623 West End Avenue
623 West End Avenue
Date: 1898-1899
NB Number: 835-1898
Type: Rowhouse
Architect: True, Clarence
Developer/Owner/Builder: Terence Farley & Son
NYC Landmarks Designation: Historic District
Landmark Designation Report: Riverside Drive- West End Historic District
National Register Designation: n/a
Primary Style: Elizabethan Renaissance Revival
Primary Facade: Limestone and Red Brick
Stories: 5
Window Type/Material: One-over-One/Wood
Basement Type: American
Roof Type/Material: Flat/Brick
Structure: This group of seven five story brick and limestone rowhouses are two to three bays wide and designed with American basements. The row, which turns a corner, encompasses four houses on West End Avenue and three on west 90th Street. They are unified by the use of red brick with contrasting limestone trim; bowed fronts; quoins and keyed limestone surrounds; decorative wrought iron grilles; regularly aligned window heights; continuous paired stringcourses and decorative friezes below the fourth story and cornices above; pitched roofs with a variety of dormers; and stepped gables between the houses. The original window type is one-over-one wood sash. While each house varies in its details, the group as a whole creates a coherent and harmonious ensemble.
This house is twenty-seven feet wide and features a limestone faced ground story and a three-sided two story oriel at the north side of the facade. The window openings have keyed limestone surrounds, including the round arched window at the fourth story, and retain the original one-over-one wood sash. An original wrought iron fence encloses the areaway and an original wrought iron window grille is located on the window to the north of the door. A tall chimney is located at the north end of the roof.
Alterations: The pitched roof was removed and a beige and red brick addition with a flat roof was constructed at the fifth story. Fifth story windows are multi pane casements. Three storm windows are located at the second story. The glass and aluminum door is a replacement. It is flanked by two recent light fixtures. 1947: Alt 570-1947 [Source: Alteration Application] A brick fifth story addition was added. Architect – David Kraus,R.A. Owner – Kleinport Realty Corp.
History: Built in 1898-99, this seven house group was designed by the prolific New York architect Clarence True whose work is represented in the district by eight other rows. True, who also often worked as his own developer, is said to have designed over 400 houses in the Upper West Side and Morningside Heights. He popularized the American basement plan for rowhouse design. Terence Farley & Sons, the developers for this row, were known for their work on the Upper East Side where they: “…carried on substantial operations which… stamp a solid, if sombre, character upon the better streets on the East Side.”
Selected References: History of Real Estate, Building and Architecture in New York City ( 1898, rpt. New York, 1967), 83. New York City Department of Taxes Photograph Collection, Municipal Archives and Record Collection, C 734; I 2468-19; C 719.