202-208 Riverside Drive, AKA 320 West 93rd Street

 

 

202-208 Riverside Drive, AKA 320 West 93rd Street

 

Date: 1905

NB Number: NB 840-1904

Type:  Apartment Building

Architect:  Pelham, George F.

Developer/Owner/Builder: West Side Construction Co

NYC Landmarks Designation:  Historic District

Landmark Designation Report:Riverside Drive- West End Historic District

National Register Designation: N/A

Primary Style:  Beaux-Arts

Primary Facade:   Red Brick and Stone

Stories: 9 and basement

Window Type/Material: See Structure/Alterations

Structure:  This apartment building, of nine stories with a basement, is located on a lot at the southeast corner of Riverside Drive and West 93rd Street, which extends approximately 145 along the drive and 117 feet along the street. The building is E-shaped in plan with two light courts opening onto Riverside Drive. It is faced in red brick with stone trim. The Riverside Drive facade is constructed with a gradual curve that conforms to the line of the drive. The building is lined at the sidewalk level by a wrought-iron pipe-rail fence with stone posts.

Riverside Drive Facade: The two story base, five story midsection, and two story top of this facade are separated by two light courts into three similar pavilions with four window bays per story. The main entrance is located in the northern bay of the center pavilion. Reached by three steps with cheek walls topped by scrolled consoles, the entrance has a molded surround capped by an segmentally arched pediment that has a panel above inscribed with “The Terrace Court.” The entrance, flanked by wrought iron lanterns with glass globes, has paired glass doors and a transom with ironwork framing. The light courts are spanned at the building line by balustrades at the first story and segmental arches with voussoirs, keystones, and crowning balustrades at the second story. The light courts are faced in buff colored brick; the northern one has twelve window openings per story and a bowed corner where the southern and eastern walls meet, and the southern one has ten openings per story without a bowed bay. The five story midsection of the facade has stone quoins at the ends and the center of each pavilion. The eighth and ninth stories, faced in barded brick, surmount stone beltcourses.

West 93rd Street Facade: This facade, eleven bays wide, features the same overall design and articulation of detail as the Riverside Drive facade. Fire escapes span both the two eastern bays and the second and third bays from the western end.

Eastern Elevation: The eastern elevation, visible above the adjacent six-story building, is faced in brown brick enhanced with brick quoins

Southern Elevation: An alleyway with an iron gate separates the southern elevation from the neighboring building. Faced in dark red brick, it has three segmentally arched window bays per story with a fire escape spanning the center.

Historic District: Riverside Drive- West End HD

Alterations: The original one-over-one wood sash windows have been replaced with one-over-one aluminum sash. A brick parapet replaces the original modillioned metal cornice.

History: This building was constructed in 1905 for the West End Construction Company according to the designs of George F. Pelham, architect of the stylistically similar St. Denis apartment building, located just to the south at 200 Riverside Drive, which was erected for the same owner at roughly the same time. The site of Terrace Court was once part of the grounds of Mt. Aubrey, a mansion located between 93rd and 94th Streets which was constructed by Jacob C. Mott and destroyed by fire in 1877. Selected References: George Branley, Atlas of the City of New York, Borough of Manhattan (Philadelphia, 1899), vol. 3 plate 11. New York City Department of Taxes Photograph Collection, Municipal Archives and Record Collection, E 1293. “Old Mansions Once on Bloomingdale-‘s Riverside,” Real Estate Record & Guide 85 (Jan. 22, 1910), 159.

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