Alwyn Court | |
 The facade as seen in 2007 from Seventh Avenue and 58th Street | |
 | |
| Location | 180 West 58th Street Manhattan, New York, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°45′57″N73°58′46″W / 40.76583°N 73.97944°W /40.76583; -73.97944 |
| Built | 1907–1909 |
| Architect | Harde & Short |
| Architectural style | French Renaissance |
| NRHP reference No. | 79001599[1] |
| NYSRHP No. | 06101.000539 |
| NYCL No. | 0254 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | December 26, 1979 |
| Designated NYSRHP | June 23, 1980[2] |
| Designated NYCL | June 7, 1966[3] |
TheAlwyn Court, also known asthe Alwyn, is an apartment building at 180West 58th Street, at the southeast corner withSeventh Avenue, in theMidtown Manhattan neighborhood ofNew York City, United States. The Alwyn Court was built between 1907 and 1909 and was designed byHarde & Short in theFrench Renaissance style. It is one of several luxury developments constructed along Seventh Avenue during the late 19th and early 20th century.
The building is thirteen stories tall. Itsfacade is clad with elaborateterracotta ornamentation in theFrancis I style, with a main entrance on Seventh Avenue and 58th Street. Inside is an octagonal courtyard with a painted facade by artistRichard Haas, as well as a location of thePetrossian caviar bar. The Alwyn Court was originally built with twenty-two elaborately decorated apartments, two on every floor, which typically had fourteen rooms and five bathrooms. The interior was subdivided into 75 apartments in 1938.
The Alwyn Court was named after Alwyn Ball Jr., one of the building's developers. Despite a fire shortly after its opening, the Alwyn Court quickly became one of New York City's most expensive apartment buildings. During the early 20th century, ownership changed several times. By the 1930s, the last luxury tenant had moved out, and the building's interior was completely rebuilt. The Alwyn Court was made aNew York City designated landmark in 1966, and added to theNational Register of Historic Places in 1979. The building was renovated and converted to cooperative apartments in 1980, and the facade was restored in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The Alwyn Court is at 180 West 58th Street,[4] on the southeast corner withSeventh Avenue and one block south ofCentral Park, in theMidtown Manhattan neighborhood ofNew York City, United States.[5][6] The site covers 12,525 square feet (1,164 m2), with a width of 100 feet (30 m) on Seventh Avenue and a depth of 125 feet (38 m) on 58th Street.[7][8] The Alwyn Court occupies 9,500 square feet (883 m2), or about three-quarters of its lot.[8] The remaining area is occupied by anatrium at the center of the building, as well as a small courtyard running on the east and south sides.[9]
The Alwyn Court shares thecity block withThe Briarcliffe to the south and165 West 57th Street andOne57 to the east; it iscater-corner from200 Central Park South to the northwest. It is also near theSaint Thomas Choir School and theAmerican Fine Arts Society (also known as theArt Students League of New York building) to the west; theOsborne Apartments and theRodin Studios to the southwest;Carnegie Hall to the south;Hampshire House to the northeast; and theNew York Athletic Club andEssex House to the north.[5] The Alwyn Court is one block north of an artistic hub that developed around West 57th Street betweenSixth Avenue andBroadway during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, following the opening of Carnegie Hall in 1891.[10][11] It was one of several luxury buildings developed around Carnegie Hall, on the northernmost end of Seventh Avenue, by the beginning of the 20th century.[12]
The thirteen-story Alwyn Court is 149 feet (45 m) tall,[13] with twelve full stories and a smaller penthouse.[14][15] It was designed by Herbert Spencer Harde and R. Thomas Short of the firmHarde & Short[4] in theFrench Renaissance style, withFrancis I detailing on thefacade.[6][16][17] The Alwyn Court was erected by theHedden Construction Company.[8][18] The building is similar in plan tothe Dakota, completed in 1884, andthe Apthorp, completed in 1908; all three buildings originally contained large apartments arranged around either alight court or courtyard.[19] Although the interior and main entrance have been altered, almost all of the facade remains intact.[17]
In contrast to many luxury apartment buildings erected at the beginning of the 20th century, which contained ornate detailing mostly on the bottom and top stories, the Alwyn Court's decoration is spread throughout all parts of the facade.[3][6] The decorative terracotta details on the facade includequattrocento-style pilasters,baldachin-likecanopies, and crowned salamanders representing Francis I,[6][3][20] in addition tofleurs-de-lis,cameos, andescutcheons.[21] The Alwyn Court uses terracotta because, at the time of its construction, it cost one-third as much as other material such as stone. Since it was possible to reuse the molds that were used to bake the terracotta, the amount of decoration was limited only by the number of unique designs.[3][19][22]
The Alwyn Court's twelve-story facade is divided into three horizontal sections: a four-story base, a five-story shaft, and a three-story crown. These sections are separated by large decorative bands. The northern facade, on 58th Street, is divided vertically into fivebays while the western facade on Seventh Avenue is subdivided into four bays.[6][3] Each bay has three sash windows per floor, which are separated from each other by verticalmullions and spandrels. There are decorativespandrel panels between the windows on each floor. Additionally, the bays are separated horizontally by decorativepilasters topped withCorinthian-stylecapitals. Above the twelfth story, a cornice projects from the roof.[6][3]
The northern and western facades are joined by a rounded corner, which contains an ornately detailed, recessed entrance archway.[6] According to architectural writer Frank Winkler, rounded corners were desirable because their "simultaneous command [...] of two streets furnishes an interior attraction which any occupier would be delighted to acquire...".[23][24] The corner entrance served as the Alwyn Court's main entrance before the building's renovation in 1938, when the ground-floor corner space was reconfigured into retail space.[17][25] The modern-day main entrance is on Seventh Avenue,[6][26] closer to the elevators than the original corner elevators.[17]
As the Alwyn Court's construction predated fire codes, there were no fire escapes, and only minimal space for a single staircase on each floor.[27] The staircase created a potential fire chimney, being open to the entire building.[28] However, the building did contain fireproof materials such as brick exterior walls, as well as concrete floors, walls, and partitions.[29] Each story has ceilings 10.5 feet (3.2 m) tall. In addition, the basement contained a wine vault for each tenant.[14][15] The original design contained two passenger elevators and a service elevator.[9][30] The staircase and elevators originally opened onto the southeastern corner of the atrium.[6][8][9] When the building was renovated in 1938, the elevators were relocated.[31]
The main lobby on Seventh Avenue, created in 1938, replaces the original lobby at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 58th Street. It contained peppermint-green walls with white plaster ornament, as well as a foyer with glass doors. The lobby contained ornamentation themed to music, including a red-marble mantlepiece in the foyer with carvings of pipes, horns, and violins, as well as lighting fixtures shaped like lyres.[31] Some of this decoration has since been removed.[32] North of the lobby is a retail space, accessed from the corner entrance, which houses thePetrossian caviar bar.[26][33] Petrossian contains a private residents' entrance from the lobby.[33]
The atrium at the center of the building is octagonal, with four longer sides parallel to the main dimensions of the building, as well as fourchamfered corners.[a] The atrium was originally an air shaft, with 286 frosted windows overlooking it. Between 1979 and 1981, the air shaft was covered with a skylight.[34] The courtyard was landscaped with a fountain and trees, becoming an enclosed atrium.[25][34] At the first floor, the atrium was re-clad with multicolored marbles, and some stone benches were installed. In the public corridors surrounding the atrium, the windows were replaced with railings.[25] The atrium's facade contains atrompe l'oeil mural painted by artistRichard Haas.[32][35][36] The mural, painted in several hues of tan, depicts imitation architectural detail resembling the facade of the exterior.[17][32][34]
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The Alwyn Court originally had up to 22 apartments, two each on the first through eleventh floors; several residents combined multiple apartments.[6][14][37] One of the units on each floor would occupy the southern and western sides of the floor, while the other unit would occupy the northern and eastern sides.[8][9] Typical apartments had 14 rooms with five bathrooms,[38][39] but some units contained up to 34[4][40] or 35 rooms.[17] The largest unit, comprising three standard apartments,[41] cost $22,000 (equivalent to $770,000 in 2024[b]).[4][41]
The apartments had rooms of up to 18 by 30 feet (5 by 9 m).[12][42] Originally, a standard apartment had numerous communal rooms such as an entrance gallery, reception room, conservatory, music room, living room, dining room, and salon.[4] Three rooms in each 14-room apartment faced the central courtyard. At the corner of Seventh Avenue and 58th Street, there were several rooms with curvedbow windows.[39] The entertainment spaces could be combined to create a single space of about 1,700 square feet (160 m2),[39] 2,000 square feet (190 m2),[8][30][14] or 2,500 square feet (230 m2).[4] The building also hadwine vaults in the basement for each tenant.[38][39][43] Harde and Short were particularly proud of the Alwyn Court's floor layouts, threatening to sue architects who copied their floor plans.[39][44]
The apartments were decorated throughout with carved woodwork and bronze-and-iron light fixtures, as well as ornamental plaster and imitationCaen stone by McNulty Brothers.[6][8] Some residents imported their own decorations;[15] one 34-room unit was designed as a replica of a French castle.[14][23] An article in theReal Estate Record and Guide described an apartment with white-enamel woodwork, silk tapestries, paneled doors,plate-glass compartments and mirrored walls.[4][38] The suites also had their own conservatories and large millinery closets,[14][15] the latter with plate-glass shelves.[39][45] Other suites included ball-gown closets and dressing closets with mirrors on the doors. In addition, there were wood-burning fireplaces and vacuum-cleaning systems.[39] The twelfth floor contained 34 rooms used as servants' quarters.[46][47] Each of the apartments originally could function with just three to five servants, in contrast to traditional mansions of the same size that required twice as many staff.[39]
During its 1938 renovation, the Alwyn Court was divided into 75 apartments. Each floor typically had six units, and a penthouse story contained three additional apartments.[14][15] The apartments contained between three and five rooms apiece.[6][14][15] Each unit also contained bathrooms and dining galleries, while the penthouses have roof terraces and solariums. Twelve apartments, at the rounded corner, were fitted with large oval living rooms, while some of the units contained large fireplaces.[14][15] Because the atrium was still an air shaft at the time of the renovation, none of the major rooms of each apartment face the atrium.[31] Following the 1980s renovation, these units were turned intocooperative apartments.[34] The Alwyn Court also contains storage units, a bike room, and a laundry room for residents.[32]
During the early 19th century, apartment developments in the city were generally associated with the working class, but by the 1870s, apartments were also becoming desirable among the middle and upper classes.[48] Furthermore, by the beginning of the 20th century, there were somehousing cooperatives in the city that catered specifically to artists, including at130 and140 West 57th Street, as well as on67th Street near Central Park.[49][50] The original concept for the Alwyn Court also called for it to be an artists' cooperative.[50][51]
Stuyvesant Co-operative Buildings, a company founded by artistWalter Russell, purchased the lot at the southeast corner of 58th Street and Seventh Avenue for $500,000 in the first week of June 1907. Russell planned to build a twelve-story apartment house on the site in conjunction with developer Alwyn Ball Jr.,[52][53][54] the building's namesake.[4][39][55] By the next month, the Alwyn Court Corporation had been created to construct the building, and Harde and Short had been selected as the architects.[56] According to E. S. Barlow, a leasing agent who was associated with the Alwyn Court for over three decades, Russell and Ball had originally wanted to select Radcliff & Kelly for the building's design, but selected Harde and Short because of their expertise in designing previous apartment houses.[55] Harde and Short submitted construction plans to theNew York City Department of Buildings in October 1907.[57][58]
The Alwyn Court's construction was delayed slightly by a carpenters'strike against the Hedden Construction Company.[55] The building was nearly completed by September 1909, when the Fifty-Eighth Street and Seventh Avenue Company was formed to operate the apartments.[59] By then, Russell was no longer involved with the Alwyn Court,[12] having gone bankrupt the previous year.[60] In March 1910, with the building still mostly unrented, a fire broke out in an empty apartment on the tenth floor, causing $150,000 worth of damage when it spread to three other floors.[61] The superstructure was undamaged, and the building was quickly repaired.[12]
The Alwyn Court had become one of the city's most expensive apartment buildings by late 1910.[9][41] An article inThe New York Times that September said that three units had been rented for $9,000 per year in as many weeks, whereas "a few years ago $5,000 was regarded as an extravagant price to pay for an apartment".[9] TheTribune stated that the building's proximity to Central Park and public transportation gave it an advantage over similar developments.[30] The apartments were advertised as "City Homes for Those with Country Houses",[62] and the building itself was billed as "an up-to-date 'House of Select Residences'".[39] The standard apartments were rented for between $6,500 and $10,000 a year (equivalent to $227,000–350,000 in 2024), while larger apartments cost as much as $22,000 annually (equivalent to $770,000 in 2024[b]).[4][38] Initially, all leases ran for at least three years.[39] According to the architectural historian Andrew Alpern, at the time, the average New Yorker could live comfortably within the city even if they spent only $2,000 annually (equivalent to $70,000 in 2024[b]).[4]
Soon after the Alwyn Court's opening, one tenant requested that the building's owners merge two of the apartments to create a duplex. Following the success of this duplex conversion, the Alwyn Court's owners decided to merge additional apartments and rent them out at higher rates.[39] The Alwyn Court was foreclosed upon in 1918, and the second-mortgage holders bought the building at auction for $931,801.[63][64][c] The Grenell Company acquired the building in January 1920[66][67] and promptly resold it to Benjamin Winter.[68] The Alwyn Court was resold in July 1930 to Simon & Hartstein,[69][70] which almost immediately resold it to Edgar A. Levy for $1.3 million.[71][72][73] At the time, the building was still considered one of New York City's "most imposing apartment houses".[73]
By the mid-1930s, the city's architectural and social landscape had changed, and the Alwyn Court was no longer in a desirable part of town.[12][27] Only about a quarter of the apartments were occupied, and the owners were unable to pay the mortgage.[12][16] As tenants moved out, the owners had difficulties renting out the remaining apartments.[43] Consequently, the building was placed for sale at a foreclosure auction in 1936, during theGreat Depression.[74][75]Christopher Gray ofThe New York Times, writing in 1997, stated that the building's telephone directory in 1936 only listed six tenants.[12] TheDrydock Savings Bank spent $900,000 to acquire the Alwyn Court; at the time, the building's taxes amounted to $30,000 per year.[43] The bank ordered the eviction of the last tenants.[23][76][d] With the Great Depression ongoing, it was no longer feasible for the building to retain such large apartments.[43]
The Drydock Savings Bank decided to remodel the interiors in 1938,[15] with a budget of $500,000.[25][77] The renovation was designed by Louis S. Weeks and carried out by Ellinger Construction Corporation.[77][78] Edgar Ellinger of the Ellinger Construction Corporation suggested demolishing the interiors while retaining the facade ornament.[78] As such, the exterior and the floor arches were retained, while the original 22 apartments were split into 75 units.[79][80] The redesign was necessitated by updated building codes, which made a mere alteration impractical,[27] but because the superstructure was relatively sound, the owner decided not to demolish the building.[23] Interior decoratorDorothy Draper oversaw the remodeling, which included a redecorated lobby and redesigned public corridors.[77][32] The main entrance had to be relocated as well.[17][25] The cornice and balustrade atop the building were also taken apart, and the rooftop units, once used by servants, became penthouse apartments.[25]
Two-thirds of the 75 newly subdivided apartments were rented by August 1938,[40] and all apartments had been rented by the following October.[81] The building earn about $137,000 a year in rental income at the time,[25] The units remained fully occupied through the early 1940s.[82][83] The Alwyn Court's success was attributed to the fact that the rooms were typically larger than in other apartment buildings, and most tenants did not require the large 14-room spaces of the original design.[83] TheNew York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Alwyn Court as a New York City landmark on June 7, 1966,[3] and the building was added to theNational Register of Historic Places on December 26, 1979.[1] By the 1970s, the building had again become dilapidated, andrent control regulations made it difficult for the building to turn a profit.[25]
During the late 1970s,David Walentas bought the Alwyn Court for $2 million in cash.[84] In February 1979, Walentas announced a plan to convert the building from rentals to cooperative apartments. At the time, two-thirds of the units wererent-controlled units wherein residents could be exempted from tax increases, and as a result, tenant turnover happened infrequently.[85] As part of the cooperative conversion, the central air shaft was converted into an atrium, and a skylight was installed over it.[34] During the conversion, the facade was also cleaned and restored byBeyer Blinder Belle, while Richard Haas painted the atrium mural.[25][35] The ground-floor stores were converted to an upscale restaurant.[25] The conversion was completed in August 1980.[84] By the following May, two of the converted cooperative apartments had sold for $175,000 apiece, compared to the rent-controlled units, which were internally valued at between $35,000 and $60,000.[84]
The rent-controlled tenants were slated to be evicted under Walentas's original plan. Following tenant outcry and several lawsuits from both Walentas and the tenants, he changed the plan to allow rent-controlled tenants to remain after the conversion, provided that the Alwyn Court was their primary residence underNew York rent control law.[84][85] Other disputes arose between the tenants and owner, even after the conversion. One such dispute in 1985 concerned the legal definition of a window, specifically whether the openings overlooking the central atrium could be classified as windows or balconies; the dispute had temporarily caused the building's occupancy permit to be revoked.[86] The Petrossian caviar bar opened in the building's base in 1984.[87] The facade was still in poor shape: by 1997, pieces of terracotta were falling from the facade, prompting the owners to install a protective shed over the sidewalk.[12] The facade was subsequently renovated.[88] TheNew York Landmarks Conservancy awarded the facade's restoration a Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award in 2002.[89] Further facade renovations were conducted in 2005.[90]
By the early 21st century, the Alwyn Court had regained a status as a luxury apartment building. It had become part ofBillionaires' Row, an area with several residential skyscrapers marketed for the ultra-wealthy.[32] In 2013, during the construction of the neighboring One57 on Billionaires' Row, the Alwyn Court was forcibly evacuated because One57's builders were replacing a damaged crane.[91][92] The Alwyn Court's cooperative board attempted to block the forced evacuation, but the crane was eventually hoisted after the board signed an agreement with One57's developer,Extell Development Company.[93] Another renovation was undertaken starting in 2019.[94]
Upon the Alwyn Court's opening in late 1909, its first tenants includedUnited Cigar Stores president Jacob Wertheim, as well asSteinway & Sons president Frederick Steinway.[12][32]Philip Roosevelt,John Godfrey Saxe, andNicholas Schenck also moved to the building during the early 20th century. The building also served as the home ofMaurice Wertheim, who lived in the building's 34-room unit.[14][15] HumoristFred Allen lived in the building with wifePortland Hoffa.[95][96] Later in the 20th century, residents included actorDarren McGavin,[85] actorRita Gam, and lawyerLouis Nizer.[86] ActorsNatasha Richardson[96] andLiam Neeson, as well asJoan Didion andJohn Gregory Dunne, also lived at the building.[97] In the early 21st century, the Alwyn Court was home to residents including actressJessica Hecht and her director husbandAdam Bernstein,[98] as well as actorRichard Thomas.[99]
The Alwyn Court's facade has generally been positively reviewed throughout the building's history. Shortly after the building's completion,Architects' and Builders' Magazine described the facade as "an incrustation of terra cotta, a filigree of fine ornament on every pilaster, soffit and mullion".[8] AnArchitecture magazine critic said in 1910, "The design, if made by a pastry cook, would be of the highest excellence, but it can hardly be considered at all in the light of architecture...", stating that the design "defies description".[12][100] In a 1976 article,The New York Times stated the Alwyn Court's "distinction resides in its extraordinary terra cotta ornamentation".[101]
Modern criticism has also been positive. Architectural writerElizabeth Hawes wrote in 1993 that the structure was a "great architectural pile designed to impress even the affluent and worldly-wise",[62] Architecture critic Carter Horsley, writing in the early 21st century, referred to the Alwyn Court as New York City's "most ornate building" and stated that its history was a "story of riches to rags and back".[26] In 2020, theTimes described the building as "extravagantly ornate", contrasting with the "kind of grand but dour" Osborne Apartments across the street.[102]
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