2-10 Horatio Street is a 17-story
co-operative apartment building located between
Greenwich and
Eighth Avenues, on the corner of Greenwich Avenue, across from
Jackson Square Park in the
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
neighborhood of
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, United States. Built in 1929–31 and designed by
Robert T. Lyons
Robert Timothy Lyons (23 February 1873 – 15 May 1956) was an architect responsible for many residential and commercial buildings in New York City in the early 20th century. He typically built in a Renaissance Revival or Neo-Federal architect ...
, the building is located within the
Greenwich Village Historic District
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village al ...
,
but is not an individual landmark. The building also has the address 123-129 Greenwich Avenue.
Between 1959 and 1963, an addition to the western end of the building, fronting on Horatio Street, added four apartments per floor, as well as air conditioning and new windows.
[Designation Report, pp.359-60] This section of the building occupies what was the site of the
Caledonian Club
The Caledonian Club is a private club founded in 1891. It is located at 9 Halkin Street SW1, near Belgrave Square, Belgravia, London.
History
Founded in 1892 as a proprietary club, the Caledonian Club as it is today was formed in 1917 under ...
, at
#8-10 from 1880 to 1897 after which it was occupied by a number of church-related organizations.
Altogether, the building, along with the 17-story apartment building at 54 Eighth Avenue – also known as #14-18 Horatio Street – at the other end of the block, replaced six older low-level buildings. The building is known for having a number of celebrity residents.
Development
On April 1, 1929, the real estate development firm
Bing & Bing – founded in 1906 by brothers
Leo S. Bing and
Alexander Bing
Bing & Bing was one of the most important apartment real estate developers in New York City in the early 20th century.
The firm was founded by Leo S. Bing (1874–1956) and his brother, Alexander M. Bing (1878–1959). The brothers often worked w ...
["Bing & Bing sells off its properties" '']The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' (June 30, 1985) – announced that they had quietly acquired 75 small lots and old buildings largely around
Abingdon Square, Sheridan Square and
Jackson Square Park, on Horatio, West Twelfth and Christopher Streets, sufficient to build five high-end residential buildings in a concerted effort to "recreate" the
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
neighborhood.
["Bing & Bing Plan $40,000,000 Apartment Development on Lower West Side"](_blank)
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' (April 2, 1929) In addition to 2 Horatio Street, the project would result in
299 West 12th Street,
59 West 12th Street
59 West 12th Street is a residential building located in the Greenwich Village Historic District in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States.
It was built by the developer brothers Bing & Bing with noted architect Emery Roth whose other wor ...
,
302 West 12th Street, and
45 Christopher Street
45 Christopher Street is a residential building facing south onto Christopher Park in the Greenwich Village Historic District on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City.
It was built by the developer brothers Bing & Bing with the archite ...
.
Although Bing & Bing had built many residences on the
Upper West and
Upper East Sides, this project was their first major venture this far downtown. According to a 1985 article in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', the firm's structures were "regarded as among the city's finest prewar properties ...
ing & Bingbuilt hotels and apartments at a time when luxurious in New York was still synonymous with spacious."
The firm hoped to take advantage of some of the amenities which would make the western part of Greenwich Village a more desirable place to live, including the coming
Eighth Avenue Subway, the recent completion of the
West Side Elevated Highway
The West Side Elevated Highway (West Side Highway or Miller Highway, named for Julius Miller, Manhattan borough president from 1922 to 1930) was an elevated section of New York State Route 9A (NY 9A) running along the Hudson River in the New ...
, and easy access to the
Holland Tunnel.
Leo Bing said in the firm's announcement that the goal of the project was to "recreate the entire district as a modern counterpart of the high-class residential section it once was", saying that it would "rival
Central Park West and the fashionable east side within a few years." He cited the goal of neighborhood reinvention as the reason for the simultaneous building, saying his hope was that "complete transformation of the section may be achieved as quickly as possible."
Seven months after the announcement that the land had been bought and that clearing and construction would commence, the
Wall Street Crash of 1929
The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange colla ...
occurred on October 29.
Architect
For 2 Horatio Street, Bing & Bing chose architect
Robert T. Lyons
Robert Timothy Lyons (23 February 1873 – 15 May 1956) was an architect responsible for many residential and commercial buildings in New York City in the early 20th century. He typically built in a Renaissance Revival or Neo-Federal architect ...
, who they had just worked with on the
Gramercy Park Hotel
Gramercy Park Hotel was a luxury hotel located at 2 Lexington Avenue, in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, adjacent to the park of the same name. It was known for its rich history.
__FORCETOC__ History
Gramercy Park Hote ...
, which had opened in 1925. The Bing brothers and Lyons also partnered on what was then a major technological breakthrough – creating the world's tallest apartment building – 17 stories – at
903 Park Avenue, which was completed in 1916.
["903 Park Avenue, at 79th Street; 1914 Apartment House Once Called World's Tallest"](_blank)
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' (May 12, 2002)[Emporis listing of Robert T. Lyons buildings in NYC](_blank)
archived fro
original
as registered on 2020-04-18
Lyons worked in New York between 1891 and 1931, mostly hotels or residential buildings but with a few commercial buildings as well. Many of them are located on Park Avenue, but other areas include the Upper West Side and
Midtown.
A notable project designed by Lyons was the "St. Urban" apartment building on Central Park West at 89th Street, which opened in 1906.
Architecture and interior
2 Horatio Street is rendered in red and brown brick. It has
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
references that include four horizontal,
terra cotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...
decorations using
greek key motifs at the fourth and sixteenth floors and circle-in-square motifs at the
cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
. Overall, the building is not interestingly ornamented, the primary features being
rusticated bricks at the corners and balconies under the 15th floor windows. In addition, the
penthouse
Penthouse most often refers to:
*Penthouse apartment, a special apartment on the top floor of a building
*Penthouse (magazine), ''Penthouse'' (magazine), a British-founded men's magazine
*Mechanical penthouse, a floor, typically located directly u ...
has a tower with
terra cotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...
ornamentation.
[Designation Report, p.337]
1931 promotional material for 2 Horatio Street declared, "In every case the living room is large and beautifully proportioned and has a wood-burning fireplace. The wide expanse of unbroken wall space permits the expression of your individuality in furnishing." Special features cited were "oversize rooms, immense closets, dining foyers, dressing rooms, ornamental railings and RCA radio outlets ..."
"2 Horatio St."
Columbia University Libraries, New York Real Estate Brochure Collection
Rentals
As the opening of 2 Horatio Street and other four buildings of the Bing & Bing project approached, there were reports that the developers were having difficulty finding tenants. The headline of a ''New York Times'' article about the five buildings said: "Tall Apartments in Village Center / Opening This Fall / Presents Rental Problem / Situation Unprecedented."
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' (September 27, 1931) Quoted in the same article, Bing & Bing reported that the "five new buildings on Christopher, Horatio and West Twelfth Streets are proving among the most popular of all the Bing & Bing apartment properties. Callers have been numerous…and a high percentage of the space has been leased."
The building was sold by Bing & Bing in 1985, and became cooperative apartments in 1987.
Criticism
Concerning the two massive apartment buildings which sit next to each other, at 2 Horatio Street and 54 Eighth Avenue (also known as 14 Horatio Street), the latter built in 1959, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...
commented that " is not at once evident that they defy their neighbors ... Conspicuous from the park, they might well have been designed in better character with the houses in the surrounding blocks, had some regulatory body been in existence to give expert guidance."
References
Notes
Bibliography
*New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...
br>''Greenwich Village Historic District Designation Report, volume 2''
(April 29, 1969)
External links
*{{commons category-inline
Residential buildings completed in 1931
Apartment buildings in New York City
Residential buildings in Manhattan
Condominiums and housing cooperatives in Manhattan
Greenwich Village
Art Deco architecture in Manhattan