247-249 Central Park West, ca. 1975. Constructed between 1889 and 1890, developer William Noble and architect Edward Angell created a row of nine Queen Anne style homes. The buildings which ran from nos. 241 to 249, were speculatively built, intended for wealthy families. These grand homes facing Central Park spared no expense; they included stained glass, gargoyles, angled staircases, turrets, and balconies. The Real Estate Record & Builders’ Guide described the row as perhaps too whimsical, taking offense at their “giddiness.” Being the corner building, no. 249 (at right) was perhaps the most fanciful of the homes, with a faceted tower topped by a conical tiled cap and false balconies. It was first purchased by by wallpaper manufacturer Frederick Beck and hosted his daughter's extravagant society wedding in 1890. In 1914 it was owned by clergyman Luther Albert Swope and his wife, who came from a wealthy New York family. The home passed to a Swope nephew in 1930 and was sold in 1974. By that time some of the facade had been stripped of its ornamentation, it had been painted (!) white, the interior had been converted to apartments, and all of its neighbors (save no. 247 next door) had been demolished. Around 1990 the paint was striped to work on the facade which had begun to crumble. In 2006 the home was sold for $14.4 million and a conversion back to a single family house was undertaken. Amazingly, though the upper floors have been gutted, much of the original interiors of the lower floors remain intact, including an entirely oak-paneled dining room.