NYC Facades

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.

Over-door detail

This is quite a standout of a building; it reminds me of middle aged artist types who have tattoo sleeves (Sweet Pea from Project Runway, anyone?). I tried to get a close-up panorama of the decoration at the top, but it didn’t come out; note how the middle column and side columns have consistent decorations across.

Since this is on Central Park South, while I was taking pictures of the building, a woman came up  to take a picture of the carriage horse; she seemed to think it was just the funniest thing having the horse in front of a fancy building. (I didn’t agree.)

The top of the corner.

2nd floor corner

West face column

The watertower, from the West.

The water tower, from the easet.

I was blown away by this building. It was understated, yet highly ornamented. Even the column in the gap between windows had a decorative framing. It also offered a number of strange features, such as:

• What is “corporation” on the water tower?
• Why is the water tower a different style altogether? (Yes, I made sure they’re the same building!)
• Why is the facade different on the Broadway  side versus the 57th street side? That is, in the first picture, why are there two angular tops on Broadway, and only 1 on 57th street?

Is that even a water tower at all? Why would there be an air conditioner coming from the window, then?

Tallest building in the city for some time

This one is pretty famous; just google.

Broadway and Fulton Street.

According to lore (and Wikipedia), George Washington prayed there on his Inaugration Day.