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1909 Tompkins Hall (aka The Sophomore) 21 Claremont Avenue
Located in the Morningside Heights Historic District designated 21 February 2017
1950 Paterno Family (Kelley Paterno page 287)
1909
237
$325,000.00
CLAREMONT AV, w s, 225 n 116th st 10-sty brick apartment house, 84˙83
OWNER / OWNER ADDRESS
(o) Paterno Bros., Inc – Joseph Paterno, president; Chas. Paterno, secretary and treasurer / (o) 510 West 114th st COMMENTS
ARCHITECT / ARCHITECT ADDRESS
(a) Schwartz & Gross / (a) 347 5th [Fifth] av (source)
21 Claremont Avenue ( Tompkins Hall ) – also known as The Sophomore
Borough of Manhattan Tax Map Block 1990, Lot 10
Date(s): 1909-10 (NB 237-1909)
Architect(s) / Builder(s): Schwartz & Gross
Owner(s) / Developer(s): Paterno Bros.
Type: Apartment building
Style(s): Renaissance Revival
Stories: 10
Material(s): Blond brick; limestone; terra-cotta
Status: Contributing
History, Significance and Notable Characteristics
Tompkins Hall is a ten-story blonde brick and limestone apartment building designed by the firm of Schwartz & Gross and built in 1909 for the Paterno Brothers, prolific apartment house builders in Morningside Heights between 1898 and 1924. Columbia University began acquiring apartment buildings on Claremont Avenue in 1919. Between December 1919 and April 1920, Columbia purchased nos. 21, 29, 25, and 39 Claremont Avenue and apartments in 21, 29, and 35 were briefly offered as student housing. 21 Claremont Avenue was re-named Tompkins Hall (presumably for Daniel Tompkins). Tompkins Hall features a two-story rusticated base, wide stone stoop with low stone cheek wall, central segmental-arched entranced with carved cartouches, floral enframements, ornately decorated stone window enframements with decorative keystone lintels and cartouches, tripartite windows, many with decorative iron railings, bracketed balconettes at upper stories, molde
stone band courses, ornately detailed decorative spandrel panels, and arched windows at attic story.
Alterations
Claremont Avenue Facade: Cornice removed; windows replaced; non-historic metal security grilles at first-story windows; non-historic light fixture at main entrance; non-historic light fixture and conduit box at basement
Site
Sunken areaways with cast-iron railings and newel posts on low stone walls; areaway with stone curb, steps and metal railings
Sidewalk / Curb Materials
Concrete sidewalk and metal curb
References
“Charters Acts of the Legislature Official Documents and Records” compiled by John B. Pine (1920), 114-116. (source)
