520 West End Avenue, also known as the John B. and Isabella Leech Residence, is a landmarked

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...

on the northeast corner of

West End Avenue West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

and 85th Street, on the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

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 ...

. The house, built as a

single-family residence A stand-alone house (also called a single-detached dwelling, detached residence or detached house) is a free-standing residential building. It is sometimes referred to as a single-family home, as opposed to a multi-family residential dwelling ...

, was built in 1892 as the residence of Isabella and John B. Leech. Leech was a prosperous

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

broker. The architect was

Clarence F. True Clarence Fagan True, AIA (1860–1928) was an American architect in New York City, one of the most prolific and competent architects to work on the Upper West Side and in Harlem during the last decade of the 19th century and the early part of ...

. At the time the Leech residence was built, West End Avenue was lined with homes belonging to prosperous families. 520 West End Avenue is a

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

building, built of blocks of rusticated limestone on the first two floors with tan-colored

Roman brick Roman brick can refer either to a type of brick used in Ancient Roman architecture and spread by the Romans to the lands they conquered; or to a modern type inspired by the ancient prototypes. In both cases, it characteristically has longer and f ...

above. The detailing draws on

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

and Elizabethan Revival styles. Built on a corner lot, it was one of the largest homes on a street of townhouses. For a time it housed the Gordon-Winston School. It is now an apartment building.

Development battle

The house was declared a New York City landmark in 1987.

References

{{Upper West Side New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan Houses completed in 1892 West End Avenue Romanesque Revival architecture in New York City Upper West Side Houses in Manhattan

Development battle

See also

References