The Architecture Of Central Park, Part IV

This month I focus on another very special building on Central Park's west side:

The Beresford

West 81st Street at Central Park West

1929, Emery Roth

The Beresford, completed in 1929, is one of four Roth apartment blocks on Central Park West including the El Dorado, the San Remo, and the Ardsley. In the race to build bigger apartment houses in the Roaring Twenties, the Beresford ended the decade as the clear winner. Its façade faces both Central Park and the patch of green that was called Manhattan Square in those days, and its twenty-two stories are topped by three towers, while most of its neighbors settled for two. It was among the first with elevators whose doors opened directly into the apartments rather than into the central hallways. The massive block is open to the west, giving it a U-shape, wrapped round a central court unique in every way in New York City. The Beresford was one of the first buildings in the city to have glass-door showers with multiple shower heads

More about the Beresford at Wikipedia.com

 - Brian H.