Manhattan’s finest residential Beaux-Arts confections are located on the Upper West Side. Heavily adorned with sculptural enrichments, their distinct styles are eloquently expressive.
The Ansonia at 2109 Broadway
The Ansonia at 2109 Broadway between 74th and 75th Streets was designed by architect, Emile Paul DuBoy.
The building features a three-story, rusticated limestone base and a light, brick-body. Richly profiled, terra-cotta sculptured enrichments including grotesque forms, cartouches and modillions make this structure exceptionally expressive.
The Broadway façade contains corner towers and the top of the building is punctuated with a three-story, convex Mansard roof. The floor-levels are numerously expressed with closely rhymed balconettes with lacework ironwork.
The lobby extends an entire block and there are six elevators throughout the building. The Ansonia features three entrances which include a recessed, carriage driveway on 73rd Street and entryways on Broadway and 74th Street.
A former residential hotel, The Ansonia is listed in the National Registry of Historic Places and is a designated New York City landmark. Some of its most famous residents included Babe Ruth, Igor Stravinsky, Tony Curtis, Jack Dempsey and Theodore Dreiser.
The Ansonia has been in numerous films and commercials. It made its film debut in The Sunshine Boys. After starring in Single White Female, it was featured in the Natalie Cole video Take A Look, played home to Michael Keaton and Marissa Tomei in Ron Howard‘s The Paper, and had a cameo role in White Man’s Burden, Gregory Hines‘ directorial debut.
The Dorilton at 171 West 71st Street
The Dorilton at 171 West 71st Street at Broadway was designed by Elisha Harris Janes and Richard Leopold Leo.
The Dorilton is embellished with many details including richly profiled broken pediments with cartouches, ornamented brackets, iron balconettes and balustrades.
The building is faced with red brick and features a heavily rusticated base, terra-cotta detailing and a mansard roof
Patina-colored, pressed-steel encasements surrounding bay windows that are flanked by Goddess statues add a distinguishing feature.
The entrance to the building is grand with a triumphal-like arch crowned with two cherubs and a cartouche and bordered by two eloquently decorated iron gates. The opening leads into a small courtyard and the main entrance.
The Kenilworth at 151 Central Park West
Designed by Townsend, Steinle and Haskell, the Kenilworth at 151 Central Park West between 75th and 76th Streets is exuberantly appointed in the Beaux-Arts and Second Empire style.
For visual richness and dramatic effect, the red-brick façade is enlivened by a profusion of broad and pictorial ornamentation including rich and robust pedimented window surrounds, swags, balustrated balconies and brackets.
The entrance to the building is grandiose with two-story decorated columns supporting an entablature with the name of building engraved in the frieze.
The roofline is picturesque with copper cartouches and a sculptural convex mansard roof.
The St. Urban at 285 Central Park West
With architectural elements of the French Second Empire and Beaux-Arts style, this expressive structure at 285 Central Park West at 89th Street was designed by Robert T. Lyons.
The three-story, rusticated limestone base is topped with a stringcourse that is supported by beautifully ornamented brackets with lion heads and foliage. The body of the building is constructed with light, yellow-colored bricks and features many projecting bay windows.
A striking feature is the recessed carriage driveway that was originally the building’s entrance. The two arch surrounds are lavishly ornamented with projecting gabled hoods supported by classically designed brackets. A main entrance was later created and topped with a delicately curved iron marquee.
The top of the building features a convex mansard roof that is punctuated with elaborately thick, broken pediment dormer windows. The circular corner of the building is surmounted by a turreted domed cupola with bull’s eyes windows.