255 West 90th Street

255 West 90th Street

Date: 1909

NB Number: 441-1909

Type:  Apartment House

Architect:  Neville & Bagge

Developer/Owner/Builder: A.C. & H.M. Hall Realty Co.

NYC Landmarks Designation:  Not Landmarked

Landmark Designation Report: n/a

National Register Designation: n/a

Primary Style:  Beaux-Arts

Primary Facade:   Brick, Limestone, Red Brick, and Terra Cotta

Stories: 12

Wish List: Current Wish List

The Cornwall is among the most graceful and cleverly designed of the many speculative apartment buildings built on the Upper West Side after the opening of the subway beneath Broadway in 1904. The Cornwall is oriented around a large light court facing Broadway, but the main entrance is located on West 90th Street, leaving the ground floor along Broadway to lucrative commercial uses. Neville & Bagge were prolific architects of residential buildings in New York City and experimented with various apartment house formulas.The real showpiece of this stately brick-and-limestone building is its extraordinary, sculptural terra-cotta cornice. Copper brackets, the massive Corinthian-piered double-story entrance, and rich decorative elements give the façade dramatic texture. The developers of the Cornwall, Arlington C. Hall and Harvey M. Hall, also built the Midtown Theater (later the Metro Theater) on Broadway between 99th and 100th Streets (an Individual Landmark designed by Boak & Paris, built in 1932-33). In addition, the Halls were responsible for the Claremont Theater Building on Broadway at 135th Street, designed by Gaetano Ajello and opened in 1914 as one of the earliest purpose-built movie theaters in New York.

Read the SOCIAL HISTORY of this Wish List item.