The Park Terrace West-West 217th Street Historic District is a small historic district located in the Inwood neighborhood of

Upper Manhattan Upper Manhattan is the most northern region of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Its southern boundary has been variously defined, but some of the most common usages are 96th Street, the northern boundary of Central Park (110th Street), ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. It was designated by 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 ...

on December 11, 2018.Staff (December 11, 2018
"LPC Designates the Park Terrace West-West 217th Street Historic District in Inwood" (press release)

Description and history

The district consists of 15 free-standing or semi-detached two-story houses built between 1920 and 1935. They typically have garages and yards with gardens configured for the topography of the area, and have a suburban feel, the result of being built later than the remainder of Manhattan, on properties which had previously been farms or large estates. Even after the building of the

IND Eighth Avenue Line The IND Eighth Avenue Line is a rapid transit line in New York City, United States, and is part of the B Division of the New York City Subway. Opened in 1932, it was the first line of the Independent Subway System (IND), and the ''Eighth Avenu ...

spurred the building of large apartment buildings along

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

in the Inwood area, the land in the historic district remained part of the large Drake-Seaman estate, which delayed its development.Noonan, Theresa, C. and Hurley, Marianne; McHale, Kate Lemos ed. (December 11, 2018
"Park Terrace West - West 217th Street Historic District Designation Report"

The houses were designed by six architects or architecture firms – Moore & Landsiedel, Benjamin Driesler, Louis Kurtz, C. G. de Neergaard, and A. H. Zacharius – in the

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archit ...

styles, as influenced by the Arts & Crafts style of architecture. They were built during a period when features of revival styles were often combined with more modern styles of architecture which accommodated the automobile. The houses feature multi-colored bricks which are textured and patterned, stone accents arrange randomly, and entries decorated with tile, while some have Medieval-style half-timbering and plank doors, along with pebble dash stucco. The creation of the historic district had been supported by

Community Board 11 The community boards of the New York City government are the appointed advisory groups of the community districts of the five boroughs. There are currently 59 community districts: twelve in the Bronx, eighteen in Brooklyn, twelve in Manhattan, f ...

for at least 10 years, and was applauded by the local homeowner's association.

References

External links

* {{nyc-stub Historic districts in Manhattan New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan New York City designated historic districts