NYC Facades

From 86th and Amsterdam Ave

Western face

Southern face

According to Essential New York,

The Village of Bloomingdale was centered at Eighty-sixth Street and Broadway, and by the 1880s it was in the throes of urbanization. Streets were displacing paths, row houses were displacing farms, and congregations that had been gathering since the 1850s were becoming scattered. The Reverend Anson P. Atterbury wanted to keep his flock together, and, with an eye to the future, he hoped to attract new parishioners. In 1884 the chapel in the east end of this grouping was dedicated (architect unknown), and six years later this rough-hewn giant of a church was built.

It really is a beautiful giant in many ways.

Miscellaneous: see this article from 1911 which mentions a related “West Presbyterian” church torn down on 42nd Street, and the establishment of a new branch on 175th Street. It is also being considered for landmark status, and may otherwise be demolished!

Full facade

Upper story detail

This building is quite a trip. The monstrous white pilasters and corbels are in contrast to jet-black  oriel windows and an otherwise completely undecorated facade (although that generally implies the facade was redone and the decoration removed). A mansard and hood arches, mullions and dormer windows. A long balcony and ornamentation. Is there anything this building doesn’t have?

Original and decorative tenements

I like this collection for two reasons. First, the way in which the rightmost is almost an outcast among its “family,” namely with its stripped cornice and alternative painting. Second, I have a weak spot for the heavy arches four-fifths of the way up the building. But more than that, the way in which the offsetting window spandrels create three-story tall archways, almost as though in a loft building. This type of building displays a remarkable coherence despite, or as a result of, its weight.

Full view of the west side

Lower story statues

Roof tinwork

Comparatively mild north side

South entranceway

This is one of the gems of the Upper West Side; incredibly ornate, yet under the radar. I defer to The Upper West Side Book for additional pictures and copy.

Upper stories with friezes

Detail - is the eagle on the right looking down?

Detail

This was hard to get a shot of, since it’s in the middle of the street. I used the GIMP to try to improve the view in the second to pictures (cropped from the first), however they just look a little funny.

This building is next to the famous Chelsea Hotel, which is so well-known I had no interest in looking at it. On the other hand, the Carteret (named after the English aristocratic family) looked like a palace, with sentries of eagles and knights, and large ornamental patterns. The air conditioners sticking out the window ruin the effect, of course.

I’m quite sure the central tower is actually disguising the water tower.

Quoins, hood molding

Capstone, ornament and molding

I am very fond of this type of architecture. The ornamented, rustified quoins (the horizontal bricks at corners, here around the windows) just really get me; the consistency of style between the window horizontals and verticals (on the right) and the scaling on the left that matches that on the right.

Was the building expanded on one side only? (Note: the curving facade is an artifact of the panorama stitching)

I like how The Home Depot fits with the building style. Look at the seal! The "S" is for "Stern" -- see below.

Some buildings I see details I like a lot, and some I am blown away by. This was the latter. It just had such great detail and scale. The facade was finished the entire height, and it even had a mystery: why is there a modern extension on the eastern side that does not match that on the western? Was there a patio there? Was it destroyed in an accident and rebuilt in a time without style?

EDIT: New York Architecture has a page about this building (with a slightly different address?). As the author says on that site about the extension,

W.M. Schickel’s typically 19th century addition tripled the dimensions of the original structure on the eastern portion of the site. The tall central section of this addition animates the long and delicately detailed facade. The company’s monogram is located above a central arch.

I do think Home Depot does a great job here with respecting the building (although they could have done with less orange). See also 28 West 23rd.

Front view

Window detail

Although I wasn’t on a photo mission (it was a biking mission), I found this building quite interesting. The crucifix motif around each window is quite unusual, and almost certainly references the Church of the Good Shepherd one block away.

I love finding this kind of anachronistic building sitting in plain view (or the Bronx, har har). There is a short Wikipedia article on the church with the normal balance of trivia and fact.