34 West 106th Street
36 West 106th Street
(aka 34-36 West 106th Street)
Date: 1926-27
NB Number:
Type: Nurses Housing and Youth Hostel
Architect: undetermined
Developer/Owner/Builder: General Memorial Hospital (owner)
NYC Landmarks Designation: Historic District
Landmark Designation Report: Manhattan Avenue Historic District
Use: Nurses housing (original); Youth Hostel (current)
National Register Designation: N/A
Primary Style: Neo-French Renaissance
Primary Facade: Brick and Cast Stone
Stories: 3 and basement (4 stories at stair tower; 5 stories at rear)
Historic District: Manhattan Avenue HD
History: In 1926-27 the hospital constructed a residence for 44 nurses at 34-36 West 106th Street. Designed in the French Renaissance manner, it has a three-story brick facade with cast stone trim and a peaked roof with central dormer. The architect, who has not been identified, modeled the design on 32 West 106th Street (demolished), an earlier hospital structure that was probably designed by Charles C. Haight in 1886-87. Construction, which converted the earlier building into a “laundry and nurses home,” was estimated to cost $125,000. With a simply treated stair tower inserted between the two mirror-image structures, the Chateauesque ensemble resembled a pair of matching bookends. At the rear of the building were two additional floors devoted to research. These floors were “distinct from the rest of the building . . . and connected to the 4th fl of the present laboratory building on 105th Street [now 19-37 West 105th Street] by a bridge.”
The building, along with the former hospital x-ray laboratory at 19 West 105th Street, was purchased by the real estate developer Webb & Knapp, headed by William Zeckendorf, in 1952. The following year, 36 West 106th Street was donated to Children’s Village, becoming the organization’s New York City headquarters and serving as a residence for under-privileged boys. A certificate of occupancy, issued by the Department of Buildings in 1961, described it as a “Class B” hotel, with 42 rooms. Presently the structure functions as a youth hostel.
Description: Three bays at main structure, featuring brick facade recessed above cast stone base; three window openings at basement story of main structure; opening of service entry continues past basement story into first story of main structure; four double-height brick pilasters separating bays of main structure at first and second stories; fenestration at first and second stories of main structure recessed within bays featuring double-stepped, chamfered brick reveals, double-stepped cast stone lintels, double-hung windows at outer bays and paired-double hung windows at central bays of main structure; first story fenestration of main structure taller than second story fenestration; stepped cast stone bands at roofline of main structure forming cornice; pitched roof intersecting hipped roof with finial at main structure; pitched-roof dormer with triangular parapet at hipped roof; paired double-hung dormer fenestration recessed within double-stepped, chamfered brick reveals beneath a recessed, segmental arched, cast stone lintel; stepped brick gable with cast stone coping facing west abuts 38 West 106 Street; adjoining a four story, single bay stair tower featuring brick facade with projecting arched stone entry portal; double-hung windows at third and fourth stories of stair tower, recessed within bays featuring double-stepped, chamfered brick reveals; double-stepped cast stone lintel at stair tower third story fenestration; rear features additional brick story with rectangular double-hung window visible above pitched roof
Alterations: Basement stuccoed and altered; brick painted and repointed; cast stone details painted; conventional stoop with solid sidewalls removed; arched cast stone entry portal altered; historic molded bands forming sills of first and second story fenestration of main structure removed, replaced with individual projecting cast stone sills with facade painted between projecting sills to simulate continuous bands; molded cast stone band between first and second stories removed; modillion course at roofline removed; triangular parapet and recessed lintel at dormer altered; guardrail at ridge of peaked roof; double-stepped, cast stone lintel at fourth story tower fenestration altered into rectangular stone lintel; non-original cast stone sills at tower fenestration; non-original cast stone band at fourth story of tower; cast stone coping at tower; guard rail at tower roofline; security grilles at basement of main structure; aluminum-and-glass double doors at main structure entryway; awning at main structure entryway; rear story painted.