320 Riverside Drive
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
th West " Ê--" /" Ê 7- // ,Ê 104ÊÊ Ê Ê ÊStreet Ê Ê ÊÊÊÊÊ ÜÜÜ°L}`>i°À}ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÌÜÌÌiÀ\Ê@W104BA ,1,9ÊÓä£n SPOTLIGHT Letter from the President 320 Riverside Drive What is this, this West 104 Street Block Association? From Mansions to a Palladian Homage By Steven Zirinsky By Gil Tauber hen I moved onto the block in 2002, I did not know there ach of the block’s newest buildings, 315 and 320 Riverside was a special association that looked out for the block’s Drive, was built more than 85 years ago. Te beige-brick Winterests. And what diference did it make anyway, since 320 was completed in 1929; the Art Deco 315 in 1931. the block looked ok? But ETey replaced several houses that were notable either because of in addition to security their architecture, or occupants, or both. and beautifcation (the second has become more 320 Riverside Drive (the original) prominent as security At the northeast corner of 104th Street once stood a stone man- concerns have lessened sion. Beside it were others—321, 322, and 323. All would provide over the years), these the footprint for today’s 320 Riverside Drive. Te frst 320 River- people were all around side Drive had been built in 1887 for Dr. Richard Smith Bacon, me. Tey were helpful president of Columbia Grammar School, from plans by architect and engaging. And their Joseph Dunn. Te architect interactions in terms of designed a number of dwell- the block party, a.k.a. 7iÊÌÜiiÌi`ÊÌ ÃÊÀiViÌÊLVÊÃÜÊÃVii ings on the Upper West Side, the Yard Sale and other but is best known for his cast- projects defned the block as a community within the larger city. iron buildings in Soho and for Tat is hard to replicate anywhere and I am grateful that, in the his institutional buildings on form of its members, it is here. Blackwell’s (now Roosevelt) Tis is our annual drive for funds. Please give as you can. Island. Te Bacon house Suggested donation is $160 annually for on block residents and consisted of a three-story main $80 per year for those living of block. Tese dues pay for the portion, measuring 36 x 77 security guard and the tree bed fowers, for tree pruning and other feet, with a lower brick wing in maintenance. You can now pay through Paypal for the annual the rear. With its corner turret dues, not to mention our T-shirts, bags and caps...just go to the and crenellated parapet, it had website (www.bloomingdale.org) and click through. We will soon a fortress-like aspect, perhaps have credit card payment online as well. appropriate to its formidable We have some other new features: -ÌiÊvÊÌ iÊvÕÌÕÀiÊÎÓäÊ,- owner. Twitter Afer graduating from Co- Now you can follow us at @W104BA. Initially our tweets will lumbia Law School in 1856, Bacon studied medicine and became emphasize a physician. Ten, with the outbreak of the Civil War, he went to a. Community portraits, including images of residents on the block the front with the Seventh Regiment. He served with distinction and a blurb about what they like about the block or why they and in April 1865 was among those chosen to guard the body of moved here; images of block pets, kids, hobbies etc. the slain President Lincoln. In 1897, Bacon died suddenly, leaving b. Historical references/ articles on the area. a wife and fve children. He was 58 years old. Two years later, Ba- c. Goings on in the neighborhood (local merchant events, various con’s widow sold the house to the banker and utility tycoon Emer- social and group meetings) son McMillin. Tough little known today, McMillin (1844-1922), d. On block photos of architectural elements in unique lighting/ was one of the more interesting magnates of the Gilded Age. weather conditions. As a philanthropist, McMillin supported science, education, If you think there is something we should be tweeting, let me and the arts. In 1912 he donated what was then the country’s know. continued on page 3 continued on page 6 7iÃÌÊ£ä{Ê iÜÃiÌÌiÀÊUÊiLÀÕ>ÀÞÊÊÓä£nÊÊ £ÊÊ ÜÜÜ°L}`>i°À} Ê/ ÃÊÃÃÕi\ 7Ê£ä{Ê-/Ê " Ê-- Ê Ê, *",/ iÌÌiÀÊvÀÊÌ iÊ*ÀiÃ`iÌÊ°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°«°Ê£ iViLiÀÊÓä£Ç "«i}Ê >>ViÊ°°°°Êf£È]nän°n£ -«Ì} Ì\ÊÎÓäÊ,- ÊÊ°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°«°Ê£ VÊ>V>ÃÊÊ°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°«°ÊÓ Ê ViÊÊÊ°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°ÊfnÇÓ°ää *>Ì}Ê >ÞÊ* ÌÊ ÃÃ>ÞÊÊ°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°«°Êx Ê Ý«iÃiÃÊÊÊÊ°°°°°°°°°°°°°ÊfÈ££Î°£ ÀÊ \Ê1«`>ÌiÊÊ iÜÊ9ÀÊ,i}Õ>ÌÃÊ«°ÊÈ Ê Ã}Ê >>ViÊ°°°°°° ³f£ä]{ǰΣ "«\Ê,iÃÌÀ}ÊÌ iÊÕ`ÃÊÊ°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°«°ÊÇÊ >`>ÀÊ7iÃÌÊÃÌÃÊ >Ê7>ÊÊ°°°°°°°°°°°«°ÊÇ Contributors to the February Issue: Barbara Boynton, Alex Bell, Lynn Max, Hanna Rubin (editor), Gil Tauber, Steve Zirinksy. Newsletter designer: Brian Hajjar. Where on this block? The first person to send Steve Zirinsky ([email protected]) the correct location of this architectural detail will win one of the West 104th Street Block Association’s new totes or caps! Ê7iÃÌÊ£ä{Ì Ê-ÌÀiiÌÊ VÊÃÃV>ÌÊ >À` *ÀiÃ`iÌÊ-ÌiÛiÊ<ÀÃÞÊÊ 315 RSD 212.866.6732 6*ÊivvÊÜÌÌ 315 RSD 212.866.5569 /Ài>ÃÕÀiÀÊ >ÀL>À>Ê ÞÌÊÊ 905 WEA 212.864.1011 iLiÀà iÝ>`À>Ê iÊ 304 W 104 >ÀL>À>Ê ÀÞ> 315 RSD 212.864.5663 >ÀÞÊÊi>ÀÊ 315 RSD iÝÊÀ>à 895 WEA 212.316.1644 >VÞÊ> 320 RSD 212.316.6112 ÞViÊ> 309 W 104 212.721.6341 >ÀÌÊ> 309 W 104 212.721.6341 ÞÊ>Ý 315 RSD 212.666.3129 >>Ê,ÕL 315 RSD 212.865.4579 >ÀÀÞÊ-ÌiÀ 315 RSD 212.794.2288 >ÀÞÊ7>ÃÜÊÊ 320 RSD 212.932.9082 iÀÌÕÃÊ-`ÊiÀâvi` 895 WEA 212.749.0085 7iÃÌÊ£ä{Ê iÜÃiÌÌiÀÊUÊiLÀÕ>ÀÞÊÊÓä£nÊÊ ÓÊÊ ÜÜÜ°L}`>i°À} SPOTLIGHT Spotlight, continued from page 1 largest seismograph to the American Museum of Natural History. Developing the Footprint: Te Hall Brothers’ Plan He also gave an astronomical observatory to Ohio State University; Arlington Cyrus Hall was a man whose very name sounds and provided most of the money for Columbia University’s Dodge like a rich guy in a 1930s movie. He was born in 1876, evidently Hall, although he declined to have it named afer himself. How- to a family of some means. He attended the Lawrenceville ever, Columbia’s McMillin Teatre, known as the Miller Teater School and went into the construction business immediately since 1988, was originally named in his honor. afer his graduation in 1895. Tree years later, he was joined by Te 1910 Census found Emerson McMillin living at 320 with his his younger brother Harvey Melville Hall. By 1900 the A.C. and wife Isabel, his unmarried daughter Maud, aged 30; his grandson H. M. Hall Realty Co. was putting up small apartment build- Emerson Stewart, aged 15; and fve servants. But 1910 was also the ings in Harlem, and in the next few years expanded southward, year that the elder McMillin bought an 1,100-acre estate in New erecting larger apartment houses in Morningside Heights and Jersey, including a 75-room mansion. Soon McMillin was spend- the Upper West Side. Nearly all of the frm’s early buildings ing more time there. At the end of that year, McMillin acquired a were designed by Neville & Bagge, one of the most prolifc newly completed apartment house at 320 West 86th, trading the architectural forms of that era. In 1926, the Halls completed the Riverside Drive house to the sellers in partial payment. By 1920, it assemblage for a new apartment building on West 104th Street. had become a rooming house. For the design of the new 320 Riverside Drive, they selected Leo F. Knust, who had recently designed three substantial buildings Nos. 321, 322 and 323 Riverside Drive on the Upper West Side. Born in Germany in 1878, Knust was Next door to the Bacon/McMillin house, No. 321, was built in bought to America as a toddler, and was working as an architect 1892 for Isaiah Josephi, a leading manufacturer of men’s cloth- by1899. ing. Josephi headed the industry committee that negotiated with garment workers’ unions, and was also prominent in Jewish 320 Riverside Drive’s Palladian Accents philanthropic circles. In 1905 Josephi died suddenly at the age of Te Landmarks Preservation Commission refers to this 53, leaving his wife, Sylvia, and four daughters aged 4 to 17. Isaiah’s building’s style as Renaissance Revival, a type that was both unmarried younger brother Isaac, a landscape artist and minitu- “safe” and popular in the frst few decades of the 20th Century. rist, came to their aid, marrying his brother’s widow. Te family It is conservative even in the color of its brick, a pale beige, remained at 321 as late as 1913. However, by the 1920 Census, the speckled with grey, very similar to that used by Gaetan Ajello in house had been rented by William Stroh, a steamftter, who oc- his Renaissance-inspired buildings on West End Avenue. cupied it with his wife, daughter, and 17 lodgers. Knust had a site measuring 122 by 120 feet, somewhat larger Erected in 1900 for Charles F. Chamberlaine, and his wife than the usual corner plot for an apartment house. Te hous- Emma, No. 322 was home to them, a lodger and two servants ing regulations then in efect limited the building’s height to 150 in 1910. Charles was Secretary/Treasurer of the Knickerbocker feet, enough for 15 foors at the street wall, plus a penthouse. Chocolate Company, maker of (among other things) a macho Tus, the height of either façade is only slightly greater than its confection called Te Sportsman’s Chocolate Bracer.