One normally thinks of a great block of townhouses as having two sides, but 79th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues is a rare example of such a street with only one side full of impressive townhouses.
Fortunately, it is the south side so that they are not darkened by shadows cast by the high-rises on the north side that benefit from the great views created by the low-rise height of the townhouses.
The block is great, furthermore, because the quality of the townhouses is mansion-level generally, meaning they are mostly wider than 20 feet and are faced with more luxurious material than brownstone and that some of their detailing is exquisite and interesting.
Three of the four high-rises on the north side of the block are very nice pre-war buildings.
The fourth was widely criticized when it was erected in 1966 as an outrageous incursion along "Millionaires' Row" and the "Museum Mile" for its dark facade and breaking both of the street wall and the cornice line of both 79th Street and the avenue.
More significantly, it was scorned ferociously for having replaced the rather bulky, late 19th century mansion of Isaac Vail Brokaw, and its demolition twinned with the far great tragedy of the loss of Pennsylvania Station at about the same time led to the very belated creation of the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission.
The 26-story, 45-unit cooperative apartment tower at 980 Fifth Avenue was erected by the Campagna Construction Company.
It has a very elegant facade on both 79th Street and the avenue in which a limestone bay protrudes slightly from the building's dark gray brick facades and all the windows are flush with the facades. The building is setback considerably from the street and the avenue, creating a rather large "L"-shaped, corner plaza.
One could argue, of course, the public does not need good-sized plazas directly across from Central Park. However, it should be noted that 79th Street is one of the major transverse roads across the park so the plaza provides some breathing room for pedestrians and that the same corner is also a major bus stop. Indeed, the plaza also broadens the view of the great mansion row on the south side of the street from across the avenue and is very attractive because of its lush landscaping and polished granite seating blocks that are not spiked.
980's plaza, moreover, gives greater exposure to 9 East 79th Street, the very handsome, limestone-clad, 15-story, pre-war building with only seven duplex apartments with fireplaces that has an unusual set of "lot-line" windows facing Central Park. It is notable for its attractive clusters of four quite tall windows and their slightly curved bases on the third floor. It was designed by Pleasants Pennington - a great name - and Albert W. Lewis.
It is not the only limestone-clad, pre-war tower; another, in the middle of the block at 21 East 79th Street, adds a sprightly touch with its thin roof-top "fence." It is flanked to the west by the very handsome, rusticated limestone Rudolph Steiner School at 15 East 79th Street was until the 1944 the Thomas Newbold housed designed circa 1916 by McKim, Mead & White, and to the east by a townhouse owned by Mayor Bloomberg, who also owns four of the six apartments in the adjoining townhouse. Mayor Bloomberg also bought two much larger and grander townhouses around the corner on the northwest corner of 78th Street and Madison Avenue.
The townhouse at 23 East 79th Street was once one of the most striking and modern in the city with a large, rounded, two-story, stainless steel column at its entrance that had been commissioned by Richard Feigen, the art dealer, from architect Hans Hollein. A later owner unfortunately removed the very shiny column.
That townhouse is just to the west of the pre-war apartment building at 31 East 79th Street that was designed by William H. Rohan and erected in 1925 on the northwest corner at Madison Avenue. It is notable for having an octagonal, patinated copper water tank enclosure that is the second most handsome and prominent on Madison Avenue after the larger and sloping one atop The Mark at 25 East 77th. Less obviously, but no less interesting is the fact that this 19-unit cooperative building was significantly expanded to the west three years after it was built and that the addition is hardly discernible!
Of course, all these "northern" niceties pale when one looks at the street's south side eclectic phalanx of mansions, many with slightly rounded facades and large moats with cast-iron fences. It is not quite a perfect assemblage as the southwest corner at Madison Avenue is occupied by a "tent" atop Serafina's popular Italian eatery above Nectar's a small but nice coffee shop with a summertime sidewalk restaurant, a missing ingredient on many otherwise good residential blocks. Serafina's replaced a corner townhouse built by developer Charles Buek.
The showcase property on the block and street is 2 East 79th Street, a French Renaissance-style mansion that is a gargoyle-lover's dream and that was built in 1898 for Isaac and Mary Fletcher and designed by C. P. H. Gilbert. In 1955, the house was acquired by the Ukrainian Institute of America and is frequently open to the public for exhibitions.
Next door at 4 East 79th Street is a lavish mansion that was erected in 1900 for James E. Nichols and that is notable for its side alley where it has two large, curved bays and a completely finished and very elegant facade, something that many of the city's greatest mansions do not have. Subsequently, the mansion became the residence of Ogden Phipps but was sold in 1946 to the French Mission to the United Nations. In 1992, it was converted to offices and two duplex apartments and in 2005 reconverted to a single-family resident for Aso (Assadour) O. Tavitian, the former CEO of Syncsort, a technology company in Woodcliff Lake, N.J.
The high-rise apartment buildings on the east side of Madison Avenue on 79th Street - the very elegant, pre-war building at 39 East 79th Street and the post-war, 21-story building at 50 West 79th Street - also benefit from the Central Park vistas afforded by the low-rise mansion row on the south side of the street west of Madison Avenue.
While Fifth and Park avenues are famed for their consistent street-wall and cornice lines, there is a lot to be said for Madison Avenue's "alternating" building sizes. Sometimes, variety is the spice of city life.
Fortunately, it is the south side so that they are not darkened by shadows cast by the high-rises on the north side that benefit from the great views created by the low-rise height of the townhouses.
The block is great, furthermore, because the quality of the townhouses is mansion-level generally, meaning they are mostly wider than 20 feet and are faced with more luxurious material than brownstone and that some of their detailing is exquisite and interesting.
Three of the four high-rises on the north side of the block are very nice pre-war buildings.
The fourth was widely criticized when it was erected in 1966 as an outrageous incursion along "Millionaires' Row" and the "Museum Mile" for its dark facade and breaking both of the street wall and the cornice line of both 79th Street and the avenue.
More significantly, it was scorned ferociously for having replaced the rather bulky, late 19th century mansion of Isaac Vail Brokaw, and its demolition twinned with the far great tragedy of the loss of Pennsylvania Station at about the same time led to the very belated creation of the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission.
The 26-story, 45-unit cooperative apartment tower at 980 Fifth Avenue was erected by the Campagna Construction Company.
It has a very elegant facade on both 79th Street and the avenue in which a limestone bay protrudes slightly from the building's dark gray brick facades and all the windows are flush with the facades. The building is setback considerably from the street and the avenue, creating a rather large "L"-shaped, corner plaza.
One could argue, of course, the public does not need good-sized plazas directly across from Central Park. However, it should be noted that 79th Street is one of the major transverse roads across the park so the plaza provides some breathing room for pedestrians and that the same corner is also a major bus stop. Indeed, the plaza also broadens the view of the great mansion row on the south side of the street from across the avenue and is very attractive because of its lush landscaping and polished granite seating blocks that are not spiked.
980's plaza, moreover, gives greater exposure to 9 East 79th Street, the very handsome, limestone-clad, 15-story, pre-war building with only seven duplex apartments with fireplaces that has an unusual set of "lot-line" windows facing Central Park. It is notable for its attractive clusters of four quite tall windows and their slightly curved bases on the third floor. It was designed by Pleasants Pennington - a great name - and Albert W. Lewis.
It is not the only limestone-clad, pre-war tower; another, in the middle of the block at 21 East 79th Street, adds a sprightly touch with its thin roof-top "fence." It is flanked to the west by the very handsome, rusticated limestone Rudolph Steiner School at 15 East 79th Street was until the 1944 the Thomas Newbold housed designed circa 1916 by McKim, Mead & White, and to the east by a townhouse owned by Mayor Bloomberg, who also owns four of the six apartments in the adjoining townhouse. Mayor Bloomberg also bought two much larger and grander townhouses around the corner on the northwest corner of 78th Street and Madison Avenue.
The townhouse at 23 East 79th Street was once one of the most striking and modern in the city with a large, rounded, two-story, stainless steel column at its entrance that had been commissioned by Richard Feigen, the art dealer, from architect Hans Hollein. A later owner unfortunately removed the very shiny column.
That townhouse is just to the west of the pre-war apartment building at 31 East 79th Street that was designed by William H. Rohan and erected in 1925 on the northwest corner at Madison Avenue. It is notable for having an octagonal, patinated copper water tank enclosure that is the second most handsome and prominent on Madison Avenue after the larger and sloping one atop The Mark at 25 East 77th. Less obviously, but no less interesting is the fact that this 19-unit cooperative building was significantly expanded to the west three years after it was built and that the addition is hardly discernible!
Of course, all these "northern" niceties pale when one looks at the street's south side eclectic phalanx of mansions, many with slightly rounded facades and large moats with cast-iron fences. It is not quite a perfect assemblage as the southwest corner at Madison Avenue is occupied by a "tent" atop Serafina's popular Italian eatery above Nectar's a small but nice coffee shop with a summertime sidewalk restaurant, a missing ingredient on many otherwise good residential blocks. Serafina's replaced a corner townhouse built by developer Charles Buek.
The showcase property on the block and street is 2 East 79th Street, a French Renaissance-style mansion that is a gargoyle-lover's dream and that was built in 1898 for Isaac and Mary Fletcher and designed by C. P. H. Gilbert. In 1955, the house was acquired by the Ukrainian Institute of America and is frequently open to the public for exhibitions.
Next door at 4 East 79th Street is a lavish mansion that was erected in 1900 for James E. Nichols and that is notable for its side alley where it has two large, curved bays and a completely finished and very elegant facade, something that many of the city's greatest mansions do not have. Subsequently, the mansion became the residence of Ogden Phipps but was sold in 1946 to the French Mission to the United Nations. In 1992, it was converted to offices and two duplex apartments and in 2005 reconverted to a single-family resident for Aso (Assadour) O. Tavitian, the former CEO of Syncsort, a technology company in Woodcliff Lake, N.J.
The high-rise apartment buildings on the east side of Madison Avenue on 79th Street - the very elegant, pre-war building at 39 East 79th Street and the post-war, 21-story building at 50 West 79th Street - also benefit from the Central Park vistas afforded by the low-rise mansion row on the south side of the street west of Madison Avenue.
While Fifth and Park avenues are famed for their consistent street-wall and cornice lines, there is a lot to be said for Madison Avenue's "alternating" building sizes. Sometimes, variety is the spice of city life.
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Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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