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Near 1260 Lexington Avenue

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The Marion image

The Marion
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Storefronts at The Marion, a Lexington Avenue Apartment building. November 8, 1911.
Our Lady of Good Counsel image

Our Lady of Good Counsel
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Our Lady of Good Counsel, ca. 1975. This late 19th century Roman Catholic Church stood across from the Ruppert & Company brewery in Yorkville for more than 70 years. Our Lady of Good Counsel was part of a wave of new churches built by the Archdiocese of New York to serve Yorkville’s growing population, including the German immigrant communities who made up Ruppert’s workforce. The brewery complex closed in 1965 and was later razed, opening new sightlines architect Thomas Poole’s Gothic facade — described in the AIA Guide to New York as “robust, undisciplined, deeply three-dimensional.”
William Starr Miller House (Neue Galerie) image

William Starr Miller House (Neue Galerie)
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William Starr Miller House (Neue Galerie), ca. 1915. In 1912, the industrialist William Starr Miller commissioned Carrère & Hastings — then in great demand, having just completed the New York Public Library’s main branch — to design his Fifth Avenue residence. The firm produced a 64-room Louis XIII style mansion with a red brick and limestone facade recalling a pair of local landmarks: Andrew Carnegie’s mansion at 91st Street, and the original facade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, directly across Fifth Avenue. In 1994, the building was purchased by the art collector and philanthropist Ronald Lauder, who, with fellow collector Serge Sabarsky, founded the Neue Galerie for 20th century German and Austrian Art.
1035 Park Avenue image

1035 Park Avenue
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Park Avenue scene at 96th Street, March 22, 1927. Across Park Avenue is a large apartment building, completed in 1926, and the Park Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church. Note the diversity of vehicular traffic: bus, streetcar (blurred, at left), and horse-and-carriage vehicles are all pictured — and the New York and Harlem Railroad tracks run beneath the Park Avenue median.
1014 Fifth Avenue image

1014 Fifth Avenue
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Girard Residence ca 1910 Row houses were generally two to four stories and were usually built in groups, of identical design, often covering an entire block or more. The upscale version of the row house- the townhouse- was custom designed and sometimes as tall as six stories (servants occupied the higher floors), but still filled the entire width of the lot. Alexander McMillan Welch was known for his townhouse commissions on Fifth Avenue and along the fashionable side streets of the Upper East Side of Manhattan. This townhouse, at 1014 Fifth Avenue, across from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was one of many elegant mansions and townhouses built by wealthy New Yorkers on the Upper East Side. One of few survivors of a rash of demolition to accommodate apartment house construction in the 1960s and 1970s, the townhouse remains protected by the Metropolitan Museum Historic District. The building served as the Goethe House, headquarters of the American Center for Cultural Relations with Germany for many years.
Artists in Residence image

Artists in Residence
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As every New Yorker who spots a celebrity at Duane Reade knows, thousands of art and pop culture luminaries have called the city home. From Whitman to Warhol, this is a quick guide to the places notable New Yorkers have lived and worked.
Immanuel Lutheran Church image

Immanuel Lutheran Church
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The Immanuel Lutheran Church was founded by German immigrants in Yorkville in 1863. The congregation initially settled on East 87th Street near Lexington Avenue. Its current building at 122 East 88th Street, seen in this 1937 photo, was designed in 1886 in a Gothic Revival style by Arthur Crooks. Its 200-foot granite tower houses bells given to the church as a gift from the Empress of Germany in the later nineteenth century. By the turn of the twentieth century, the church was one of the largest Lutheran churches in New York City and was devoted exclusively to German-language services.
Phipps Mansion image

Phipps Mansion
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Phipps Mansion, 1905-1930. Wealthy entrepreneur Henry Phipps Jr. had this marble mansion built on the corner of 87th Street and 5th Avenue in 1905. It rubbed shoulders with the other mansions that lined Fifth Avenue until Henry died in 1930. At this time, Henry's wife sold the property to a developer and began stripping the building of the Vermont marble that was used extensively both inside and outside the house. In fact, the entirety of the building's marble facade was carefully removed to be sent to an empty field in Brookville, New York. This is where their daughter, Amy, meant to build her country estate known as the "Templeton." Little is known about what came of the Templeton, but the stone sat untouched in Brooksville for over 100 years. It eventually drifted around the shores of Long Island, where it then sat underneath the Roslyn viaduct for over 80 years. The Phipps lost the lease to their land after many years went by, and the stone went up "for sale" to anyone with the means to retrieve it. In an interesting case of restoration, the stone was collected by architect Ronnette Riley and repurposed to repair the balustrade of the de Seversky Mansion in Old Westbury.
Immanuel Lutheran Church image

Immanuel Lutheran Church
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Immanuel Lutheran Church, April, 1961. The Immanuel Lutheran Church, a Gothic edifice designed by Arthur Crooks, features a 200-foot bell tower at the corner of 88th Street and Lexington Avenue. The tower houses three bells, presented as a gift from Empress Auguste Victoria of Germany at the church’s 1886 dedication, in recognition of the German heritage of many Immanuel congregants. In June 1969, blasting for the construction of a new Gimbel’s department store one block south caused Immanuel’s vaulted plaster ceiling to collapse, damaging the church interior and stained glass windows. Luckily, the altar and hand-carved Black Forest reredos (the carved, wooden decoration behind the altar area) were unharmed.
1100 Madison Avenue image

1100 Madison Avenue
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1100 Madison Avenue, ca. 1911. Completed in 1911 by the firm of Schwartz & Gross, the Schermerhorn (now called Gerel) is a 12-story apartment building. It sits just outside the Metropolitan Museum Historic District. The land on which it was constructed was purchased from the prominent Schermerhorn family.
1080-1082 Park Avenue image

1080-1082 Park Avenue
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Park Avenue storefronts at East 88th Street, 1938. At left, businesses No. 1080 include Boghen Pharmacy and Park Avenue Jeweler. At right, at No. 1082 are an unlikely pair: The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., at street level; and the J.P. Linahan Casket Display showroom one store above.
1646 Second Avenue image

1646 Second Avenue
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German Delicatessen, ca. 1930. A German deli when pictured in 1930, this storefront was later the home of the Old Dutch Delicatessen, whose specialty was smoked eel. The building was razed sometime at the start of the 21st century and a new glassy structure completed in 2009.
2 East 88th Street image

2 East 88th Street
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ARCHITECTS: Pennington & Lewis DATE: 1929-30 The workday water tank soars to architectural heights when enclosed by inventive designers like Pennington and Lewis. Atop this Moderne apartment house, several enormous stone heads on tall brick piers gaze serenely at Central Park and Carnegie Hill. The architects may have taken their inspiration from depictions of Greek kourioi (freestanding figures of young men) or from the goddess-like caryatids supporting the Erectheion on Athens's Acropolis. The effect here is one of the most striking in New York City.
Speyer Mansion image

Speyer Mansion
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Speyer Mansion, ca. 1929. Constructed by the wealthy banker, James Speyer, the large Louis the XVI style structure had more than 40 rooms. The home was often used in the early 20th century for gatherings and fundraisers for Mrs. Speyer's charity work in advocating for working children and animals. Mr. Speyer was a benefactor of the University Settlement and President of the Provident Loan Society. Speyer passed away in 1941 and left the house to the Museum of the City of New York. The museum removed the art and artifacts but later sold the home. It was eventually demolished and a 19-story apartment house was constructed in 1951 on the site.
Phipps Mansion image

Phipps Mansion
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Phipps Mansion, 1933. Henry Phipps was the partner of Andrew Carnegie in the Carnegie Steel Company. When the company sold in 1901 he made a profit of approximately $100 million. As generous as Carnegie, Phipps funded hospitals for TB patients and working-class housing. In 1901, Phipps purchased a number of lots on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 87th Street. He commissioned the firm of Trowbridge & Livingston to design a massive Italian Renaissance style mansion. Four stories (though it looked to be only three) and set far back from 87th Street, the home was reached via a semi-circular carriage drive. Largely complete after many years of work around 1909, the family then moved into the home that had cost Phipps $2.5 million. Less than 10 years later the mansion was sold to Daniel Guggenheim. In the 1920s apartment house development came to Fifth Avenue with gusto. Developers purchased the mansions of millionaires who had moved on or passed away and quickly replaced them. The Phipps Mansion was demolished in 1927 and replaced with a 13-story apartment house, completed in 1928.
Church of St. Ignatius Loyola image

Church of St. Ignatius Loyola
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St. Ignatius of Loyola, 1929. The Church of St. Ignatius was dedicated on December 11, 1898 (and completed two years later). The new Schickel & Ditmar-designed edifice replaced the modest brick structure of the former St. Lawrence O’Toole Church. The parish dates from 1851, and in 1898 the congregation sought permission to change the patron saint of the parish from St. Lawrence to St. Ignatius. The Italian-Renaissance edifice, rendered in limestone, is monumental in scale while austere in character. The plans for the church originally included a pair of towers that would rise 210 feet above the street. Alas, that feature was abandoned early in the process, but the resulting copper-capped tower bases on either side of the central pediment hint at the original intent.
St. Ignatius Parochial School image

St. Ignatius Parochial School
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St. Ignatius Parochial School, ca. 1905.
1342 Lexington Avenue image

1342 Lexington Avenue
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Northern Renaissance Revival row houses on Lexington Avenue, now part of the Hardenbergh/Rhinelander Historic District; August 13, 1937. In the late 19th century, the family of William C. Rhinelander set about developing their parcels of land on Manhattan's Upper East Side. The four row houses pictured, part of a set of six at the northwest corner of Lexington Avenue at East 89th Street, were designed by architect Henry J. Hardenbergh and completed in 1889. Andy Warhol purchased No. 1342 Lexington (second from left) in 1960. Warhol lived in the building, as did his mother, until her death in 1972, after which point it was leased to an associate.
15 East 84th Street image

15 East 84th Street
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Mansion at 15 East 84th Street, August 19, 1949. This extra-wide 84th Street mansion was constructed in 1899 for Adam Lanfear Norrie, a business executive and the son of Scottish-born high society financier Gordon Norrie. The original mansion, designed by architect and James Renwick protege J. Lawrence Aspinwall, was substantially altered in the late 1920s, after it was acquired by New York Herald Tribune editor Ogden Reid. The Italian Renaissance facade visible today dates to this renovation. The mansion was acquired by the Leon Levy Foundation in 2004. The property was included in a 2006 gift to New York University for the establishment of the Institute of the Study of the Ancient World.
130 East 80th Street image

130 East 80th Street
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Vincent and Helen Astor House ARCHITECT: Mott B. Schmidt DATE: 1927-28 STYLE: Neo-Classical Reflecting the neo-Classical style of Robert Adam, one of the foremost English architects of the eighteenth century, this formal residence of austere elegance is five stories high with basement and sub-basement. It is one of the most successful houses designed by a very gifted architect. Constructed of ashlar masonry of Roche limestone imported from France, the facade has a flat, low relief quality resulting from the slight variation in depth between the surface of the wall and projecting planes of the decorative elements. There is an absence of deep shadows, and the architect has deliberately used understatement in expressing the true refinement to be found here.
1293 Lexington Avenue image

1293 Lexington Avenue
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Northeast corner of 87th Street and Lexington Avenue, October 13, 1911.
First Hungarian Baptist Church image

First Hungarian Baptist Church
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This beautifully detailed Romanesque Revival structure was designed in 1893 by the architects Fowler and Hough, whose other Romanesque Revival work includes the 23rd Regiment Armory on Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn. The First Hungarian Baptist Church was a community space even before it was a church. The building at 255 East 80th Street was originally home to an Industrial School for the American Female Guardian Society, an organization founded in 1849 to assist working women by offering necessities like food and clothing, as well as vocational and educational training. When the New York City Baptist Mission Society purchased the building in 1918, with the vision to spread Christianity throughout the city, it focused on the Hungarian immigrant population in the area. That year, First Hungarian Baptist Church opened on the building’s first floor, and accommodations for the pastor were made on the second floor. At the time, many of the Hungarian immigrants in Yorkville were young working women. In an effort to provide safe lodging for those women, and a link to the community for those who had come to the United States alone, the Baptist Mission Society transformed the Industrial School’s third-floor classrooms into bedrooms for girls and created the Hungarian Girls Club. In 1957, the ownership of the building was transferred to the First Hungarian Baptist Church, which retains ownership of the building today. The community spirit still survives at First Hungarian Baptist, where services and events are still offered in Hungarian.
210 East 86th Street image

210 East 86th Street
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Musical Protective Union Building, Yorkville Casino, ca. 1912. The Yorkville Casino was a social club and community gathering space for the German community on the Upper East Side. The building was constructed in 1904 by the Musician’s Mutual Protective Union (the precursor organization to the American Federation of Musicians). One of the two large ballrooms in the Casino had a 15,000 square foot floor and was a popular nightclub. The building also functioned as a catering hall for personal and political events. The in house caterers were known for their excellent German fare and, of course, authentic German beer. The Casino, being so connected with the German-American community, was supposedly watched closely by the government during the Second World War. In the years after the war, as the neighborhood diversified ethnically, the Casino floundered and eventually closed in 1965.
1340 Lexington Avenue image

1340 Lexington Avenue
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1340 Lexington Avenue, 1913. Nos. 1340 through 1350 Lexington Avenue are a row of three-story houses built in 1888 by Henry Hardenbergh. The architect created charming Renaissance Revival buildings of red brick, brownstone, and terra cotta. The LPC designation report for the Hardenbergh/Rhinelander Historic District describes them as "form\[ing] a picturesque yet symmetrical composition." They maintain their original "lively" roofline of alternating pointy pediments and flat, but detailed, cornices. Though they were built with stoops (as can be seen in this image), renovations over time have moved all of the entrances to the street level.
John Sherman Hoyt House image

John Sherman Hoyt House
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John Sherman Hoyt House, Park Avenue, 1923. The Tudor-style fieldstone mansion at the northwest corner of Park Avenue and East 79th Street was designed by architect I.N. Phelps Stokes for his brother-in-law, the philanthropist John Sherman Hoyt. Upon its completion, the January 1917 edition of Architectural Review noted that though its design (which was termed "Stuart," rather than Tudor) "should have grounds around it. It is, however, very well done." Hoyt sold the mansion to James A. Stillman in 1926. Some 43 years later, after the building had passed from Stillman to his wife, and later became the consulate of the short-lived United Arab Republic, the John Sherman Hoyt House was razed for the construction of 900 Park Avenue, a 28-story tower set back from the street. Christopher Gray, the architectural historian and longtime New York Times columnist, cited this demolition as a sort of preservationist awakening: "When I encountered scaffolding and guys with crowbars around the house, I was aghast. Here was a certifiable Neat Old Thing — how could someone tear it down? A mansion, on Park Avenue — what millionaire wouldn’t want to live there? It had seemed so permanent. I was shaken. That the co-op had received a decadelong tax exemption only rubbed salt in the wound."
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue
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1021 Park Avenue ca. 1942 The L shaped plan of 1021 Park Avenue stems from the days when the Upper East Side real estate was dominated by mansions. The Pinchot family, having built themselves a lavish abode, sold some of the lots surrounding their mansion to other families, requiring them to be used as private homes. Eventually, they sold their home to Edward Stettinus, who continued to purchase land, but (due to the Pinchot's earlier sales) had to wrap around some lots, creating the curious L shape. In 1928, the developer Anthony Campagna bought Stettinus' land and planned to erect an apartment tower, bringing in his frequent partner: Rosario Candela. Candela, created a neo-gothic design for the building's street faced that was atypical of his normal style, incorporating features like the shields and gargoyles. For the non street facing facades, he used light brick an irregular window pattern due to the interior combination of duplex and simplex apartments. The building was a massive success with the majority of the apartments selling in almost a month.
Yorkville Sidewalk Clock image

Yorkville Sidewalk Clock
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Yorkville Sidewalk Clock (at far left), 1932. The Yorkville Clock, formerly in the shadow of the Third Avenue Elevated Railroad, was a community favorite from the day in 1898 when Adolph Stern had it set up in front of his jewelry story at 1508 Third Avenue, the northwest corner of 85th Street. In 1923, Stern’s store, having added a pawn shop, moved across the street to 1501 Third Avenue, between 84th and 85th Streets. The 17-foot cast-iron clock, simulating a giant two-faced pocket watch, was designated an official New York City landmark on August 25, 1981, along with the few other remaining sidewalk clocks in the five boroughs. It was produced by the E. Howard Clock Co., a Massachusetts firm with a New York office at 532 Broadway. The company had manufactured sidewalk clocks since 1870. In the second half of the 19th century similar tall sidewalk clocks became very popular throughout the United States. Merchants used them for advertising, and they served the public by telling the correct time for the many people who could not afford pocket watches. About ninety years after it first appeared on Third Avenue, the Yorkville Clock, by this time owned by Reimann and Bresse Furniture Store, had a quixotic experience. In 1985 a city employee mistakenly sold it as surplus property to a clock devotee named Frank Dorsa, who planned to display it in his family’s collection in Muttontown, Long Island. When Dorsa went to Reimann and Bresse hoping to locate missing clock pieces, he was almost arrested as a thief. Only his bill of sale saved him. Apprised of the unfortunate sale, Herbert Rickman, who was a special assistant to Mayor Edward Koch, arranged for the clock’s return and for reimbursement to the Dorsa family. After these peregrinations, the clock needed significant repair, which was provided by antiques dealer Louis Agrusa. Reerected on the sidewalk in front of the furniture store (next to McDonalds) the clock was ceremoniously unveiled in February, 1989. By early 1998, the need for a complete restoration was evident. The connections between the clock face and its stand were alarmingly weak. It ran sporadically. Often one face told one time, and the other another. The glass on one face was cracked and taped. Its iron pedestal, defaced by graffiti, showed patches of rust where paint had peeled off. FRIENDS worked in collaboration with the Friends of Cast Iron Architecture and Neighbors Restoring the Historic Yorkville Clock to raise $20,000 for the repair. Following an extensive restoration the Yorkville Clock was rededicated on September 14, 1999.
Carnegie Hill Neighbors - Museum Mile and Highlights along Fifth Avenue image

Carnegie Hill Neighbors - Museum Mile and Highlights along Fifth Avenue
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Carnegie Hill residents revere their neighborhood for its proximity to Central Park as well as for its architectural treasures. Residents and visitors alike also appreciate and enjoy the diversity of Carnegie Hill’s fine homes, apartment houses, and cultural attractions, many of which lie along the stretch of Fifth Avenue known as Museum Mile.
970 Park Avenue image

970 Park Avenue
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Park Avenue, south from East 84th Street, ca. 1910. At center-right is No. 970 Park Avenue, with signs advertising 8 and 10 room apartments (two apartments per floor). The building went up in 1912 at the southwest corner of 83rd Street. The Georgian Revival apartment building, originally twelve stories, was designed by Schwartz & Gross for the developer Bing & Bing. Today, it is part of the Park Avenue Historic District, created in 2014. St. Ignatius Loyola Church is visible at right.
Thatcher M. Adams Mansion image

Thatcher M. Adams Mansion
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Thatcher and Frances Adams House ARCHITECT: Adams & Warren DATE: 1902-03 STYLE: Neo-English Classic The impressive neo-English Classic style townhouse at 63 East 79th Street was designed in 1902 by architects Adams & Warren for Thatcher M. Adams. The building is representative of the large houses erected on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in the early 20th century as this area became the most fashionable residential quarter of the city.
120 East 80th Street image

120 East 80th Street
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George and Martha Whitney House ARCHITECT: Cross & Cross DATE: 1929-30 This facade of this house is divided horizontally into a base of one story, the shaft, consisting of two floors placed between a string course at second-floor level and a cornice at the fourth floor. The crowning feature is a mansard roof with an attic story above it. The square-headed windows are double hung and have stone keystones and splayed brick lintels. Three dormers in the slate mansard are covered with segmental arched roofs.
109 East 79th Street image

109 East 79th Street
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109 and 111 East 79th Street, date unknown. An interesting mix of architectural styles, these mirror image mansions were commissioned by a set of sisters. Alice Martin McCoon and Edith Martin hired the firm of Foster, Gade & Graham to design the French Renaissance style homes. The sisters would live in the homes, while also leasing them out while they were traveling abroad. In 1920 Alice leased no. 109 to jeweler Pierre Cartier. In the 1950s, long after the sisters had passed away and the buildings had changed hands a number of time, they were converted into large apartments. During these alterations, the shared stoop was removed and the entrances were moved below the sidewalk level. Today the original doors have been converted to large, historically anachronistic windows.
William Starr Miller House (Neue Galerie) image

William Starr Miller House (Neue Galerie)
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William Starr Miller Residence ca. 1920 One of the most attractive phases of French Classic architecture was that of the period of Louis XIII, which we see in the Place des Vosges in Paris. This style retained a quality of domestic warmth which disappeared with the frigid elegance of the all-limestone creations of late periods.
Our Lady of Good Counsel image

Our Lady of Good Counsel
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Our Lady of Good Counsel, 1931. By the 1880 and 1890s, Yorkville was a booming area with a large influx of German and Irish immigrant families. During this time the only major Catholic church in the neighborhood was St. Lawrence O'Toole (now St. Ignatius Loyola) on 84th Street. To accommodate this growing community the diocese planned to built a few new churches. The Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel was one of these buildings. It was completed in 1892. The distinctive stone facade includes crenelated coping and turrets, and echos similar architectural details of the nearby Calvary Squadron A Armory (Madison between 94th and 95th Streets).
185 East 85th Street image

185 East 85th Street
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185 East 85th Street ca. 1967 Immortalized in the opening credits of the Jefferson's, 185 East 85th Street was once emblematic of the wave of new 1960s construction on Third Avenue. Erected in 1967, this 35-story apartment tower was striking among its lower-rise neighbors. Though perhaps not so eye-catching today, at the time it was a prime example of a "deluxe apartment in the sky." Designed by architect H. I. Feldman, The Park Lane was known for its rounded balconies and unobstructed views until later construction hemmed in its sightlines.
1009 Fifth Avenue image

1009 Fifth Avenue
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1009 Fifth Avenue ARCHITECT: Welch, Smith & Provot DATE: 1899-1901 STYLE: Beaux-Arts This handsome Fifth Avenue mansion, prominently located at the southeast corner of Eighty-second Street, was built during the years 1899 to 1901. It is one of the few surviving houses which once formed part of an almost uninterrupted series of palatial residences facing Central Park. In recent years the majority of these grand townhouses have fallen victim to rising property values, and have been replaced by apartment buildings. No. 1009 is exceptional, as it remains in the possession of the family of the original owner, and today provides us with a fine example of turn-of-the-century architectural opulence.
Cultural Medallion: Manhattan image

Cultural Medallion: Manhattan
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Cultural Medallions are porcelainized enamel plaques affixed to the exterior of buildings, in order to commemorate an individual (or occurrence) that has made a significant contribution to New York City’s rich cultural heritage. These are the Cultural Medallions in Manhattan. See more from the Historic Landmarks Preservation Center here.
1218 Lexington Avenue image

1218 Lexington Avenue
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East 82nd Street and Lexington Avenue, view of the northwest corner, October 29, 1912. Joseph Richardson was a wealthy contractor who had constructed portions of the Union Pacific Railroad. Despite work and wealth, he is best known as the builder of one of New York's only spite houses. In 1882 the small sliver of land at the northwest corner of 82nd Street and Lexington Avenue (102 feet long and 5 feet wide) was owned by Richardson's wife. Patrick McQuade and Hyman Sarner purchased the adjacent lots for the construction of apartment houses. They offered Richardson $1,000 for the small lot, which he felt was too low, and countered with an ask of $5,000. The developers refused and proceeded to break ground on their structure without the corner lot. During construction they approached Richardson again, offering the $5,000 he had originally desired. This time he declined. He stated that," he never gave a man more than one opportunity to buy anything from him, and that the strip was no longer for sale." Instead, a few weeks later, Richardson himself broke ground on a narrow structure on his lot, built with the express purpose of blocking the windows of McQuade and Sarnar's apartments. The resulting building (which gave the impression of being a single resident, but was actually a few tall houses) was completed five months before its neighbors. Richardson even moved into one. According to the New York Times: "Every room is less than five feet wide, and the dining table is only eighteen inches wide. Gas is unknown above the first floor, and water has to be carried by hand all over the building.” The bay windows, which were allowed on corner buildings, added for a slightly wider portion of the home. Richardson died in 1897. In 1905, C.A. Stein, then-owner of the corner structures, requested permission to fill in the area between the bay windows to widen the structure to nine feet for ground-floor retail. His request must have been approved, as this 1912 photograph depicts a tailoring business in a commercial space. The building caused some consternation in the planning for the IRT Lexington Avenue Line, as contractors worried about the cost and safety of shoring up the narrow buildings during the cut and cover street excavations. They needn't worry. Stein sold the lot to real estate developers Bing & Bing in 1915 and the structures were soon demolished. In 1915 an 11-story apartment building designed by Emery Roth replaced both the spite house and the apartments it was built to spite.
Clews Mansion image

Clews Mansion
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James B. Clews Mansion, not dated. In the late 19th century this section of Fifth Avenue was lined with lovely (but conservatively sized) brownstones. But as the wealthiest of New York City society began moving uptown, the rowhouses (built on land owned by the New York and Harlem Railroad Company) were soon to be a thing of the past. In 1908 as the railroad company was liquidating its real estate assets, the plot here at the northeast corner of 85th Steet and Fifth Avenue was bought up by James Clews, a millionaire from a banking family. The planned house—a gift to his new bride— was to be designed by Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer at the cost of $200,000. According to contemporary sources, the architect planned to eschew traditional plans for these type of corner buildings and place the entrance on the shorter avenue facade, instead of the longer 85th Street facade. The resulting mansion (completed in 1911) had its door on the street side, so plans must have changed. The Clews family were well-known for their fancy society events. The home had two large halls, a grand staircase, eight family bedrooms, and accommodations for a staff of 12. Meta Clews died in 1919 and James remarried at age 62 in 1926. The new newlyweds lived in the home for only three more years and then sold the lavish home. It was demolished and replaced in 1930 by a large luxury apartment house by Rosario Candela.
FDNY Hook & Ladder 13 image

FDNY Hook & Ladder 13
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Hook & Ladder 13, October, 1960. In the 1860s, the cities of New York and Brooklyn moved to professionalize firefighting, combining the volunteer and independent firefighting companies into a single Metropolitan District. The newly-established Hook & Ladder Company No. 13 moved into its East 87th Street firehouse in January, 1868. In 1961, the company moved to a new firehouse on East 85th Street, leaving their former home vacant — but not for long. In 1962, a young, unknown artist named Andy Warhol rented the second floor studio for $150/month.
50 East 87th Street image

50 East 87th Street
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Constructed for a German-Jewish Reform congregation, Park Avenue Synagogue, seen here in 1927, the year it was dedicated, was one of the last Moorish-Revival Jewish houses of worship built in the United States. The Moorish style offered an alternative to the Greco-Roman or Gothic-Revival silhouettes that were often used for churches. It was a style that had been used for synagogues in Germany as early as the 1830s and remained widely popular for Jewish sacred spaces until the First World War. With its mix of German language, Jewish religion, and Mediterranean accents, the Park Avenue Synagogue was a uniquely American place: when the Synagogue was dedicated in March 1927, Mayor Jimmy Walker, the Episcopal Bishop of New York City William T. Manning, and New York Supreme Court Justice Thomas C. T. Crain were all in attendance. Congregants, who had originally founded the Synagogue in 1882 in a converted church at 115 East 86th, now had created a dramatic new space for themselves in the city. The Upper East Side’s stunning array of ecclesiastical architecture offers many more instances of immigrant communities announcing their arrival in New York through beautiful houses of worship. In each of these spaces, congregants could come together not only to strengthen the bonds of their communities but also to assert their collective American ambition and success.
Cutting Houses (St. David's School) image

Cutting Houses (St. David's School)
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The Cutting Houses, East 89th Street, ca. 1920. This row of three neo-Georgian townhouses was built in 1919-20 for Charles Suydam Cutting, a naturalist, and photographer who accompanied his friend Teddy Roosevelt on his expedition to Southeast Asia, where he became the first Westerner to enter the city of Lhasa, in Tibet. A seven-bay arcade at street-level creates the impression that the adjacent townhouses are part of the same structure, though, at the time of this photograph, the buildings had not been connected. Between 1950-52, No. 12 was converted to St. David’s School. By 1964, all three Cutting townhouses had been absorbed and renovated for classroom use.
969 Park Avenue image

969 Park Avenue
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\*Ada Louise Huxtable (1921-2013), a native New Yorker, was a pioneer in architectural criticism, and a champion of livable cities. As the first full-time architecture critic at a major American newspaper (The New York Times created the position specifically for her in 1963), she won the first Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism in 1970, and helped redefine architecture in the public consciousness as “a very real and important art \[because] it affects us all so directly.” Her writing on architecture, urban design, and planning helped bring those topics into the popular consciousness, and encouraged New Yorkers to see the buildings around them as part of their lives. She championed “humanity of scale,” and buildings that were “integrated into life and use,” writing: “what counts more than style is whether architecture improves our experience of the built world; whether it makes us wonder why we never noticed places in quite this way before.” Huxtable helped us do exactly that. On this virtual tour of her New York, we will learn about her life, see buildings she praised and those she decried, and consider her legacy as a writer, an urbanist, and a champion of the collective work of city-making. \*Lucie Levine
Our Lady of Good Counsel image

Our Lady of Good Counsel
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Our Lady of Good Counsel, at 230 East 90th Street, was built in 1892 as one of the first churches in Northern Yorkville. It was designed by architect Thomas H. Poole in a melange of styles including Gothic and Tudor elements. The church also features elaborate stained-glass windows by Franz Mayer and Co., a renowned German manufacturer. Our Lady originally served Yorkville’s Irish and German communities, comprised of workers from the nearby breweries and factories. Our Lady overlooked the looming bulk of the breweries that dominated the neighborhood’s streetscape. As the Parish grew, the church expanded in 1905 to include a school and convent, and in 1908 to offer a nursery and parish house. Today Our Lady still serves and reflects our community: In addition to Mass in English, the Church conducts Mass in Spanish and offers a Spanish Youth Group. With the breweries gone, the church now looks over Ruppert Park and its popular children’s playground
Lt. Abraham Quackenbush House image

Lt. Abraham Quackenbush House
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Residence of Lieutenant Abraham Quackenbush, ca. 1885. “The house was built in 1851 and demolished in 1890; Lieutenant Quackenbush's great-grandchildren are pictured in the photograph.”
Church of St. Ignatius Loyola image

Church of St. Ignatius Loyola
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Church of St. Ignatius Loyola 980 Park Avenue parish hall/rectory: Patrick C. Keely, 1881-83 church: Schickel & Ditmars, 1895-1900, NYC IL school: Schickel & Ditmars, 1899-1900 – NYC HD, NR-P, NR-D One of the first institutions on Fourth Avenue was the parish of St. Lawrence O’Toole, which initially acquired property on both sides of the railroad tracks at East 84th Street. Its first building was erected in 1854. The parish, later incorporated as St. Ignatius Loyola (founder of the Jesuits in 1541), expanded in the 1880s, beginning with the construction of a four-story parish house and residence hall. The church itself was designed in the Italian Renaissance Revival, in homage to the architecture that was popular during St. Ignatius’ lifetime. It was one of the first houses of worship in the city to use steel roof beams and trusses for fireproofing. Its two upper towers were never realized. In 1899, the Loyola School was established to educate the sons of wealthy Catholics (it became co-educational in 1973), for which the limestone building at the corner of East 83rd Street was built.
Church of St. Ignatius Loyola image

Church of St. Ignatius Loyola
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Church of St. Ignatius Loyola ARCHITECT: Schikel & Ditmars DATE: 1895-1900 STYLE: Seventeenth-Century Rome Monumental in scale and impressive in appearance, the Park Avenue facade of this dignified Twentieth Century Church reflects the classical style of Seventeenth-Century Rome. The symmetrical masonry exterior of Limestone, severely austere In character, is generously enriched by the carved decoration of the highest quality.
133 East 80th Street  image

133 East 80th Street
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133 East 80th Street ca. 1944 Though its Lexington home perhaps isn't as glamorous as Park or Fifth, 133 East 80th Street remains as lovely as any of architect Rosario Candela's buildings. Designed in 1929 for the developer Moses Ginsburg, 133 East 80th was built out of a varied series of limestone blocks that follows the building up its set backs to the top. A change in zoning laws allowed Candela to build a romantic, castle-like tower atop 133 with crenellations, spires, and the like. Catering as always to luxury, Candela designed the building for 20 families, with apartments ranging from the spacious to the palatial. However by its completion in 1930, only 60% of apartments had been sold.
Central Christian Church image

Central Christian Church
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Park Avenue Christian Church Bertram Goodhue of Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson 1909-11–NYCHD, NR-D This magnificent French Gothic Revival style church is clad in grey Manhattan schist, and features a pointed arch stained glass window and a 70-foot lead fleche, cast in Birmingham, England, by Henry Hope & Sons to emulate the one at Sainte Chapelle in Paris. Goodhue also designed the adjacent rectory in the same style of the same grey schist. In 2014, the controversy over its demolition led to the designation of the Park Avenue Historic District.
1040 Park Avenue image

1040 Park Avenue
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1040 Park Avenue Delano & Aldrich, 1923-25 – NYC HD, NR-D 1040 Park Avenue made distinctive with its eclectic ornament includes a frieze with sculpted tortoises and hares. Interestingly, the building does not have a cornice, which is unusual for a Renaissance Revival style building. It did, however, have one of the Avenue’s earliest penthouse apartments, which became fashionable in the 1920s. Though intended as servants’ quarters, the top floor was transformed by famed magazine publisher Condé Nast into a 5,000-square-foot duplex designed by actress and interior decorator Elsie de Wolfe. The building was also briefly home to Jacqueline Kennedy after she left the White House

Photos(958)

1260 Lexington Avenue image

1260 Lexington Avenue

Manhattan: Lexington Avenue - 84th Street Lexington Ave:; west side, south from East 85th to 84th Streets. August 13, 1937. George D. Chinn.
125 E 84th Street image

125 E 84th Street

125 E 84th Street image

125 E 84th Street

125 E 84th Street image

125 E 84th Street

Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun image

Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun

Manhattan: 85th Street (East) - Lexington Avenue (1) 127 to 113 East 85th Street, north side, between Lexington and Park Aves., showing the synagogue of the Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun occupying Nos. 121-117. West of same is the School of the Sisters of the Helpers of the Holy Souls at No. 115-113. Partially shown on the right is the Yorkville Talmund Torah School, No. 127-123. August 13, 1937. George D. Chinn. (2) 113-115 East 85th Street, adjoining the N.E. corner of Park Ave., showing the School of the Sisters of the Helpers of the Holy Souls. August 13, 1937. George D. Chinn.
Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun image

Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun

Manhattan: 85th Street (East) - Lexington Avenue (1) 127 to 113 East 85th Street, north side, between Lexington and Park Aves., showing the synagogue of the Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun occupying Nos. 121-117. West of same is the School of the Sisters of the Helpers of the Holy Souls at No. 115-113. Partially shown on the right is the Yorkville Talmund Torah School, No. 127-123. August 13, 1937. George D. Chinn. (2) 113-115 East 85th Street, adjoining the N.E. corner of Park Ave., showing the School of the Sisters of the Helpers of the Holy Souls. August 13, 1937. George D. Chinn.
112 East 85th Street image

112 East 85th Street

Manhattan: 85th Street (East) - Park Avenue 112 to 118 East 85th Street (right to left), adjoining and east of the S.E. corner of Park Ave. No. 112 is occupied by the Kewahnew and the Micanopee Democratic Clubs. The two adjoining structures, Nos. 114 and 116 are the quarters of the New York College of Music. August 13, 1937. Gift of Geo. D. Chinn.
147 East 84th Street image

147 East 84th Street

Manhattan: 84th Street (East) - Lexington Avenue 147-149 East 84th Street, adjoining and east of the N.E. corner of Lexington Avenue. No. 147 is a three-story frame house with a brick front. J. Clarence Davies Collection, Museum of the City of New York. Negative No. 289.
1241 Lexington Avenue image

1241 Lexington Avenue

Manhattan: Lexington Avenue - 84th Street (East) 1241 to 1255 Lexington Ave., east side, north from East 84th to 85th Streets, showing at the S.E. corner of the latter the New York Turn Verein(No. 1251-55). August 13, 1937. George D. Chinn.
147 East 84th Street image

147 East 84th Street

Manhattan: 84th Street (East) - Lexington Avenue 147 East 84th Street, adjoining the N.E. corner of Lexington Avenue. March 29, 1929. P. L. Sperr.
124 East 86th Street image

124 East 86th Street

\#124 East 86th St. N.Y.C. From S.E. Corner 86th St. and Lexington Ave. Looking N.W. at North Side of Block Between Lexington and Park Ave. 11:12 AM
108 East 85th Street image

108 East 85th Street

Manhattan: 85th Street (East) - Park Avenue 108-110 East 85th Street, south side, east of Park Avenue. These buildings will soon be demolished to make way for an apartment house. About 1912.
144 East 86th Street image

144 East 86th Street

144 East 86th Street. Chatham and Phenix National Bank.
157 East 85th Street image

157 East 85th Street

Manhattan: 85th Street (East) - 3rd Avenue 157-159 East 85th Street, north side, between Third and Lexington Avenues. No. 157 is a three-story frame house. 1932\. J. Clarence Davies Collection, Museum of the City of New York. Negative No. 229.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. General view of hall. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Guest room toward window. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Corner of living room with window. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Dressing room. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Guest room toward bathroom. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Library toward books. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Entry. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Library toward fireplace. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Vista into living room from hall. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Entry. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Corner of living room with window. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Vista thru living room door to Hall. 1021 Park Aveune.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Vista thru living room door to Hall. 1021 Park Aveune.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Dining room. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

1021 Park Avenue and 85th Street, N.E. corner. Apartment building, exterior.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. General view of hall. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Library toward fireplace. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

1021 Park Avenue at 85th Street. Private house.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Dining room. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Guest room toward bathroom. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Master's bedroom toward window. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Master's bedroom toward window. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Vista from dining room to hall. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Master's bedroom toward fireplace. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Guest room toward window. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Bedroom toward fireplace. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Bedroom toward fireplace. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Staircase. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Staircase. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Vista into living room from hall. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Library toward books. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Library toward window. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Vista from dining room to hall. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Library toward window. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Dressing room. 1021 Park Avenue.
1021 Park Avenue image

1021 Park Avenue

Frank P. Shepard \[residence]. Master's bedroom toward fireplace. 1021 Park Avenue.
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