Sketching the Great Apartment Buildings of the Upper West Side - November 16, 2013

New York's Great  Iconic Apartment Buildings 

of the Upper West Side 

The Dorilton

Our sketching starts at
The Dorilton, 171 West 71st Street - from 10 - 11 AM

Completed in 1902.  Although the Dorilton has not always been one of the city's most prestigious residential addresses, it is flamboyant, exuberant, romantic and one of the most spectacular architecturally. The building is noted for its opulent Beaux-Arts style limestone and brick exterior, featuring monumental sculptures, richly balustraded balconies, and a three-story, copper and slate mansard roof.

Architecture historian Andrew Dolkart thinks it may be "the most flamboyant apartment house in New York," with its striking, "French-inspired" sculpted figures and an enormous iron gate "reminiscent of those that guard French palaces."

The Ansonia

The Ansonia, 2109 Broadway, located between 73-74th Streets. from 11 - Noon

Completed in 1904.  It was the first air conditioned hotel in NYC.  With its rounded corners, the filigree of its handsome balconies and widows' walks, the Ansonia conjures the fancies of the Belle Epoque and suggests what a mid-rise Paris might be.  Originally built with a small farm on the roof - an early harbinger `of Urban Farming movement, the Ansonia was the largest residential hotel of its day. The exterior is decorated in the Beaux-Art style with a Parisian style mansard roof. Striking architectural features are the round corner-towers or turrets.

The Apthorp

The Apthorp, 2211 Broadway (between 78 - 79th Streets)  from noon to 1 PM

Completed in 1908,  One of the city's finest courtyard apartment buildings, this building has a great, gated  entrance along Broadway.  The building was named for Charles Ward Apthorp, who owned Apthorp Farm, which encompassed about 300 acres in this part of Manhattan in the late 18th century (300 acres!). A three-story rusticated base and the rustication of the broader corner bays as well as string moldings serve together to articulate the otherwise block-like mass. Arch-headed windows contrast with rectangular ones to emphasize lightly certain positions, notably the enriched uppermost floor under the projecting cornice.

Over-lifesize limestone sculptures representing the Four Seasons stand above the central barrel-vaulted entrance, where the elaborate wrought-iron gates in the manner of Samuel Yellin feature a pair of gazelle heads.

The San Remo

The San Remo, 145 Central Park West, Located at CPW at 74th St. (after lunch)

  

Construction began in 1929, weeks before the market crash initiated the Great Depression.The San Remo is the first twin-towered building to rise in New York and its precedent setting design gained it fame and a number of imitators when it was built.  At the 18th floor, the building splits into the San Remo's iconic 10-floor towers.

City Realty's description:  If you see vestal virgins they're probably wafting up to the tempiettos ("little temples") atop this building's beautiful twin towers.

TIME AND DIRECTIONS:

• Take the 1,2 or 3 train to 72 Street and Broadway, the alternative, but not as close is the B or C train to 72 which requires a three block walk west.  
• Sketching starts at 10 AM, if you come late - no problem.

Can't find us?  

Call Mark 973-809-9128