Watch “The Paterno Family: Chronicling a New York Real Estate Legacy” video on YouTube
Read ‘The Paterno Brothers & Their Manhattan Apartment Houses‘ Look Book
This building is featured in the video The Paterno Monograms: Art of Personalizing Apartment Buildings
1925 315 West 106th Street
– Joseph Paterno President; John A. Paterno Treasurer; 15-story apartment building (Kelley Paterno page 286)
Featured in Andrew Alpern’s book The New York Apartment Houses of Rosario Candela and James Carpenter page 270
1925
456
$700,000.00
106TH ST, 311-317 W 15-sty bk apt (46 fam), slag rf, 92˙100
OWNER / OWNER ADDRESS
(o) Paterno Bros. Corp., Joseph Paterno, pres / (o) 601 W 115th COMMENTS
ARCHITECT / ARCHITECT ADDRESS
(a) Rosario Candela / (a) 200 W 72d [72nd] (source)
Located in Riverside – West End Historic District Extension II designated 23 June 2015
Paterno Brothers Corporation 601 West 115th Street Joseph Paterno President; John A. Paterno Treasurer (Alpern Acanthus page 270)
315 West 106th Street (aka 311-317 West 106th Street)
Date: 1925
NB Number: NB 456-1925
Type: Apartment Building
Architect: Candela, Rosario
Developer/Owner/Builder: Paterno Brothers Corporation
NYC Landmarks Designation: Historic District
Landmark Designation Report: Riverside Drive– West End Historic District Extension II
National Register Designation: N/A
Primary Style: Renaissance Revival
Primary Facade: Brick, Limestone, and Terra Cotta
Stories: 15
Window Type/Material: Some six-over-six and eight-over-eight double-hung /Wood
Structure: Significant Architectural Features: Tripartite composition with two-story base, eleven story middle section, and two story capital; base clad with smooth ashlar limestone with granite water table; primary entrance features double height, round arched enframement with keystone; door surround includes piers and modillioned entablature with cartouche; iron and glass double leaf doors with transom; second story window openings within entrance enframement includes arched headed, multi-paned sash separated by stone mullions; lower window openings feature molded enframements; molded beltcourse separates base from brick clad upper stories; third and fourth story terra cotta window enframements, fourth story with pediments and balustrades; upper stories feature molded window sills; some historic six-over-six and eight-over-eight double-hung wood windows; beltcourses below seventh and 15th stories; balconettes below seventh and ninth story windows; top stories feature molded terra cotta window enframements; modillioned cornice with ornamented frieze; Special Windows: Arched headed sash above primary entrance; Decorative Metal Work: Ground floor window grilles
South Facade: Designed (historic) Door(s): Historic primary door; non-historic secondary entrance gate Windows: Mixed Security Grilles: Historic (upper stories) Cornice: Original Sidewalk Material(s): Concrete Curb Material(s): Bluestone
East Facade: Not designed (historic) (partially visible) Facade Notes: Parged brick side wall; one bay of windows in front section; light course with several regular bays of windows
West Facade: Not designed (historic) (partially visible) Facade Notes: Brick side wall; one bay of windows
Historic District: Riverside-West End Historic District Extension II
Alterations: Most windows replaced (historically six-over-six and eight-over-eight double hung sash) (source)
315 West 106th Street (aka 311-317 West 106th Street)
Borough of Manhattan Tax Map Block 1892, Lot 6
Date: 1925 (NB 456-1925)
Architect/Builder: Rosario Candela
Original Owner: Paterno Brothers Corporation
Type: Apartment building
Style: Renaissance Revival
Stories: 15
Material(s): Brick; limestone; terra cotta
Special Windows: Arched-headed sash above primary entrance
Decorative Metal Work: Ground-floor window grilles
Significant Architectural Features: Tripartite composition with two-story base, 11-story middle section, and two-story capital; base clad with smooth ashlar limestone with granite water table; primary entrance features double-height, round-arched enframement with keystone; door surround includes piers and modillioned entablature with cartouche; iron-and-glass double-leaf doors with transom; second-story window openings within entrance
enframement includes arched-headed, multi-paned sash separated by stone mullions;
lower window openings feature molded enframements; molded beltcourse separates base
from brick-clad upper stories; third- and fourth-story terra-cotta window enframements,
fourth story with pediments and balustrades; upper stories feature molded window sills;
some historic six-over-six and eight-over-eight double-hung wood windows; beltcourses
below seventh and 15th stories; balconettes below seventh- and ninth-story windows; top stories feature molded terra-cotta window enframements; modillioned cornice with
ornamented frieze
Alterations: Most windows replaced (historically six-over-six and eight-over-eight double hung sash)
South Facade: Designed (historic)
Door(s): Historic primary door; non-historic secondary entrance gate
Windows: Mixed
Security Grilles: Historic (upper stories)
Cornice: Original
Sidewalk Material(s): Concrete
Curb Material(s): Bluestone
East Facade: Not designed (historic) (partially visible)
Facade Notes: Parged brick side wall; one bay of windows in front section; light course with
several regular bays of windows
West Facade: Not designed (historic) (partially visible)
Facade Notes: Brick side wall; one bay of windows (source)
From Andrew Alpern’s book The New York Apartment Houses of Rosario Candela and James Carpenter page 270
Shared with me via email: “I lived in 315 West 106th St from about 1953-55…. it was my first apt. in New York City after college. This was after many many of the buildings on the upper west side had been divided up into smaller apts., some quite randomly (one apt we looked at had half a ceiling angel in one apt and half in another.)
I had a roommate and we rented a one bedroom apt with kitchenette (part of the living room really but not conspicuously so) for $110 a month. (Split two ways, this was $55 per month, which is what I earned per week in my first job in the City — so rent was 25% of my income.)
The apt was well constructed… no noise from neighbors, a very nice lobby, a roof we were not invited to use but did and from which we could see the Hudson, fog horns in the morning on the Hudson, Riverside Park to mosy in in spring/summer, take garbage can tops to sled the hills in winter. HIGH winds whistle down 106th St in winter.” WA, Member of the Bloomingdale Neighborhood History Group
From plaque in lobby: We are lucky to be living in a building designed in 1925 by the preeminent architect Rosario Candela (1890-1953), whose 81 apartment buildings, built before World War II, set a new standard for gracious, even luxurious apartment living in New York City. Many of the building he designed are still the most sought-after in the city, including numbers 720, 740, 770, 775 and 778 on Park Avenue and, on our side of town, 607 and 800 West End Avenue and 285 Riverside Drive. And ours, of course.
Candela’s architectural innovations included building thicker walls to conceal framing and plumbing. Prior to this, most apartment holdings had relatively thin exterior walls with columns and mechanical equipment intruding into living spaces. He also made windows larger, ceiling higher and understood that an apartment should be composed of sections depending on the specific hours of use in one’s daily life. He separated apartment into living quarters and sleeping quarters and, in the case of larger apartment, service quarters. To some degree, his building lobbies were products of what he had seen growing up in Sicily and his lively imagination. They often had elaborate ceilings, like the one in our building, and bold colors.
ur building’s original configuration included 52 apartment (now reduced by combinations to 50) and was built as a rental property. It was converted to cooperative ownership in 1979. In the 1950’s, tenants included Dean Martin and Lena Horne.
In 2013, the lobby was restored in an effort to bring back its original splendor as envisioned by Candela. The restoration team spent considerable time researching Cancel’s work and visiting his other buildings. Restoration work included stripping 10 coats of pain applied over 75 years and performing detailed plaster work to the ceiling. There were no photos available of the original 1925 lobby, but the lobby’s earth tone colors reflect Candela’s palette and match the floor and rear panel of the passenger elevator which are original.
If you go outside and look at the keystone above the building’s entrance, you will see there the letter “P,” which stands for Paterno [correction: “JP” for Joseph Paterno], the name of the development firm which built the building. Candela was virtually the house architect for the Paterno family, designing twenty [correction: 40] buildings for them.”