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1920 505 West End Avenue
NB 416-1920
West End Avenue, 505
14-sty bk apt house, 102×89
Cost:
$1,000,000
Owner:
The 505 West End Ave. Corp, 601 W 115th
Architect:
Gaitan Ajello, 1 W 34th
Address in Real Estate Record:
WEST END AV, 505
– 1922 Anthony A. Paterno; 503 West End Avenue @ 84th; 14-story fireproof building; NY Times 5/17/1922 (Kelley Paterno page 285)
– 1922 Anthony A. Paterno 505 West End Avenue @ 84th; 15-story fireproof building (Kelley Paterno page 285)
Located in Riverside – West End Historic District Extension I designated 26 June 2012
Date: 1920-21
NB Number: NB 416-1920
Type: Apartment House
Architect: Ajello, Gaetan
Original Owner: 505 West End Avenue Corporation
NYC Landmarks Designation: Historic District
Landmark Designation Report: Riverside-West End Historic District Extension I
National Register Designation: N/A
Primary Style: Renaissance Revival with alterations
Primary Facade: Brick and Limestone
Significant Architectural Features: Two-story rusticated limestone base with high water table; stone quoins at first and second stories, this feature is repeated in brick at the third through 14th stories; central entrance with one-story arched transom, wood-and-glass multi-pane door with sidelights, historic light fixtures flank the entrance; windows with simple stone sills; stone balconette at windows above entrance; stone banding at third story that wraps the building; stone window enframements at windows on the third and 14th stories.
Historic District: Riverside Drive-West End HD Extension I
Alterations: All windows replaced; bronze plaque at northwest corner; at entrance canvas-and-metal awning that runs to the curb; cornice removed
East Facade: Designed (historic)
Door(s): Replaced primary door
Windows: Replaced (upper stories); replaced (basement)
Security Grilles: Not historic (basement)
Cornice: Removed
Sidewalk Material(s): Concrete
Curb Material(s): Stone
North Facade: Designed (historic)
Facade Notes: Two-story rusticated limestone base with high water table; stone quoins at first and second stories, this feature is repeated in brick at the third through 14th stories; windows with simple stone sills; stone balconette at windows above entrance; stone banding at third story that wraps the building; stone window enframements at windows on the third and 14th stories
West Facade: Not designed (historic)
Facade Notes: Iron fire escape (source)
Builders Purchase Apartment Site: The De Coppett Mansion on West 85th Street Sold to A. Paterno and V. Cerabone May 17, 1922: A deal involving about $1,000,000 was closed yesterday in the heart of the upper west side apartment house section when Anthony A. Paterno, operator and builder, and his associate in several recent building apartments, Victor Cerabone, purchased the old De Coppett mansion on Eighty-fifth Street, just west of West End Avenue, and two adjacent parcels. The buyers will form a new corporation for the erection of a high-class nine-story apartment on the site of the De Coppett house, which has a frontage of 75 feet and a depth of 102.2 feet. Mr. Paterno and his associate also purchase 302 and 318 West Eighty-fifth Street, two private dwellings. Mr. Paterno has just completed at 505 West End Avenue, the northwest corner of Eighty-fourth Street, a high-class fourteen-story fireproof building. The specific reason for purchasing 302 West Eighty-fifth Street is to protect the northerly light of this building. By the purchase of 302 and also 318, they have also protected the easterly and westerly sides, which insures perfect light, making it equal to a corner. Mr. Cerabone has also erected a number of high-class apartments on the west side, and has just completed 320 West Eighty-ninth Street, on a plot 62 by 102.2, a nine-story building considered one of the most attractive apartment houses in the section. The De Coppett mansion will be demolished in the early part of the December and the new building finished and ready for occupancy about July 1, 1923. Earle & Calhoun were the brokers in this transaction.
WEST END AVENUE DOCUMENTATION Survey 2008
Address: 505 West End Avenue, northwest corner West 84th Street
Block / Lot: NB Number: Original Use: Stories: 14 Estimated Cost:
1246/29 416-20 Date: 1920
Apartments No. of units: 70 Height: 150’
$1,000,000
Façade Materials:
main material brick
base granite
lower floors limestone
trim limestone
cornice n/a
Structure: steel
Original Owner: The 505 West End Avenue Corporation, 601 West 11th Street, Anthony A. Paterno, president
Architect: Gaetan Ajello, 1 West 74th Street
Landmark Status: None
Comments: The building has a limestone base with red brick and white terra-cotta trim above. The building entrance has a segmental arch with massive keystone ornamented with the head of a man sporting a moustache. The original plan consisted on four apartments per floor, ranging in size from five to seven rooms.
Bibliography
“$1,500,000 Apartment House Underway on West End Ave.,” New York Tribune 9 October 1921. (source)
