In visiting the Upper West Side of Manhattan, I have found some wonderful old apartment blocks such as the Apthorp and the Belnord..
Even earlier, of course, were the famous Dakota Apartments ( which I will get to sometime this month) and places such as the historic Hendrik Hudson Apartments which were built because of a) Changes in the building code b) the extension of the Broadway IRT subway line far up the West Side of Manhattan.
This is a great story about one of those early buildings--from a great website called Ephemeral NY
Riverside Drive’s Hendrik Hudson apartments
From a publication called The World’s New York Apartment House Album comes this sketch and description of a beautiful turn-of-the-century residential building, the Hendrik Hudson.
Spanning the entire block between Riverside Drive and Broadway at 110th Street, the Hendrik Hudson must have been a striking sight when it was completed in 1907. The facade was modeled after an Italian villa and the roof made from Spanish tile, topped by two imposing towers.
As ambitious as the facade was, the 7- to 9-room apartments were also innovative, explains Andrew Alpern’s Luxury Apartment Houses of Manhattan:
“Walnut paneling, wood-beamed ceilings, mahogany doors with glass knobs, and the latest designs in porcelain bathroom fittings were all used to attract tenants,” writes Alpern. “Also offered was a billiard parlor, a cafe, a barber shop, and a ladies hairdressing salon—all for the exclusive use of the building’s occupants and guests. Rents ranged from $1500 t0 $3000 per year.”
As Morningside Heights became kind of sketchy in the post World War II years, so did the Hendrik Hudson; at some point, one of its towers disappeared. The building went co-op in 1970. It looks like an terrific place to live today.
Let me see if I can find a contemporary picture of the Hendrik Hudson.... I know that along the way it lost one of its Tuscan towers on top and that they had to make a big effort in the 1960's to save the other one..
Before the really cold weather sets in, I also hope to get up to the Columbia University area up on Morningside Heights and do some more photo-stories in that area.
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