344 West 87th Street

344 West 87th Street

NB Number: NB 1791-1895

Type:  Rowhouse

Architect:  Thom & Wilson

Developer/Owner/Builder: J T & J A Farley

Row Configuration: placeholder

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:   Brick and Limestone

Stories: 4 with basement

Window Type/Material: One-over-one double-hung/Wood

Basement Type: Raised

Stoop Type: Unknown

Structure: These two buff-colored brick and limestone-fronted rowhouses, each twenty feet wide, are four stories in height above raised basements, and as built, were identical. They have limestone-fronted basement and parlor stories, a continuous cornice, and  stringcourses. The houses have undergone minor changes; they originally had stoops leading to parlor-story entrances and windows with one-over-one double-hung wood-framed sash. Three bays wide up to the third story, the houses have four-window arcades with stone trim at the fourth story. At the second story, each has a bowed limestone oriel supported on brackets. The modillioned cornices are pressed metal. The basement windows have decorative wrought-iron grilles.

Historic District: Riverside Drive- West End HD

Alterations: The stoop was removed in 1955 and a basement entranceway created, above which are two light fixtures. The areaway has been altered. The original parlor-story entrance has been replaced by a double window. The windows of this house all have exterior storm sash frames and some have the storm sash. 1955: Alt 230-1955 [Source: Alteration Application) Stoop removed; building converted from furnished rooms to apartments. Architect — Wechsler & SchimP.nti Owner — Rose Gadbois

History: The houses at Nos. 344 and 346 West 87th Street are survivors of a five house row which originally extended from No. 344 to No. 352. This row was designed by Thom & Wilson, a West Side architectural firm specializing in rowhouses, for J.T. & J.A. Farley, developers active in the construction of such rows in this district. Built in 1895-96, the row was broken in 1938 when Nos. 348, 350, and 352 were demolished for the erection of the Normandy apartment building. Selected References: New York City Department of Taxes Photograph Collection, Municipal Archives and-Record Collection, E 1296. 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. 0617 C2. 3