304 West 88th Street
304 West 88th Street
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Date:Â 1889-90
NB Number:Â NB 1501-1889
Type: Â Rowhouse
Architect: Â Taft, Joseph H.
Developer/Owner/Builder:Â James B Gunn
Row Configuration:Â ABCCBA
NYC Landmarks Designation:Â Historic District
Landmark Designation Report:Â Â Riverside Drive- West End Historic District
National Register Designation:Â N/A
Primary Style: Â Flemish Revival
Primary Facade: Â Â Brownstone
Stories:Â 4 and basement
Window Type/Material:Â placeholder
Basement Type:Â Raised
Stoop Type:Â Straight
Roof Type/Material:Â Pitched
Structure: These six four-story houses on raised basements were designed as a unified row of alternating house types; the three designs within this row are arranged in a rhythm of ABCCBA. The facades, three bays wide are characterized by brown iron-spot brick fronts above brownstone faced basements and first stories, brownstone trim, projecting bays and oriels and alternating stepped gables and crenelated cornices. The original windows were probably one-over-one wood sash with stained glass transoms at the parlor story (as can be seen at No 310.) There are carved keystones above the parlor story windows and doors of the four center houses. The original pitched roofs probably had standing seam metal surfaces (as can be seen at No 314) with stepped parapet walls separating the buildings at the roof.
Nos 304 and 314 are the type “A” houses which are designed as mirror images and function as end pavilions to the row. Each has a three sided projecting bay capped by a brownstone balustrade and a straight stoop leading to a square portico supported on a corner column. The porticoes open toward the center buildings of the row. Each house originally had a carved brownstone spandrel between the second and third stories (still remaining at No 314.) The fourth story has three windows capped by a stepped gable which contains a carved panel framed by voussoirs.
Historic District: Riverside Drive- West End HD
Alterations: The parlor story entrance door is a replacement. The windows have white aluminum replacement sash. The basement and parlor stories appear to have been resurfaced and are painted white. The parlor story window grills are not original. Ornament has been stripped above the parlor story windows and in the spandrel between the second and third stories. The stone work is painted brown above the parlor story and is covered with asphalt shingles. This building has been connected to No 306, to its west, and the two are now a common tax lot.
1921: Alt 2031-1921 [Source: Alteration Application] No’s 304 and 306 combined and converted from residences to a school. Architect – Charles H Gillespie  Owner – Dr William Whitney
History: In 1921, Nos. 304 and 306 were combined and converted to a private girls prep school. The Eisman Day Nursery was located here in 1944. A school still occupies these buildings. Designed by Joseph Taft, this complete raw of six houses, built in 1889-90, was probably built for the major West Side developer, W.E.D. Stokes, although the owner of record is listed as James B. Gunn. Stokes was responsible for many rows west of Broadway and north of 81st Street, although he frequently had others file his applications at the Department of Buildings; Taft was Stokes’s architect.between 1887 and 1890. These houses resemble No. 313 West 88th Street, the survivor of a four-house row located across the street, which was also designed by Taft and built in the same year. Selected References: New York City Department of Taxes Photograph Collection, Municipal Archives and Record Collection, E 1294. Lori Zabar, “The Influence of W.E.D. Stokes’ Real Estate Career on West Side Development,” Master’s Thesis Columbia University, 1977, 19.