Carter's Review

This plain, 6-story, white-brick building at 85 Eighth Avenue on the southwest corner at 15th Street in Chelsea was erected by its neighbor on the avenue, the first branch of the New York Bank for Savings on the northwest corner of 14th Street. 

It has 118 co-operative apartments and was erected by The Blitman Construction Corporation.  It was designed by Ginsbern & Associates. 

It is named after a trustee of the bank in the early 19th Century and a philanthropist. 

The New York Savings Bank was founded in 1854 and four years later moved to its present location and in 1896 started construction on the corner lot in a Greek style with a South Cover white façade and a temple façade on the avenue with an interior decorated in Siene marble.  According to a September 23, 1987 article by Christopher Gray in The New York Times, Montgomery Schuyler wrote in the Architectural Record that the new building was "unbalanced," perhaps because the dome and temple front are too grand for such a constricted site. 

The bank merged in 1963 with the Bank for Savings and became the New York Bank for Savings and its successor, Goldome, moved out of the building in 1987.  It had been acquired by Landmark Realty in 1982 and in July, 1987, according to Mr. Gray's article, a demolition crew began to remove metalwork and decorative elements including portions of a copper roof without a building permit.  Joel Wiener, president of Landmark Realty, told Mr. Gray he did not know "how it came about" and the contractor had illegally demolished four buildings on West 44th Street in 1985. 

In 2009, the High Line Elevated Park opened nearby to the west leading to a major renaissance of the area.

Bottom Line

A bland, undistinguished low-rise building on a prime corner in the lower part of Chelsea across 15th Street from the very large, mid-rise, full-block, red-brick building at 111 Eighth Avenue that was originally the Port of New York Authority Building that was erected in 1932 and described in the fifth edition of the A.I.A. Guide to New York City as "a whale of a structure but a little brother to the Starrett-Lehigh Building."

Description

The light-colored building has an avenue frontage broken up into some slightly recessed sections and it is also modulated by its fenestration patterns.

Amenities

The building has a full-time doorman, a live-in superintendent and a full-time porter, and allows pets.  It has a roof deck, a landscaped courtyard, a canopied entrance and a laundry on each floor.

Apartments

Apartment 5P is a one-bedroom unit with a 6-foot-wide entry foyer that opens onto an 18-foot-wide living room with a small balcony and a raised, enclosed bedroom. 

Apartment 4L is a one-bedroom unit with a 23-foot-long living/dining room with a small balcony and an open kitchen with a breakfast bar. 

Apartment 6S is a studio unit with a 34-foot-long living space with a small terrace and a small enclosed, pass-through kitchen. 

Apartment 6W is a studio unit with a 17-foot-long living room with a small balcony and a raised 10-foot-wide sleep area and a 7-foot-long kitchen. 

Apartment 1U is an alcove unit with a 6-foot-wide entry foyer that opens onto a 22-foot-wide living/dining room with a 7-foot-long enclosed kitchen and an 11-foot-wide raised sleeping alcove and a large 30-foot-long, angled patio.