & White who designed the campus, and the President’s house, chose this site. It affords some spectacular park views and one can see all the way across the island to the East side. Such is, also, the case with the apartments in these two Edwardian gems, many with floor to ceiling extra wide French Doors with Juliet balconies.

WHAT A BUYER CAN EXPECT TO PAY: A 1,400 square-foot, 3BR in excellent condition with great views will cost about $1.2M

During the prewar era there were obviously very many developers operating in New York City, and many were quite prolific. Like today, the major players in New York real estate had a degree of fame, and with it, name recognition. One of the best known was the firm of Bing & Bing. In a previous post I commented on the impact the Bing Brothers had on Greenwich Village, particularly in the years 1929-1931. After years of secretly buying up small 19th Century buildings down the West 12th Street corridor, they put up five large rental towers with great fanfare (59, 299, and 302 W. 12th, 45 Christopher, and 2 Horatio). Interestingly, Bing & Bing may be the only 1920’s developer-landlords whose names are still recognized.

Most people today are also familiar with Bing & Bing’s star “house architect,” Emery Roth. Of course, Roth’s own fame eclipsed his employers, and in his time, he designed some of his most important buildings: the Beresford, San Remo, and El Dorado as examples, all for other developers. Less known are the team Boak & Paris who were Roth protégés that worked in his office. When they ventured out on their own, they remained employed by Bing & Bing.

Another house architect of Bing & Bing was Robert T. Lyons, responsible for 2 Horatio Street. Even Carpenter and Candela owe much of their success to their developer-patrons. Carpenter was sometimes a partner with S. Fullerton Weaver in the buildings he designed, The Paterno and Campagna families connection to Rosario Candela is also well known. Most of these developers were conservative and, as such, were able to weather the crash in 1929, albeit with a tightened belt and little if any new construction.

A developer who was cut from a more speculative cloth — perhaps, more characteristic of the heady days of the “Roaring ‘20’s” — was the brash Henry Mandel, the Donald Trump of his day. Farrar & Watmaugh were, essentially, his house architects and working for Mandel ensured some epic projects for the duo. Mr. Mandel famously developed two mega projects: London Terrace and the Parc Vendome. If Bing and Bing are famous for their impact on Greenwich Village, Mandel deserves an equal reputation for Chelsea (Chelsea Corners was another complex he and his team were responsible for — I will discuss in more detail in a future posting).

At the time I posted about the Parc Vendome, I failed to realize that the architect was the same as London Terrace, but did refer to the Parc Vendome as the “French London Terrace.” Well, indeed, my hunch was right. Both buildings are wonderful examples of 1920s revival style architecture, executed with true top-tier architectural skill.

Circa 1929-1931  //  ARCHITECT: Farrar & Watmaugh  //  BUILDER: Henry Mandel

London Terrace is a West Chelsea landmark taking up a full block bordered by 23rd & 24th Streets, Ninth to Tenth Avenues. This location has only grown more desirable over the last decade with the proliferation of art galleries and the High Line. Consisting of 14 contiguous buildings with 1,670 apartments, the complex covers the entire over-sized city block. The four corner buildings, 405 & 465 W. 23rd Street, and 410 & 470 W. 24th Street are the cooperative buildings, the six mid-block buildings are rentals.

There are numerous amenities in the complex, including a fantastic roof deck, and a landmark half-Olympic sized indoor pool adjacent to the on-site health club (located in the 465 building). The pool shimmers in all it’s 1929 splendor, with Palladian windows looking out onto the interior landscaped courtyard of the complex.

The architecture style, as one would expect, is Tudor/Jacobean in style, but subtle. The upper floors have set back terraces, and they offer some incredible views. The architectural detailing up at the top is really quite stunning, and the coop buildings are in excellent condition. The units themselves are mostly studio and one-bedroom units, with some two-bedrooms on the higher floors. There have, also, been numerous combination apartments.

Speaking of combination apartments, I had the opportunity to show a customer of mine a great corner combo of a one bedroom and studio. He wanted it, but — ultimately — the owners just couldn’t part with it. He was passionate about open south and west exposures one experiences in the 465 Building. Once you get above the 10th floor in the 23rd Street buildings, the open views to the south, east, and west are amazing.

I have a soft spot for London Terrace — about a decade ago, I lived in the 405 building. I combined two studios, which created a very charming and interesting space. Like myself, fans of LT love the prewar details: 9’ beamed ceilings, original oak floors, plaster moldings, and subway tile bathrooms (which never go out of style, but in some cases are just too beaten up to save).

WHAT A BUYER CAN EXPECT TO PAY: A renovated one bedroom with light and views will cost over $1M. Combos and penthouses can cost several million.

I’m very excited and flattered to have been featured in the New York Daily News by real estate writer Jason Sheftell.

Circa 1928  //  ARCHITECT: Leonard Cox & Arthur Holden Assoc.  //  BUILDER: John K. Turton & Co., Inc.

Relatively uneventful from the outside, this building is a star on the inside!

333 E. 57th Street is set back a few feet behind the lot-line along East 57th Street to allow for engaged planters to run along the entire front. Located between First & Second Avenues just west of the Sutton Place neighborhood, it appears as a simple building with a three-story stone base (except at each end, where the base only rises two stories) and brick above. This “step up” treatment of the base is unusual, but is employed successfully at 101 Central Park West.

The windows are quite large and have been replaced with “view” windows, i.e. very large single panes. The originals certainly were either casements or double hung sash, both divided into smaller panes. The loss of this texture on an otherwise simple facade diminishes the visual interest of the building. I understand a “view” window to a degree when you are looking at something really special, like Central Park, but not when you are looking across 57th Street at another building.

On a brighter note, almost all the original apartments remain intact. There are just two mirror-image nine-room apartments on each floor. What is quite striking about this arrangement is how little of the lot is actually covered by the building — probably around 60% versus a more typical 80% to 90%. This allows for a large rear garden, and better light for the north-facing rear rooms.

The apartments are entered via a small vestibule giving way to a 12-foot square Entry Foyer which itself leads to four rooms and the bedroom hall. The Living Room is 26’-6” by 14’-8” and has a fireplace. The Formal Dining Room is 22’-0” by 13’-9”. The Library/4th Bedroom is 17’-0” by 10’-0”. The three Master Bedrooms are 22’-0” by 12’-0”, 20’-0” x 12’-0”, and 20’-4” by 11’-0”, and each has an en-suite bathroom, and great closet space. The Service wing is also very spacious, with a Butler’s Pantry, Eat-In Kitchen, and two Maid’s Rooms. The layouts of these apartments are superb!

WHAT A BUYER CAN EXPECT TO PAY: I think this building is one of the best values in NYC. A half floor nine-room will set you back anywhere from $3.5M to $4.5M, with monthly maintenance of over $5,000.

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 7 in the building and I was so taken with the building that I decided to post about it again, providing a little more information this time around.

Sugarman & Berger were successful architects of the 1920s, but their firm does not have much name recognition today. This is unfortunate, since I find their buildings to be consistently top-notch. They are masters of the functional layout and one should really respect the provenance of their buildings. That said, their exteriors are consistently somewhat bland and uneventful, but exercising a measured restraint is just fine. They are frequently clad in white, taupe or yellow brick while the ornamentation is carefully chosen and kept to a minimum.

In the case of The Stanton (named for Elizabeth Cady Stanton who resided in the building), the only applied ornament are engaged barley twist columns on the top two floors above a wide stone belt course. This belt course reflects a similar one, but more subtly constructed of brick, above the third floor. Above three windows on the sixth floor are decorative stone rondels. This type of building, subtle and understated, makes up much of the fabric of the New York City streetscape. It does not speak too loudly, but maintains a quiet elegance. [**Refer to my previous post about this building for a photo of the exterior]

As you can see from my photos of some of the lobby details, the quality of the interior finish is beautiful. Personally, I don’t care for all the added gilding, but the grand space combined with the patterned terrazzo floors, elaborate plasterwork, and stained glass windows are beautiful.

The typical floor of this large building contains ten apartments built around three elevator banks. The Broadway side of the building consists of just two apartments — a very gracious corner Classic 7 and a large Classic 6. The middle elevator bank provides access to four apartments — two Classic 5’s facing north over 94th Street and two courtyard/south facing four-room layouts (one of which is a traditional two-bedroom, the other a one-bedroom with Formal Dining Room). The back, or west elevator bank, also gives access to four apartments — two Classic 6’s facing north over 94th Street, and two one bedrooms over the courtyard/south. All ten apartments have outstanding floor plans, and the A and B Line units have very large rooms. The apartments have high beamed ceilings, elegant herringbone floors, panel moldings, and over-sized window openings for more light. With the variety of apartment configurations, this building really offers something for everyone.

WHAT A BUYER CAN EXPECT TO PAY: An “A Line” Classic 7 on a lower floor, in estate condition will cost about $2.4M. A Classic 6 will cost from $1.5M up to about $2M, and a One Bedroom will be around $750,000.