331 West 89th Street
331 West 89th Street
Date: 1893
NB Number: NB 1263-1893
Type: Rowhouse
Architect: Gilbert, C.P.H.
Developer/Owner/Builder: City Real Estate Co
Row Configuration: ABABAC
NYC Landmarks Designation: Historic District
Landmark Designation Report: Riverside Drive- West End Historic District
National Register Designation: N/A
Primary Style: Renaissance Revival
Primary Facade: Limestone and tan roman brick
Stories: 5
Window Type/Material: See detail
Basement Type: placeholder
Structure: These six five story houses with American basements were designed as a unified row. Faced in limestone at the first story with tan Roman brick above, the facades are characterized by restrained terra cotta ornamentation at the second and fifth stories, bowed four story bays, flush fifth stories, and a common cornice line. There are two windows in the curved bay and one in the flush bay. Only No. 331 has a squared projecting bay. Each house has a low areaway wall and a single step to the wide double front door located in the flush bay. The original door type is wood and glass double doors behind a wrought-iron grille complementing the first story window grilles; the decorative grilles are different at each house, and some may be original. Terra cotta balustrades span the first story windows and cap each bowed bay. The two small windows at the fifth story are separated by a wide decorative terra cotta panel. The original windows probably had one-over-one double-hung wood-framed sash, which still exists at the lower stories of No. 323, and the second story windows probably had transoms. The modillioned metal cornice is discontinuous between each of the buildings at Nos. 325 through 331. Basement entrances exist behind the areaway walls. Two designs alternate within this row of houses with a third design represented at the western end; the row is arranged from east to west in a rhythm of ABABAC. The “A and “B” types are mirror images, the only difference being the placement of the bowed bay at the east or west sides of the buildings, respectively. The single “C” type serves as a visual termination to the row at the west. It has a squared four story bay at the western side of the building’s facade and has only one window at the first story.
Historic District: Riverside Drive- West End HD
Alterations: This house has been cleaned. The first story has been painted. All of the windows except for those at the first story have exterior storm sash. The door is a replacement.
History: Built in 1893, this row was designed by C P H Gilbert for the City Real Estate Company, a development firm that commissioned Gilbert for two other rows in the district. Illustrations of this row were published in an 1890 promotional brochure of available properties on the Upper West Side.
Selected References: Frank L. Fisher, The Beautiful West Side: A Complete List of West Side Dwellings. (New York, c. 1895), 35. New York City Department of Taxes Photograph Collection, Municipal Archives and Record Collection, E 1295. New York Public Library, Photographic Views of New York City 1870’s-1970’s from the Collections of the New York Public Library (Ann Arbor, Mich., 1981), microfiche nos. 0619 Fl; 0619 E5.