Carter's Review

The 20-story apartment building at 1 Morningside Drive is known as Avalon Morningside and it contains 295 rental units, 20 percent of which are “affordable,” which limits tenant income to $23,000 a year.

The slab tower is at the southeast corner of The Cathedral Church of St. John The Divine site on Morningside Heights. 

The building, which is also known as 418 West 110^th Street, was developed by AvalonBay in 2008 Communities and designed by Schuman, Lichtestein Claman & Efron and Kliment Halsband Architects, whose other projects in Manhattan have included the restoration of Welch Hall library at Rockefeller University and the Long Island Rail Road 34^th Street entrance pavilion at Penn Station.

Bottom Line

This prominent tower has impressive views of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, Morningside Park and the Columbia University neighborhood.

Description

The building has extensive and very handsome landscaping at its entrance at the southeast entrance to its site where the tower tapers horizontally in steps and is clad in grey metal.  The bulk of the tower to the west is clad in masonry.

The building has a 7-step-up entrance and a two-story lobby and lounge opening onto a landscaped garden.

The building’s form was created in consultation with the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission and the board of trustees of the Cathedral and its design related to the Cathedral Close and adjoining Morningside Park fanning open at the corner to views of the park and the city beyond.

Warm light-colored brick matches the brick and stone of the Close, and a faceted metal and glass wall opens to the park.  A broken grid of windows adds a lively rhythm to the planar wall facing the Cathedral, with intricate detailing of stone string courses and copper trim at the lower levels that relate to the surrounding buildings.

The building has numerous vertical piers.

The site is 11.3 acres and the developer has provided a playground by the Cathedral’s southern wall.  The developer entered a 99-year-lease on the 11.3-acre site that will generate $2.5 million in annual rent for the cathedral, which is open for renegotiation in 20 years.

Amenities

The building has a concierge, a doorman, a live-in superintendent, a garage, and a fitness center.

Apartments

A three-bedroom unit has an entry foyer that leads past an angled open kitchen with an island to a 14-foot-long living/dining room.

Apartment B6 is a two-bedroom unit with an entry foyer that leads past an angled wall to a 19-foot-long living/dining room with an angled window wall and an open kitchen with an island.

Apartment 1217 is a studio unit with a 21-foot-long living/dining room with an open, slightly angled kitchen and a long entry foyer.

Apartment S1 is a one-bedroom unit with a 21-foot-long living/dining room with an open kitchen.