338 West 89th Street
338 West 89th Street
Date: 1895-96
NB Number: NB 798-1895
Type: Rowhouse
Architect: Thom & Wilson
Developer/Owner/Builder: J T & J A Farley
Row Configuration: ABBBA
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: tan brick
Stories: 4
Window Type/Material: See structure
Basement Type: Raised
Stoop Type: Straight
Structure: These five four story three bay tan brick houses on raised white sandstone basements were designed as a unified row with the three center houses (identical except for stoop and parlor story entrance location) recessed from the building line and flanked by projecting houses (mirror images) acting as end pavilions, creating an ABBBA pattern. The houses share a common sheet metal cornice and a stringcourse below the fourth story and all have decorative grilles at the basement story. Nos. 340 and 342 retain their original stoops and wood and glass double entrance doors, although only No. 340 still has its original wrought-iron door grille. The window surrounds and oriels are stone. The original windows probably had one-over-one double-hung wood framed sash. No. 342 retains the original curved glass in its oriel windows. Some houses in this group have been cleaned. The type “A” houses (Nos. 336 and 344) are mirror images, and serve as end pavilions to the row. They each have one recessed bay flush with the facades of the type “B” houses; this bay is linked by a curved transitional bay to a bay which projects to the building line.’ These houses have cornices which conform to the buildings’ contours, three square-headed windows each at the second through the fourth stories, and arched window openings at the basement level. They were designed with straight stoops leading to parlor story entrances in the recessed bays.
Historic District: Riverside Drive- West End HD
Alterations: This house has exterior storm sash at each window. The entrance is flanked by small light fixtures. The door is not original.
History: Designed by Thom & Wilson, an architectural firm represented in this district by its designs for urbane light colored rows, this five-house row was built in 1895-96 for the developers John T. and J.A. Farley.
Selected References: Landmarks Preservation Commission, Isaac L. Rice Mansion Designation Report (New York, 1980), LP-1089. New York City Department of Taxes Photograph Collection, Municipal Archives and Record Collection, H 2370. 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. 0965 B1.