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New York
Architecture Images-Upper East Side 45 East 66th Street Landmark |
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architect |
Harde & Short |
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location |
45 East 66th Street, at Madison Ave. |
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date |
1908 |
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style |
"Perpendicular Gothic" |
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construction |
red masonry |
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type |
Apartment Building |
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This building was designed by the architects
of the Alwyn Court at 180 West 58th Street and the Studio Building at 44
West 77th Street. Describing this trio of buildings as "the best gingerbread in town," Paul Golberger noted in his book, "The City Observed, A Guide To the Architecture of New York, An Illustrated History" (Vintage Books, 1979), that this was "the best" of the trio, adding that "The detail is an eclectic mix of Elizabethan and Flemish Gothic, and it is just elaborate enough to be showy, but restrained enough not to compete with the separate, secondary level of texture created by the dozens of 12-over-12 double-hung windows, a veritable curtain of tiny square panes." Some history of the site by Christopher Gray (1988): "In 1905, Charles F. Rogers, who had built the Prince George and other hotels, bought the All Souls church site at the northeast corner of Madison Avenue and 66th Street. Rogers, the son of the sculptor John S. Rogers, lived at 60th Street and Madison Avenue and was an All Souls parishioner....The new building dominated the Madison Avenue brownstones, and its distinctive round corner tower was unusally prominent. The square-doughnut structure has a central light court, but the majestic multipaned windows -framed in white terra-cotta and rising to overhanging, screen-like assemblies of Gothic ornament - are what catch the eye....The building was divided into only two apartments...on each floor. Only a handful survived intact, still grand and elegant but with most of their unusual woodwork painted over. The building opened in 1908 as 777 Madison Avenue.....In 1929 the entrance was moved onto East 66th Street, giving the building its present address,...The exterior remained in fairly good shape except for a gradual buildup of grime from engine exhaust (Madsion Avenue streeetcars were replaced by buses in the 1930's). From 1928 to 1973, the building was owned by the Bing & Bing real estate company. Major change came after the mid-50's, with most of the overhanging decorative work at the sixth and 10th floors either cut back or stripped away entirely. In 1973, 45 East 66th Street was acquired by a builder, Sigmund Sommer, who cut back some services, discharged the elevator attendant and replaced incandescent lighting with fluorescent in the hallways. Tenants conducted a rent strike....They ultimately won most of their battles and the Bing interests took the building back in the spring of 1977, just as a tenant effort of landmark designation was starting....In 1987, a partnership managed by M. J. Raynes bought the building and began a cooperative conversion plan that was completed last month." |
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