The Century at 25 Central Park West

May 03, 2020 by Pamela Ajhar in Architecture

Can you name the four twin-towers of Central Park West? Beginning from the North, they are the Eldorado at 90th-91st Street, the San Remo at 74th-75th, the Majestic at 71st-72nd and the Century at 62nd-63rd.. These hi-rise towers, built between 1929 and 1931, transformed the skyline of the Upper West Side by more than doubling the height of all the existing buildings. They came about as a result of the Multiple Dwelling Law passed by the New York State Legislature in 1929. This law mandated an increase in yard and court area, but allowed residential buildings to rise higher than before, legalizing setbacks and towers that could span up to three times the width of the street on plots over 25,000 square feet. The last of these four buildings to be erected was the Century, constructed by the Chanin Construction Company, one of NYC’s leading builders and pioneers in the design of Art Deco buildings in America.

Irwin S. Chanin graduated from Cooper Union in 1915 with a degree in Civil Engineering and began his career as a builder and developer with his brother, Henry. Some of their early notable buildings include: the Fur Center Building (1924), the Chanin Building (1927) and the Lincoln Plaza Hotel (1928 - now Row NYC Hotel), all located in midtown Manhattan. They were also very prolific in the development of theatres. Beginning in 1925, they hired architect, Herbert Krapp, to design six Broadway locations, the 46th Street (now the Richard Rodgers Theatre), the Biltmore (now the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre), the Mansfield (now the Brooks Atkinson), the Masque (now the John Golden Theatre), the Royale (now the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre) and the Majestic Theatre. They also built several movie theaters including the Beacon Theater on Broadway and 74th Street which was restored in 2009 and is now one of New York’s leading live music venues currently under the management of Madison Square Garden.

In 1929, the Chanin Construction Company purchased the entire city block bounded by Broadway, Central Park West, West 62nd and West 63rd Street. The site included the Century Theatre (1909) on Central Park West, Daly’s Theatre on 63rd Street and an apartment house and two garages on Broadway. As part of the agreement to acquire the Century Theater, which was then owned by the Schubert Organization, the Chanins were forced to sell them their interests in the Royale, the Masque and the Majestic Theatres.

The Century Theater

The Century Theater being demolished

The original plan to build a 65-story skyscraper quickly fell apart and it was decided that a second Art Deco inspired twin-tower building would join the Chanin’s Majestic, already being constructing several blocks to the north. By this time, Irwin Chanin had become a registered architect and worked on the design of both of these buildings. Although at first glance, the exteriors are fairly similar, he considered the Century to be a finer work, with the addition of more complex ornamental crowns on the towers and improvements to the design of the façade and windows. One of the other notable differences was the Century’s heavy concentration of smaller apartments, as larger units were becoming difficult to rent due to the Depression. Over the years, the building had its fair share of famous tenants including Ethel Merman, Jack Dempsey, Robert Goulet, Joey Heatherton and Nanette Fabray.

The Century Towers

The Majestic Towers

After a long and contentious battle, the Century successfully converted to a condominium in 1989. To this day, it is one of only three condos on Central Park West south of 88th Street, the others are 15 Central Park West and Trump International at 1 CPW. Some of the apartments have spectacular views of Central Park and many retain their original pre-war details and special features like sunken drawing rooms with fireplaces, duplex suites, creak-proof walnut and select hardwood floors and luxurious bathrooms with stand-alone showers. Irwin Chanin lived in the Century until his death in 1988 at the age of 96.
The Century was designated a landmark by the Landmark Preservation Commission in 1985.

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View of Pomander Walk from 95th Street and West End Avenue

Pomander Walk - A Storybook Community

April 17, 2020 by Pamela Ajhar in Streetscapes

Pomander Walk is a delightful re-creation of a Tudor Village that cuts through 94th and 95th Street and is bounded by Broadway and West End Avenue. Views from the street of an L-shaped lot reveal the bulk of the 27 unique buildings that make up this private residential complex and highlight the mish-mosh of materials including brick, gray ashlar stone, stucco, painted wood trim, half timbering, painted shutters and flower boxes used to construct them. What is not visible from the street and may only be admired through the holes of two locked gates on either side of the walk-way, is what will surely stop you in your tracks.

Through either entrance way (the one on 94th Street has a stone arch crowned by a quaint metal sign with a crowing rooster) and up a few flights of steps, lies a secluded pedestrian only street, lined on each side by eight two-story houses; each with its own unique façade. Two old style iron lampposts stand, like book ends, on each side and every building has a lovely garden out front. It’s like a scene straight out of a storybook.

Built in 1921, it was the brainchild of Thomas Healy, a local nightclub operator. Healy’s ultimate goal was to build a 16 story hotel, so Pomander Walk was only meant to be an interim improvement to the land which would be demolished once the final hotel plans were in place. He commissioned the architectural firm of King and Campbell to design a complex that would resemble a small London street. The inspiration was to come from the set of a popular play, “Pomander Walk”, by Lewis Parker, which opened on Broadway in 1910. Healy met an early death in 1927, so Pomander Walk remained.

By the 1970’s the neighborhood had changed dramatically and the Walk itself had become less magical and more run-down. Developers were beginning to eye the land, for redevelopment. Thanks to the Landmark Preservation Commission, Pomander Walk was successfully designated as an Individual Landmark in 1982. It was around this same time that the development was also converted to a co-op. Apartments range in size from small studios to large apartments which take up the entire building.

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Panorama Columbus Circle, circa 1907. Via Library of Congress

The Prasada at 50 Central Park West - Then and Now

April 05, 2020 by Pamela Ajhar in Architecture

I recently came across a wonderful panoramic photo taken in 1907 of Columbus Circle looking uptown to the Upper West Side. In comparison to today, the entire neighborhood looks almost completely unrecognizable, with the exception of the Columbus Monument (1892) and The Ansonia Hotel in the distance (completed in 1904). I decided to enlarge the photo to get a closer look at the buildings on Central Park West that run up to the mid 60’s. I was amazed to find one building that still stands today; the Ethical Culture School, built in 1902. Under closer inspection, I realized there was a second building, the Prasada, on West 65th. I almost missed it since over the years the façade of the building has been altered quite a bit.

Ethical Culture School with the Prasada in the background

Developer, Samuel B. Haines, commissioned architect Charles Crowning to design the 12-story luxury apartment building. To meet the high expectations of the wealthy clientele and help lure them to the neighborhood, it was necessary to offer state-of-the-art apartment amenities, spacious floor plans and exceptional views of Central Park. Residents were greeted by an impressive portico entrance with four distinctive two-story banded columns and a beautiful lobby leading to a central open court enclosed by a stained glass paneled skylight. The exterior of the building, a combination of brick, limestone and terra cotta with embellishments of Beaux-Art ornamentation was crowned with a distinctive two-story-high mansard roof. The Prasada was completed in 1907.

Images of The Prasada in 1907 and The Prasada Today

Shortly after completion, the building traded ownership several times. In 1919, two investors by the names of Penrhyn Stanlaws and Walter Russell purchased with the plan to reconstruct and transform the building “into a new type of apartment house which is practically a combination of club, hotel, and apartment evolved to meet modern conditions, such as the servant problem and high cost of rents.” Their ambitious plans were somewhat curtailed, but unfortunately they did succeed in removing the mansard roof and upper floor details, replacing it with plain brick. Furthermore, sometime in the 40’s, the stone balustrades on the fourth and tenth floors were removed and the iron railings outside each apartment window were stripped away.

The building was converted to a cooperative in 1988. In 1999, the co-op undertook an extensive renovation project. The firm of Ehrenkrantz Eckstut and Kuhn was hired to redesign the lobby; a new Beaux-Arts-style mix of columns and cornices illuminated by the original stain-glass skylight panels. Despite the changes over the years, The Prasada, located at 50 Central Park West is still considered one of the most preeminent addresses on the Upper West Side.

The Lobby Today and (below) the Front Entrance and Elevators Today

To read more about the Prasada, read these articles:
NY Times
Daytonian in Manhattan

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Same View as Top Image From Columbus Circle in 1932

Seeing Double on Broadway - 221 W 82nd & 222 W 83rd St

April 23, 2019 by Pamela Ajhar in Architecture

If you happened to be walking on Broadway between 82nd and 83rd Street and glance up at the two buildings on the east side of the street, you can rest assured that you are not seeing double. These buildings, 221 West 82nd Street and 222 West 83rd Street, are twin buildings.

222 West 83rd Street and 221 West 82nd Street - Looking East on Broadway

As the 1920’s brought a building boom to the Upper West Side, the developer Sam Minskoff, a former plumber, was on his way to becoming a prolific NYC developer. Architect, Emery Roth, whose very first building design, the Saxony, built in 1900 and located just down the street at 250 West 82nd, was also earning accolades for his work. Minskoff, having already worked with Roth, once again commissioned him to work on what would become the first of a two building project.

Similarities of the Front Entrances - 221 W. 82nd is a Condop and 222 W 83rd is a Rental Building

The first of the two, located on 82nd Street, was named the Myron Arms, and the second, built a year later on 83rd, was called Jerome Palace. Both were named after his sons. Myron, Jerome and a third son, Henry, would eventually take over the family business of Sam Minskoff and Sons and in the 1970’s would oversee the construction of what Broadway theater lovers would come to know as the Minskoff Theater.

Key features of the Italian Renaissance inspired designs of the two buildings include the use of granite, limestone, brick and terracotta. Each of the buildings are topped with a setback penthouse floor. There are some slight variations between the two, so the next time you are passing by, look up and see if you can detect the differences.

To learn more about how Sam Minskoff and Emery Roth began their working relationship read this: http://www.chestercourt.com/about-us

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Visit Essex Street Market Before It Moves

January 23, 2019 by Pamela Ajhar in New York City History

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, millions of new immigrants flooded the Lower East Side of New York. Pushcart peddling became one of the most popular lines of work (second only to the most popular profession of garment industry) with reports of over 6,000 independent vendors selling their wares in the streets of the neighborhood. The Department of Public Market’s Annual Report in 1937 described pushcarts as “unsanitary… a fire hazard, a health peril, a street traffic problem, a real estate blight, and a source of great additional cost to the sanitation department.” In the late 1930’s, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia vowed to clear the congested streets of “pushcart evil” by building a network of indoor public markets throughout the city.

Essex Street Market 1940 Photo via the Collections of the Museum of the City of New York..jpg

By 1939, three of what would eventually be nine enclosed public retail markets in New York City were completed, the Park Avenue Enclosed Retail Market in East Harlem (1937), the First Avenue Enclosed Market (1938), and the Thirteenth Avenue Retail Market (1939) in Borough Park, Brooklyn. The Essex Street Market, which opened in 1940, became the fourth. Currently located on Essex Street between Delancey and Rivington Streets, the buildings originally housed 475 vendors. Today, it is the oldest existing indoor market created by Mayor LaGuardia and one of only four remaining indoor public markets that still exist. The other three markets are the Arthur Avenue Market in the “Little Italy” section of the Bronx, The Moore Street Market in Brooklyn, and the La Marqueta in the Spanish Harlem section of Harlem.

Essex Street Market Today with Essex Crossing in the background

Sometime this year, the Essex Street Market will be moving to a new home in the newly constructed Essex Crossing development project, located on the opposite side of Delancey Street. The New York City Economic Development Fund (NYCEDC), which assumed direct control of Essex Market in 1995, is handling leasing at the new location. While this move will offer a more modern take on the indoor market experience, with plenty of space for additional vendors and restaurants, one more piece of Lower East Side history will be no more. There is still time to visit the original location at 120 Essex Street; a red brick building with a colorful 200-foot long mural created by Brooklyn-based artist Gera Lozano in 2016, that runs along the exterior of the building.

Current Essex Street Market Merchant List: http://www.essexstreetmarket.com/merchant-directory/
New Vendors (after move to Essex Crossing): http://www.essexstreetmarket.com/explore-new-vendors

While you are there, take a walk down memory lane and visit a few more of my personal favorites: Kossar’s Bialys (founded in 1936), currently located at 367 Grand Street (and Essex Street), for the best bialys in the city; Russ and Daughters (originally a pushcart operation established in 1914) now located at 179 East Houston Street, for the best smoked fish; Katz’s Deli (established in 1888) currently located at 205 East Houston Street, for humongous corned beef and pastrami sandwiches (need I say more); Yonah Schimmel Knish Bakery (founded 1890) currently located at 137 East Houston Street and Economy Candy (founded in 1937 and the oldest candy store in NYC) located at 108 Rivington Street.

More articles about the history of pushcarts and the Essex Street Market on the Lower East Side:

http://bedfordandbowery.com/2015/12/75-years-after-it-pushed-out-the-pushcarts-essex-street-market-presses-forward/

https://untappedcitie s.com/2017/08/31/10-fun-facts-about-nycs-essex-street-market-a-lower-east-side-survivor/

https://nyhistorywalks.wordpress.com/2012/01/19/before-farmers-markets-became-cool-essex-street-market/

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555 West End Avenue - St Agnes Reimagined

December 06, 2018 by Pamela Ajhar in Architecture

A striking collegiate gothic style red brick and limestone building sits gracefully on the southwest corner of West End Avenue and 87th Street. Located in what is now part of the Riverside West End Historic District, it was a parochial school for over 100 years. In January 2013, the New York Roman Catholic Archdiocese announced the closing of 22 elementary schools and 2 high schools and St. Agnes Boys’ High School was on that list. Shortly afterwards, the building was sold to architect/developer Cary Tamarkin and is now in the process of being transformed into luxury condominiums.

The history of 555 West End Avenue began in 1907-1908 when the New York Protestant Episcopal Public School Corporation commissioned architect William A. Boring to design the St. Agatha’s School for Girls (later sold to the Catholic Archdiocese). Mr. Boring began his career in the late 1800’s in California, later moved to New York City to attend Columbia University and after a brief stint at McKim, Mead and White, teamed up with architect Edward L. Tilton. Their first prominent work was the design of the buildings for the U.S. Immigration Service on Ellis Island (1897-1901, part of the Ellis Island Historic District) which received a Gold Medal at the Exposition Universelle of 1900. The formal partnership ended in 1904 and Boring went on to a solo career, designing many public buildings including St. Agatha. He became extremely active and influential in design and planning circles and worked on many important projects. One of my personal favorites is the American Seamen‘s Friend Society Sailors‘ Home and Institute, 505-507 West Street, now a designated New York City Landmark and currently operating as The Jane Hotel (www.thejanenyc.com). Boring left his full-time practice to join the faculty of Columbia University‘s School of Architecture, becoming a professor of design (1915), director (1919), and the first dean (1931) until his retirement in 1934.

Ellis Island Architects: William A. Boring and Edward L. Tilton

American Seamen‘s Friend Society Sailors‘ Home andInstitute, 505-507 West Street - Architect: William A. Boring — American Seamen‘s Friend Society Sailors‘ Home and
Institute, 505-507 West Street - Architect: William A. Boring

Without the constant comings and goings of students, Tamarkin is able to reimagine the interior space of this beautiful building, while still maintaining what remains of the grand exterior. One of the more notable, but not so recent changes was the removal of a giant cross that once sat prominently on the top of the building. Notable interior features will include towering ceiling heights, enormous windows, large room sizes and classic elements such as gracious entry foyers, walk-in pantries, eat-in-kitchens and staff rooms. While 555 West End Avenue is still under construction, sales of the 13 unique residences have already begun. I recently toured model residence # 3E, with interiors designed by Charlie Ferrer. Architectural Digest highlighted this project in a recent issue: https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/charlie-ferrer-first-model-555-west-end-tamarkin

555 West End Avenue #3E Interiors by: Charlie Ferrer

My blogpost would not be complete without mentioning the piece de resistance, the Solarium Penthouse currently offered for $18,000,000. The centerpiece of this three-bedroom home is a breathtaking Great Room crafted from the immense vaulted and skylit volume of the original school gymnasium. Stunning in its scale and luminosity, the dramatic space soars to nearly 19-1/2 feet, with a floor-to-ceiling window-wall along its south façade that opens onto a private terrace. Here is a link to see more photos: https://555westendave.com/residences/the-solarium-penthouse/

555 West End Avenue: Rendering by Tamarkin

For more information regarding the conversion process visit: https://newyorkyimby.com/2015/05/landmarks-wants-less-visibility-on-555-west-end-avenue-rooftop-addition.html

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The Randel Bolt in Central Park

July 23, 2018 by Pamela Ajhar in New York City History

Last week I went on a Central Park scavenger hunt in search of a Randel bolt. What is a Randel bolt, you ask? Well, first, we must go back in time to 1807, when the Common Council of the City of New York asked the State to appoint three Commissioners to assist in the planning of the city’s development; this would become the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811. John Randel Jr, a young man from Albany was hired to survey and map the island of Manhattan. He was responsible for the creation of the grid that would become the blueprint for the streets and avenues of the city as we know them today.

The Bridges Map (Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division)

For the next ten years, Randel and his team took on the painstaking task of marking every one of the more than 1,500 planned intersections that would run from North (now Houston) Street to 155th Street. They were said to have been pelted with artichokes and cabbages; arrested by the sheriff for trespassing; sued for damages after pruning trees; and attacked by dogs sicced on them by property owners irate at the prospect of streets being plowed through their properties (NY Times). They placed wooden stakes at each of the intersections of the surveyed north-south avenues and east-west streets. Afterwards the men replaced the stakes with approximately 1,550 three-foot high marble monument stones. Where they encountered bedrock or a boulder, an iron bolt was installed instead (98 in all).

Surveyors Monument - ca. 1807 Collection of The New-York Historical Society, 1908.33 — Surveyors Monument - ca. 1807
Collection of The New-York Historical Society, 1908.33

As the plan progressed, New Yorkers became more vocal about the need for a public park. On July 21, 1853, the New York State Legislature enacted into law the setting aside of more than 750 acres (which would later expand to 843 acres) of land central to Manhattan Island to create Central Park. The planned park would eliminate 153 of the rectangular city blocks from the 1811 Commissioner’s Plan.

Now back to my scavenger hunt. So what became of all of those monuments and bolts put down by Randel and his crew some 200 years ago?. Most became rubble or were dug up and discarded. The New-York Historical Society possesses two of the marble monuments in its collection. Up until 2004, there were no known markers in any of their original locations. That was until a geographer by the name of Reuben Rose-Redwood and a surveyor, Lemuel Morrison, made the amazing discovery of an iron bolt embedded in a low rise of gray schist located in the park’s southern section. The information for the exact location of this bolt is vague, but I followed a few hints I found on-line and was able to locate the bolt myself.

In 2014, a few more discoveries were made, bringing the total of original grid markers to 6, which now includes 4 Randel marble monuments and 2 iron bolts. For the fully story of how these discoveries were made and for some really great information about the grid, read the January 2016 article by Marguerite Holloway published in the New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/unearthing-the-city-grid-that-would-have-been-in-central-park

The t mark on the top aligns with the planned grid. The bolt is located where sixth avenue and 65th Street would have intersected.

For a very thorough explanation of the history of the grid, some really cool graphics, maps and interactive tools, visit the Museum of the City of New York’s website “The Greatest Grid” http://thegreatestgrid.mcny.org/greatest-grid/interactive-1811-plan

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The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

March 21, 2018 by Pamela Ajhar in New York City History

March 25th marks the anniversary of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, where 146 garment workers lost their lives in the deadliest industrial fire in the history of New York City. The fire was most likely caused by an unextinguished match or cigarette butt accidently thrown into a scrap bin. It broke out on a Saturday afternoon on the eighth floor of the factory and quickly spread to floors nine and ten. Most of the deaths occurred on the ninth floor, where workers were unable to escape because of locked exit doors. The victims, 123 women and 23 men, primarily Italian and Jewish immigrants between the ages of 16 and 23, died from either the heat of the fire, smoke inhalation or falling or jumping to their deaths.

The tragedy of this fire helped spur the growth of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), an organization that fought to create legislation to improve factory safety standards. At the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the fire in 1961, David Dubinsky, President of the ILGWU, said: "These were our martyrs because what we couldn't accomplish by reasoning with the bosses, by pleading with the bosses, by arguing with the bosses, they accomplished with their deaths."

The Brown Building today, located at 23-29 Washington Place in Greenwich Village

The Asch building, located at 23-29 Washington Place in Greenwich Village, where the fire took place was built in 1901. It still stands and is now the Brown Building, owned by New York University. There are several commemorative plaques on the corner of Washington Place and Greene Street. The Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition is in the process of building a permanent art memorial to the victims and the legacy. Click here to find out more: http://rememberthetrianglefire.org/

To learn more about the history of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, visit:
http://trianglefire.ilr.cornell.edu/legacy/index.html

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The Interborough Rapid Transit Company 1904 -- from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York — The Interborough Rapid Transit Company 1904 -- *from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York*

The IRT Powerhouse

February 27, 2018 by Pamela Ajhar in Architecture

The big news for historic preservationists in 2017 was the successful outcome of a 41 year battle to designate a spectacular piece of architecture known as the IRT Powerhouse as a New York City Landmark. Once considered a threatened historic resource, the Landmark Preservation Commission voted unanimously in December to add this to last year’s list of 14 structures throughout the five boros to gain designation. Here is the full list and map for 2017:
https://ny.curbed.com/maps/nyc-historic-preservations-landmarks-2017

It was 1901 and the City Beautiful Movement was already in full swing, bringing monumental and inspiring structures to neighborhoods that would promote civic pride, morality and social order. Stanford White, of McKim, Mead and White, a partner of one of the most prominent architectural firms of that era, was brought in to design what would become a large facility to house the equipment needed to generate electricity for New York City’s first underground subway system. Two years earlier, White had received tremendous public accolades for his ambitious design of the original Madison Square Garden (demolished in 1925). He had already developed a solid reputation for his work on many public buildings, churches and monuments. One of his most notable projects was the Washington Square Arch, built in 1889, however he was best known as one of the original “starchitects”, designing homes for many of the rich and famous of the “Gilded Age”.

View of the top of the building with one remaining smokestack

Massive in size, the footprint for the IRT Powerhouse would ultimately take up an entire block of land between 58th and 59th Street and 11th and 12th Avenues (in the neighborhood known at the time as San Juan Hill). In 1902, the sprawling Eastman and Co slaughterhouse was torn down to make way for the new building. Finally, in 1904 the facility began generating electricity for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company subway line, providing service to 28 subway stations from City Hall to 145th Street.

Detail of the South Side of the Building

At peak operation, over 25,000 tons of coal was burned annually, creating a steady stream of smoke and layers of soot, which took a terrible toll on the environment. In 1959, Consolidated Edison purchased the building, installed a new and efficient boiler system and converted the plant to gas and oil. Con Edison also began systematically dismantling the original façade of the building, removing key architectural elements and the smokestacks lining the top of the building. Architects representing Con Edison would later appear before the Landmark Preservation Committee to attempt to argue that the building should no longer be a candidate for designation since the structure had too many significant changes. Fortunately, the committee was able to see beyond that argument and thankfully after a long fought out battle finally moved to protect and preserve one of Stanford White’s few remaining masterpieces in Manhattan.

Click here for a very interesting PBS show about Stanford White’s life: https://www.wliw.org/programs/treasures-of-new-york/treasures-new-york-stanford-white-full/

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Revson Fountain at Lincoln Center

October 26, 2017 by Pamela Ajhar in Monuments and Memorials

The windows of our Brown Harris Stevens office, located directly across the street from Lincoln Center, offer a front row seat to the Josie Robertson Plaza. The Plaza, which is surrounded by the Metropolitan Opera House, David Geffen Hall (formerly known as Avery Fisher Hall) and the David Koch Theater (formerly the New York State Theater), is often referred to as the gateway to Lincoln Center. In the center of it all is the crown jewel, the Revson Fountain, completed and dedicated on April 6, 1964.

The view of Revson Fountain from Brown Harris Stevens West Side office

Lincoln Center, constructed in the 1960’s, was part of the “Lincoln Square Renewal Project” during Robert Moses’ program of urban renewal. The construction of the original Revson Fountain, designed by Philip Johnson, was made possible by a gift from the Revson Foundation in honor of Revlon’s founder, Charles H. Revson. When first built, it was the most technologically advanced fountain in New York. Over the years, the fountain has been immortalized in the scenes of countless films and television productions, including: The Producers (1968), Godspell (1973), Manhattan (1979), Ghostbusters (1984), Moonstruck (1987), Sweet Home Alabama (2002) and Black Swan (2010).

In 2006, Diller Scofidio + Renfro took on the role of lead designers of a $1.3-billion Lincoln Center redevelopment project. The plan was to include improvements to the arts complex, the addition of two new restaurants, a roof garden, two groves, as well as work to several of the plaza’s entrances. The Charles H. Revson Foundation contributed to the project by awarding a $4 million multi-year grant in support of the redesign of the Fountain.

Completed in 2009, Diller Scofidio’s design replaced Johnson’s bulkier granite base with a thin Cambrian black granite ring that rests on slender steel supports, opening up the view across the Plaza in all directions. The water level of the fountain’s basin, lowered to match the pavement level, contributes to the illusion that spectators are standing on top of the water. WET Design (Water Entertainment Technologies), a Los Angeles based water features firm best known for designing some of the most famous modern fountains in the world including, the Dubai Fountain and the fountains at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, was brought on to completely redo the fountain’s innards. WET, led by co-founder Mark Fuller, designed water features controlled by 353 nozzles encompassing 36 mIcroshooters, 149 smooth bore analog nozzles and 168 aerating analog nozzles, all working together to create a show of choreographed alternating, pulsing and continuously flowing streams of water that can shoot more than 40 feet high. The water shows are on a set schedule that vary from season to season. Visit: http://www.lincolncenter.org/visit for a current schedule.

For more information about the renovation and the fountain’s architect, read the article “Water Music” by John Seabrook in the January 11, 2010 issue of the New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/01/11/water-music-2

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Spiral staircase looking down into the main studio work space

Wharton Esherick Studio

September 03, 2017 by Pamela Ajhar in Roadtrip

The most Influential artist of his time that you’ve probably never heard of.

This past Labor Day weekend, we took a road trip to Paoli, Pennsylvania, just west of Philadelphia, to visit the Wharton Esherick Museum. Wharton Esherick, born in 1887, was a visionary artist, who was widely recognized for his vanguard approach to design. Most of his pieces, constructed using wood, are simplistic in form and often pay homage to the natural world that surrounded his workspace. Even the building designs, which include the studio, garage (currently used as the welcome center), a reconstructed German Expressionist outhouse and a second workshop (added in 1956 and now used as family living quarters), are all asymmetrical wonders.

Studio - stone building to the left built in 1926 and two structures to the right added later

Our hour long tour, led by a very knowledgeable and enthusiastic docent, began with a brief biographical introduction to Wharton’s life and then it was on to the studio. The four levels of living and workspace are filled with more than 200 pieces of his work, including fine examples of his functional and often whimsical furniture designs, sculptures, paintings, woodcuts, furnishings, utensils and model studies.

Log garage to the right is currently used as the welcome center. Blue building to the left was the last building added in 1956.

Esherick built the first structure in this location beginning in 1926, and continued to expand and work here for over 40 years, until his death in 1970. If you love hand carved wood and custom furniture design as I do, you must visit this place! The Wharton Esherick studio, declared a National Historic Landmark in 1993, has been offering tours to the public since 1972. It’s easy to get there by car, but be sure to make your reservations in advance.

Dining area including light fixture and floors also created by Wharton Esherick

We enjoyed our day trip and there are a lot of fun things to do in the area. Had it not been for the rain that started right after we left the museum, we would have headed over to The Valley Forge National Historical Park, which is less than 10 minutes away. Instead, we had to settle for the Victory Brewing Company in Downington, where you can tour the brewery and have lunch and beer at the Brewpub afterwards.

To read more about Wharton Esherick or to visit the museum CLICK HERE.

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The Vessel at Hudson Yards

August 13, 2017 by Pamela Ajhar in New Development

Hudson Yards, located on the Far West Side of Manhattan, will be the largest private real estate development in the history of the United States. Phase one of the construction (see map above) with anticipated completion in 2019, is already underway at the eastern yard, between 10th and 11th Avenue, and 30th and 34th Streets. Developers, Related Companies and Oxford Properties have hired a team of top Architects and Designers to work on the project, which will consist of 6 mixed use residential and commercial buildings with more than 100 shops, a performing arts and cultural center called The Shed and a collection of exciting new restaurants. The entire site will cover 28 acres and nearly one-half has been set aside as open space and parkland.

In the center of it all will be “The Vessel”. Created by English designer, Thomas Heather, it promises to be one of New York’s next significant landmarks. It will stand 15 stories high with a geometric lattice of intersecting flights of 2,500 climbable steps and 80 landings and will weigh 600 tons. The High Line, which which attracts over four million visitors annually, currently wraps around Hudson Yards and will eventually allow direct access into the Eastern Yard’s Public Square and Gardens. The Number 7 Train’s Hudson Yards station is also conveniently located.

I recently visited the sales office for Fifteen Hudson Yards, the new condominium residences designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Rockwell Group, scheduled for completion in 2018. While I was there, I took a few photos of the construction of The Vessel in progress and an aerial photo of the Public Square from the sales office.

To read more, CLICK HERE

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Detail above the door of the Grand Hall of Aaron Shikler's studio at 44 West 77th Street

44 West 77th Street - Facade Transformed

July 31, 2017 by Pamela Ajhar in Architecture

Aaron Shikler, the famed portrait artist resided at 44 West 77th Street for over 50 years, until his death in 2015 at age 93. It was here in his studio overlooking the American Museum of Natural History, that he painted one of his most notable works, the official White House portrait of John F. Kennedy. I recently had the pleasure of visiting this 11-room residence located on the 4th floor, which is currently on the market for $5,998,000. The original architectural details of several of the rooms are truly breathtaking, especially the Grand Hall, with its 14.5 foot ceiling and carved wood pilasters and Corinthian capitals. With 2 apartments per floor and a total of only 33 apartments, it is truly a treat to find an apartment with so much of the original decorative features.

This 14-story building, once called The Manhattan Square Apartments, was built in 1909. Walter Russell, who already had success commissioning several studio/ apartment cooperatives on West 67th Street, wanted to bring this same idea to 77th Street and hired the architectural firm of Harde and Short for the project. Herbert S. Harde and R. Thomas Short were already known for their distinctive designs, having earned critical recognition for the Elizabethian-styled five-story Red House at 350 West 85th Street in 1903, followed in 1906 and 1907, with the neo-French Renaissance Alwyn Court on West 58th Street and the neo-Gothic Park View on East 66th Street. But 44 West 77th Street, when completed, did not earn the same praise; the neo-Gothic facade covered in elaborate terra-cotta ornamentation and topped with a French Gothic Tower, led the critic of the Architectural Record to remark that it made him stare and gasp in astonishment. Architectural historian, Andrew Alpern, wrote in his book Luxury Apartment Houses of Manhattan that it was “encrusted with ornaments that appeared to have been squeezed out of a pastry tube”.

West 77th street by William Sanger 1907, from the collection of the museum of the city of New York

By the late 1930’s, pieces of terra-cotta began falling to the street. Poor installation, acidity in the atmosphere and pigeons who regularly visited the frontage of the building, caused further damage. In 1940, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company took over the building with a deed in lieu of foreclosure and in 1944, rather than taking on a costly restoration, the company’s architect made the decision to remove the bulk of the terra-cotta.

It is hard to imagine that the exterior of the building once looked so radically different. If you have the chance to peek into the lobby, you can still find all the details of a very dramatic gothic lobby complete with leaded glass windows, grand columns, groin-vaulted ceilings, pendant chandeliers and bronze statues.

To read more about the altered façade of 44 West 77th Street, read Christopher Gray’s article in the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/23/realestate/streetscapes-44-west-77th-street-restoration-of-an-altered-facade.html

To read more about the history of the building and it’s residents, visit Daytonian in Manahattan:
http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-1909-manhattan-square-apts-no-44.html

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The Joseph R. Hennessey Oyster Market & Restaurant designed by Clarence Fagan True in 1893

Where Have All the Oysters Gone?

May 04, 2017 by Pamela Ajhar in New York City History

There’s a quaint two-story red brick shop on Columbus Avenue that is currently a Patagonia store. It’s a lovely Flemish style brownstone and terra cotta building located directly across the street from the American Museum of Natural History. With its large archway, I always assumed it must have been a horse stable. I was surprised to discover that it was built in 1893 for Joseph R. Hennessy as an oyster market and restaurant and was designed by Clarence True. True was a very prolific architect of this era, designing 33 buildings that year alone. He is best recognized for his outstanding contributions to the townhouse and row house inventory on the Upper West Side, but I have not been able to find any other existing commercial properties by his hand.

Oyster Stands in Fulton Market 1870 - NY Public Library

What really intrigued me most when I began my research on this structure was the ubiquitous local oyster industry of that century. Today oysters are on the menus of many restaurants around the city with most east coast varieties coming from places like the Long Island Sound, Chesapeake Bay and the waters of New England and Canada. However, as recently as the early 20th century, New York City Harbor supplied the city’s oyster diet. When Henry Hudson arrived in 1609, it was said that the waters contained over 220,000 acres of oyster beds; nearly half of the oysters in the entire world. Many grew to enormous sizes; some as large as dinner plates. Introduced to the new settlers by the local Lenape Indians, they would prepare them by wrapping the entire shell in seaweed and placing them into an open fire. Oysters quickly became a staple in the diet of the average New Yorker and taverns and street carts that served these bivalves began to pop up all over the city.

Oyster Cart Photo Courtesy of Detroit Publishing, Library of Congress, Circa 1900

By the early 1900’s, oysters were on the verge of complete depletion with over 1 billion per year being harvested and consumed. To contribute to the problem, the oyster beds were disrupted by continuous urban expansion and development. The marshy shorelines and rocky shallows, where the oyster beds thrived, were routinely being replaced with bulkheads, piers and landfill. To make matters worse, millions of gallons of raw sewage were being dumped into the harbor on a regular basis. In the early 1920’s, the city began closing down oyster beds, due to fears of food borne illness. In 1927, the City closed the last oyster bed in Raritan Bay.

New York City oysters never really disappeared completely, but they are functionally extinct. Since the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, the water quality of the harbor has improved. Since oysters play a key role in the ecosystem, with their ability to filter up to 50 gallons of water per day and their function to attract other marine life, there is an initiative to boost the population. By 2030, The Billion Oyster Project seeks to distribute one billion live oysters around 100 acres of reefs around the harbor, hoping to restore New York City’s title as “oyster capital of the world”.

You can find out more by visiting their website: https://www.billionoysterproject.org/

Click here for a link with maps and descriptions of oysters currently found in the Long Island Sound https://www.oysterater.com/region/long-island-sound/

To read more about the history of the NYC Oyster:
http://untappedcities.com/2016/02/09/aw-shucks-the-tragic-history-of-new-york-city-oysters/

Click here for more about the history of the Joseph R. Hennessey Oyster Market and Restaurant designed by Clarence True:
http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2011/12/1893-flemish-revival-oyster-mkt-no-426.html

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Astor Court Apartments and the Copper Cornice

Astor Court's Grand Garden

April 12, 2017 by Pamela Ajhar in Architecture

John Jacob Astor amassed a huge fortune before perishing on the Titanic in 1912. His son, Vincent Astor, 20 years old at the time, was a student at Harvard. He inherited $87 million from his father’s estate and stepped into the sprawling family real estate business. His first project was the $1 million Astor Court apartments on Broadway that took up the entire block from 89th to 90th Street. Built in 1914, this 13 story
U-shaped brick building, has entrances on both 89th and 90th Street. It has a rather reserved red brick façade, topped with an exceptional great copper cornice that overhangs from the roof and projects out eight feet. Charles A. Platt, a skilled architect, landscape architect and artist, designed all aspects of the project.

However, one of the most distinguishing features of this building is not visible from the street. It is the gloriously landscaped outdoor garden court that sits between the two sides of the building. Buff color bricks cover the rear façade, helping to lighten up the space . There are many cozy places where residents can sit with friends and neighbors. Robert A. M Stern called Astor Court “perhaps the loveliest of all courtyard apartments built between 1900 and the First World War”.

Vincent Astor sold the building in 1922 and many of the original six-to nine room apartments were ultimately divided up, but some gracious layouts still remain. When the building converted to co-op in 1985, the garden was revitalized with flowering plants and mature shade trees, making this private outdoor space one of the true gems of the Upper West Side.

Astor Court in 1922

To learn more about the building, clink on the link below:
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/01/realestate/streetscapes-89th-street-broadway-1916-astor-building-private-garden-grows.html

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101 West 78th Street aka The Evelyn

February 16, 2017 by Pamela Ajhar in Architecture

Over the years, the story has persisted that 101 West 78th Street, once known as The Evelyn, was named for Evelyn Nesbit. She was the 16-year-old mistress of the famed architect Stanford White of McKim, Mead & White. The same Evelyn Nesbit whose future husband, millionaire Harry Kendall Thaw, would ultimately shoot and kill Stanford White in 1906 in a fit of jealous rage. The problem with this story is that neither White, Nesbit nor Thaw ever had anything to do with this building and furthermore, Evelyn Nesbit was only a baby in 1885 when the building first earned its name.

As of this writing, the building has now shed this moniker and will now be known only as 101 West 78th Street. Located directly across the street from the Museum of Natural History, it is in the midst of a major renovation and condo conversion. The original construction of the striking red brick building began in 1882, when the intended design by architect, Emile Gruwe, was for an 8 story building with a mansard roof. The building rose up to the 5th floor and then the money dried up. Developers, Phineas Smith and Edward Milliken purchased the building after it went into foreclosure and hired new architects, Douglas and John Jardine, to complete it. If you look up at the now 7 story building, you will notice the change in the design form on the top two floors of the building.

The building is adorned with lovely terra cotta figures. In 1987, they were at risk of being removed, but fortunately, a group of Upper West Siders fought and ultimately won the battle to save them.

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Cleopatra's Needle in Central Park

February 05, 2017 by Pamela Ajhar in Monuments and Memorials

The oldest outdoor monument in New York City is hidden in plain sight, just behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the eastern side of Central Park. Standing 70 feet tall and weighing 220 tons, the Obelisk, also known as Cleopatra’s Needle, was placed there in 1881. But it dates back to over 3,500 years ago, when Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III commissioned the construction of a pair of obelisks in 1460 B.C. in celebration of 30 years of reign. Both monuments were placed on the banks of the Nile River in the ancient city of Heliopolis where they stood for over 1,500 years. In 18 A.D. the Roman conquerors moved them both to a new location at the entrance of the Ceasarium; a temple built to honor Julius Caesar, in the city of Alexandria, Egypt.

The set of obelisks remained together in Alexandria until 1869, when the Khedive of Egypt gave one as a gift to the United States to commemorate the opening of the Suez Canal. The feat of transporting and erecting it at its new location in Central Park would take another 12 years. On January 22, 1881, thousands came to the park to witness as the monument was turned upright. A time capsule containing an 1870 U.S. Census, the Bible, a Webster’s Dictionary, the complete works of Shakespeare, a guidebook to Egypt, a copy of the Declaration of Independence and a small box with a secret content were all buried beneath it. The other Obelisk was moved to London in 1878 where it still stands on the banks of the Thames River.

Alexandrian, Egypt - Photo: Metropolitan Museum

Once the fanfare faded, trees began to grow tall around it and the hieroglyphics that lined all four sides began to decay. So much so that in 2011, the Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, sent a letter to Mayor Bloomberg and the Central Park Conservancy threatening to remove it unless steps were taken to clean and conserve it. From 2013 through 2014, a restoration project was undertaken, to clean the monument with lasers, repair the cracks and place a protective coating to help with future preservation.

On one of my recent walks through the Park, I went to visit this amazing piece of history for the very first time. I have probably walked past it a thousand times, but now that I know more about it, I will be sure to stop by whenever I am in the area. It is really quite a marvelous spectacle.

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View of the Hearst Tower from Corner of 57th Street and Eighth Avenue

Old Meets New at the Hearst Tower

December 19, 2016 by Pamela Ajhar in Architecture

There is no finer example of “old meets new” in the world of New York City architecture than the Hearst Building on Eighth Avenue and 57th Street. In 1926, William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper publisher who was the model for “Citizen Kane” commissioned Joseph Urban to design a new Manhattan headquarters for his growing media empire. Urban, best known for his set designs for the Ziegfeld Follies, approached the project as if it were an elaborate theatrical extravaganza. A six-story cast-concrete base adorned with giant fluted columns and 8 allegorical statues representing Comedy, Tragedy, Music, Art, Industry, Sport, The Sciences and Printing was completed in 1929. The plan was to add a soaring tower on top of the base, but the Depression intervened, and the additional floors were never added.

Jump ahead to early 2000, the Hearst Corporation has expanded and their offices are now spread out across the city. The company, in desperate need of more space hires the Architect, Norman Foster, to come up with a plan to add a tower to the original base. A recipient of the Pritzker Architecture prize, Foster has recently completed a project at the British Museum where he has added a glass canopy with 1,656 uniquely shaped panes of glass above the Great Court, essentially melding the old with the new.

Mr. Foster presents his plans to the Hearst Corporation on the afternoon of September 11, 2001, while the fires are burning at the Trade Center downtown. It will be another four and half years before the project is completed. The exterior of the historical base, designated by the city as a landmark in 1988, must be preserved. It will be completely gutted and restored and Foster’s 46 stories of triangulated glass and steel will be placed on top. Construction of the diagrid structure, with its series of 4 story high interlocking triangles, which will support the tower, will begin to rise in 2004. Upon completion in 2006, a column in the New York Times Architectural Review, describes the new building as such: “Past and present don’t fit seamlessly together here; they collide with ferocious energy”. This new skyscraper has made a bold statement in the midtown skyline.

With a number of environmental considerations built into the plan, Hearst Tower becomes the very first green building completed in New York City, earning both LEED Gold and Platinum designations. The efficiency of the design reduced the amount of steel required for construction by about 20% and 80% of the steel that was used came from recycled material. The lower floors and lobby area, which form an open atrium, are paved with heat conductive limestone. Tubing beneath the floors are filled with circulating water used for cooling in the summer and heating in the winter and are supplied by a reclamation tank that can hold up to 14,000 gallons of rainwater collected from the roof. It also feeds an amazing 3 story high “Ice Fall” glass and water sculpture that greets you in the lobby. If you are passing the building, you can poke your head inside to see it.

For a spectacular drone tour of the building, check out this youtube video narrated by Norman Foster: Click Here

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Dante Park

December 01, 2016 by Pamela Ajhar in Monuments and Memorials

The crisscross of Columbus Avenue and Broadway in the Lincoln Square area forms two triangular parcels of land. Dante Park, also referred to as one half of the bowtie (the other half is Richard Tucker Square), occupies one of those triangles. It sits directly across from Lincoln Center between 63rd and 64th Street and is one of 77 public parks located in Manhattan. Both parks were once known as Empire Park until they were split into Empire Park North and Empire Park South.

In 1921, the southern portion was renamed Dante Park in memory of the great Florentine writer, Dante Alighieri. A nine-and-one-half foot bronze monument of Dante, by Artist Ettore Ximenes (1855-1926) perched on top of a large granite pedestal sits at the base of the park. Dante, best known for his epic poem, The Divine Comedy, had an interesting life story, but I would rather tell you more about how this statue came to reside her.

Dante Park in 1921, Courtesy of the New York Public Library

Carlo Barsotti was the founder of the Il Progresso Italo-Americano newspaper, the first Italian daily newspaper in the United States, published in New York City from 1880 to 1988. He was known for having grandiose ideas. Having already raised funds, (mostly through donations from his newspaper’s readers), to have statues of four other renowned Italians placed in prominent locations throughout the city, he was determined to find an equally important place for a statue of Dante. Statues he already successfully had erected included, General Giuseppe Garibaldi (1888) in Washington Square Park, Christopher Columbus (1892) in Columbus Circle, composer, Giuseppe Verdi (1906) in Verdi Square and Giovanni da Verrazano (1909) in Battery Park. In 1912, he began working on his plan to have a massive monument of Dante placed in Times Square. The first statue, at 50 feet tall, was rejected by the Art Commission and the Times Square location plan also backfired. Finally, after 9 years and a much smaller version ,Empire Park was finally chosen as the new location and the park was renamed for Dante.

In 1999, “TimeSculpture” by architect Philip Johnson was installed in the northern point of the park. The four clock faces have recently been removed for restoration. As part of the city’s goal of improving the traffic flow in the area and adding more pedestrian and seating areas, the triangle was recently expanded and more tables and chairs were added. The Lincoln Square BID does a great job helping to keep the park clean and green and this week it hosted the 17th annual Winter’s Eve Festival, a huge holiday celebration that included a grand ceremonial tree lighting of a 25’ Balsam Fir Christmas tree in Dante Park. The decorated tree is lit each evening throughout the holidays.

Christmas Tree with Lincoln Center across the street

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The Woolworth Building

November 04, 2016 by Pamela Ajhar

A ride up to the 40th floor aboard a noisy construction elevator was one of the recent highlights of my real estate career. This was no ordinary building, but the famed Woolworth skyscraper and the floor where the former five and dime millionaire, Frank W. Woolworth’s personal office was located. Once decorated in Renaissance period furniture and tapestries, the entire floor is now completely gutted. The 7,000 square feet of open space gives a rare perspective of the amazing panoramic views of Manhattan from 28 arched windows, all colorfully surrounded by exterior terra-cotta detail.

The top 30 floors of this neo-Gothic tower are currently being transformed into 33 luxury condominium residences designed by French Architect, Thierry W. Despont. Topping out the building is a five-story cupola complete with outdoor observatory, dubbed “The Castle in the Sky”, that will come with a $110 million price tag. The developer Alchemy Properties bought floors 29 and up in 2012 for $68 million from the Witkoff Group and began a very extensive restoration project. Witkoff had purchased the entire building in 1998 from the Venator Group (formerly the Woolworth Corporation) for $155 million and still owns the lower floors. Residents of the condominium, called Woolworth Tower Residences, will not have access to the renowned grand cathedral-like main lobby on Broadway, but will instead have a private lobby off Park Place where the ornate coffered ceiling that originally decorated F.W. Woolworth’s office on the 40th floor will be restored and relocated to.

In 1910, Woolworth began working on this masterpiece and financed the project in cash without the assistance of any developers, giving him an unusual degree of freedom in its design and construction. He hired famed architect, Cass Gilbert, who based his designs on a Beaux-Arts style with ornate Gothic detail. The base of the building, bordering City Hall Park, occupies the entire block of Broadway between Park Place and Barclay Street. The base of the building is “U” shaped and the tower portion, with it’s several setbacks, is topped by a pyramid shaped roof. What the Woolworth building is best known for is the spectacular lobby, adorned with Early Christian inspired barrel vault mosaics, marble walls and plastered figures that include both Frank Woolworth as well as architect, Cass Gilbert. A large stained glass skylight sits atop the lobby level grand staircase. The public is prohibited access to the lobby unless accompanied by a tour operator. https://woolworthtours.com/

A lavish opening ceremony took place on April 24, 1913 and President Woodrow Wilson ceremoniously flipped a switch from the White House that turned on all the interior and exterior lights. At 60 stories high and standing 793 feet tall, The Woolworth building was at the time the tallest building in the world. It remained the tallest building in New York City for another 17 years until 40 Wall Street, at 927 feet, was completed in 1930. Later that same year the Chrysler Building (1,046 feet) took that distinction and held the title for 11 months until the Empire State Building grabbed it in 1931 at 1,250 feet. The Woolworth building is currently the 24th tallest building in New York City, but several buildings currently under construction will knock it down a few notches in the not too distant future. The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966.

Sculpture of Cass Gilbert holding the Woolworth building found in the lobby

Here are some interesting articles about the history and the current condo project:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/28/realestate/luxury-condos-in-the-woolworth-building.html#

http://untappedcities.com/2013/06/12/inside-the-woolworth-building-with-the-skyscraper-museum/

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