Upper West Side Art Deco
The towers on this building appear to mimic those on Central Park West (in particular the El Dorado), but these are actually water towers! Nonetheless, the art deco styling subtly turns a potentially bland and overbuilt facade into something majestic.
Ornate water tower
The water tower and parapet are among the most decorated parts of this building. However, that is partly the result of lazy repair work done to remove the cornice (clearly visible at the bottom of the picture by the thick light brick line). One has to wonder whether anything other than style motivated the decoration so far removed from the street.
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.
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:
Is that even a water tower at all? Why would there be an air conditioner coming from the window, then?
© 2012 Doug Reich. All Rights Reserved.
