200 Riverside Drive, AKA 321 West 92nd Street
The St. Denis
200 Riverside Drive, AKA 321 West 92nd Street
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Date:Â 1905-06
NB Number:Â NB 1335-1905
Type: Â Apartment Building
Architect: Â Pelham, George F.
Developer/Owner/Builder:Â West Side Construction Co
Row Configuration:Â placeholder
NYC Landmarks Designation:Â Historic District
Landmark Designation Report: Riverside Drive- West End Historic District
National Register Designation:Â N/A
Primary Style: Â Beaux-Arts
Primary Facade: Â Â Red Brick and Stone
Stories:Â 9
Window Type/Material:Â One-over-one/Wood
Basement Type:Â Unknown
Structure: This apartment building, of nine stories with a basement, is located on a lot at the northeast corner of Riverside Drive and West 92nd Street which extends approximately sixty-two feet along the drive and 150 feet along the street. The building has a light court opening to the north. It is clad in red brick with contrasting stone trim. The Riverside Drive facade is constructed with a gradual curve that conforms to the line of the drive.
Riverside Drive Facade: The two story base, five story midsection, and two story top of this facade are articulated by a tripartite window in the center flanked by two single bays on each side. The original window type is one-over-one wood sash. The rusticated stone base is capped by a beltcourse with balusters below the tripartite bay. Stories three through seven, faced in brick, are flanked by stone quoins and have elaborately ornamented window enframements with raised keystones and projecting sills. The eighth story surmounts a beltcourse inscribed with a key pattern. The two top stories have raised brick banding.
West 92nd Street Facade: This facade, fourteen bays wide, continues the same overall design and articulation of detail as the Riverside Drive facade. It is divided by quoins into three vertical sections. Reached by two stone steps, the entrance is located in the center of the facade and shielded by a projecting stone portico supported by four polished granite columns with Ionic stone capitals. Directly to the west of the entrance are paired wood-framed casement windows.
Eastern Elevation: An alleyway enclosed with an ornate wrought iron fence separates the eastern elevation from the neighboring building. The elevation is faced in red brick with stone returns of the West 92nd Street facade, and contains five window bays with splayed keystones per story. It is surmounted by a molded cornice. Northern Elevation: The elevation is faced in red brick and steps back, to a central light court. The wall east of the light court is spanned by a fire escape.
Historic District: Riverside Drive- West End HD
Alterations: Approximately ten percent of the original one-over-one wood sash windows (painted brown) on the Riverside Drive facade and seventy percent on West 92nd Street survive. The remainder have been replaced with one-over-one aluminum sash. A wrought iron fence enclosing the areaway replaces the original fence on West 92nd Street. The first story stonework has been painted gray. The entrance has a recent aluminum and glass door. The cornice on both facades has been removed.
History:Â The St. Denis was constructed in 1905-06 for the West End Construction Company according to the designs of George F. Pelham, architect of the stylistically similar Terrace Court apartment building, located just to the north at 202-208 Riverside Drive, which was erected for the same owner at roughly the same time. The site of the building was once part of the grounds of Mt. Aubrey, a mansion constructed between 93rd and 94th Streets that was built by Jacob C. Mott and destroyed by fire in 1877. This apartment building was named after St. Denis, the patron saint of France. Selected References: George Bromley, Atlas of the City of New York, Borough of Manhattan (Philadelphia, 1899), vol. 3 plate 11. New York City Department of Taxes Photograph Collection, Municipal Archives and Record Collection, E 1293. Thomas Norton, Jerry E. Patterson, Living it Up: A Guide to the Named Apartment Houses of New York (New York, 1984), 296. “Old Mansions Once on Bloomingdale’s Riverside,” Real Estate Record & Guide 85 (Jan. 22, 1910), 159.