584-588 West End Avenue

584-588 West End Avenue

NB Number: NB 74-1922

Type:  Apartment Building

Architect:  Schwartz & Gross

Developer/Owner/Builder: 588 West End Avenue Corporation

NYC Landmarks Designation:  Historic District

Landmark Designation Report:Riverside Drive- West End Historic District

National Register Designation: N/A

Primary Style:  Neo-Georgian

Primary Facade:   dark red brick, Stone, and Terra Cotta

Stories: 15

Window Type/Material: See Structure

Structure:  This fifteen story apartment building is located on the east side of West End Avenue near the middle of the block between West 88th and West 89th Streets, extending sixty feet along the avenue. The building is faced in a dark red brick with stone and terra cotta trim. Almost all the original wood-framed window sash are extant.

West End Avenue Facade: This facade is divided horizontally into three sections; a three-story base with a stone water table and trim, a nine story midsection, and a three-story top trimmed with terra cotta. The facade is divided vertically into four major bays.

The entrance to the apartment building, centered within the facade, is composed of multi pane wood and glass double doors with a simple, classically inspired surround. Light fixtures flank the entry. The entry enframement has fluted pilasters and a flat pediment with dentils. Windows flanking the entry at the first and second stories differ from those above. The lower story windows have six-over-one sash and are joined vertically with simple stone enframeme.nts with spandrel panels that appear slightly corrugated. Above the entrance are two windows and a metal balcony. These are flanked by single windows, which in turn are flanked by groups of three windows. Third story windows have stone enframements with fluted pilasters. The windows have flat pediments at the center and triangular pediments with urns and garlands at the ends. Continuous sill courses line the third and fourth stories. A metal service door is found at the northernmost bay of the first story.

The end bays of the upper stories have paired windows with six-over-one sash. The two center bays have tripartite windows composed of four-over-one sash flanking six-over-one sash. Small one-over-one slit windows are placed between the end bays and the center bays. Guilloche balconies articulate fourteenth-story sill line. Double height terra cotta enframements with decorative spandrel panels join the fourteenth and fifteenth story windows and are capped by triangular pediments. The building’s parapet is stepped at the center.

Rear Wall:  The rear wall is partially visible from West 88th Street. The elevation is faced in beige brick and has no significant ornamental detailing. It has six window bays; some windows have multi pane sash over single pane sash.

Historic District: Riverside Drive- West End HD

Alterations:  Approximately two percent of the West End Avenue facade windows have been replaced with one-over-one metal sash. Those windows replaced on the rear wall also appear to be metal. The limestone trim at the building’s base is painted white and a recent canopy extends over the sidewalk. Some brick at the parapet level has been repointed and some has been replaced at the rear wall.

History: This apartment building was designed by the prolific architectural firm of Schwartz & Gross and constructed in 1922 for the 588 West End Avenue Corporation. The site was previously occupied by three three story rowhouses. Selected References: New York City Department of Taxes Photograph Collection, Municipal Archives and Record Collection, G 2042. “Rapid Progress on Tall Apartments for Upper West Side,” Real Estate Record & Guide 110 (July 15, 1922), 73.