The Architecture of Central Park, Part II

What really gave me the idea to write these informative posts about New York architecture was the pure beauty you get whenever you look up at the sky on an evening run around Central Park. You really notice the lights from the nearby buildings as you go up and down the rolling hills along the Westside of Central Park.

So, I wondered…what are the stories behind all these buildings that surround this park? What makes these building so spectacular? How long have they been there for? Why were they built?

To my amazement, as an architect, we have a vast library to research such items of all the buildings in New York City. So I started off with the larger ones that may interest you on the west side of the park. So which ones did I pick? The ones with two towers, of course... with spires, art deco styling and featuring geometric ornament and pattern in their architecture.

San Remo Apartments
145-146 Central Park West (Between West 74th and West 75th Streets)
1930 Emery Roth

At the time the San Remo was built, the city’s building code allowed apartment buildings to rise to thirty stories as long as there was a base of at least 30,000 square feet and it had the prescribed setbacks, Emery Roth used the restrictions to his advantage by building two central towers instead of one, a pattern that was followed by three more Central Park West apartment buildings, the Century, the Majestic, and the El Dorado.

More info about the San Remo Apartments at Wikipedia

The Century Apartments

25 Central Park West (Between West 63rd and West 64th Streets)

1931, Irwin S. Chanin

In 1909, the New Theater, on Central Park West, was built. It was the most elegant theater the city had ever seen. The trouble was that the acoustics were terrible and even season ticket holders stayed away. Changing its name to the Century didn’t hide its defects and in 1930, the wreckers moved in to make way for this Art Deco masterpiece. Irwin Chanin, the developer, was so impressed that he moved here himself.

More info about the Century at Wikipedia

The Majestic Apartments
115 Central Park West (Between West 71st and West 72nd Streets)
1931, Irwin S. Chanin

When newscaster and newspaper columnist Walter Winchell wasn’t out chasing gangsters and gossip, this was where he called home. The Majestic was also home to gangster Frank Costello, the “Prime Minister of the Underworld,” who survived an assassination attempt in the lobby. The eleven-story hotel it replaced was home to such people as composer Gustav Mahler and novelist Edna Ferber. Its roof garden was the city’s most fashionable in the 1890’s.

More info about the Majestic Apartments at Wikipedia

The El Dorado

300 Central Park West (Between West 90th and West 91st Streets)

1930, Margon & Holder, with Emery Roth

When novelist Sinclair Lewis came to live in New York, he chose an apartment in the building because it had a view of all of the city’s bridges. It was also the fictional address of “Marjorie Morningstar,” the heroine of Hermon Wouk's popular 1955 novel.

More info about the El Dorado apartments at Wikipedia

Hope you enjoyed this! More to come next month! - Brian H.