The Apthorp is a historic

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...

apartment building 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 ...

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 ...

. The

Italian Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ...

building designed by architects Clinton & Russell for

William Waldorf Astor William Waldorf "Willy" Astor, 1st Viscount Astor (31 March 1848 – 18 October 1919) was an American-British attorney, politician, businessman (hotels and newspapers), and philanthropist. Astor was a scion of the very wealthy Astor family of ...

, was built between 1906 and 1908; it occupies the full block between

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 ...

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 West 78th and 79th Streets. The building, which has been called "monumental and magnificent", is built around a large interior courtyard. It was designated a

New York City landmark 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 ...

in 1969, and was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1978.

The building was named for Charles Ward Apthorp, who owned

Apthorp Farm The Apthorp Farm that lay on Manhattan's Upper West Side straddled the old Bloomingdale Road, laid out in 1728, which was re-surveyed as The "Boulevard" – now Upper Broadway. It was the largest block of real estate remaining from the " Bloomi ...

, which encompassed about in this part of Manhattan in the late 18th century.

Design

A three-story rusticated base and the rustication of the broader corner bays as well as string moldings serve together to articulate the otherwise block-like mass. Arch-headed windows contrast with rectangular ones to emphasize lightly certain positions, notably the enriched uppermost floor under the projecting cornice. Over-lifesize limestone sculptures representing the Four Seasons stand above the central barrel-vaulted entrance, where the elaborate wrought-iron gates in the manner of

Samuel Yellin Samuel Yellin (1884–1940), was an American master blacksmith, and metal designer. Career Samuel Yellin was born to a Jewish family in Mohyliv-Podilskyi, Ukraine in the Russian Empire in 1884. At the age of eleven, he was apprenticed to a ...

feature a pair of

gazelle A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus ''Gazella'' . This article also deals with the seven species included in two further genera, ''Eudorcas'' and ''Nanger'', which were formerly considered subgenera of ''Gazella''. A third f ...

heads. ''See also:'' According to architecture critic

Paul Goldberger Paul Goldberger (born in 1950) is an American author, architecture critic and lecturer. He is known for his "Sky Line" column in ''The New Yorker''. Biography Shortly after starting as a reporter at ''The New York Times'' in 1972, he was assign ...

, writing about the Apthorp and the nearby

Belnord The Belnord is an apartment building at Broadway and 86th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is a New York City Landmark and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Construction The Belnor ...

and

Astor Court The Astor Court, located in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, is a re-creation of a Ming dynasty-style, Chinese-garden courtyard. It is also known as the Ming Hall (明軒). The first permanent cultural exchange between the U.S. a ...

All of the buildings share the liability of courtyard apartment houses, which is poor light in all too many of the units, but they also share the ability of all good courtyard buildings to create far more than conventional buildings could a sense of a private, secure world.

The building, which is divided into four sections designated A–D and arranged around the central cobblestoned driveway and courtyard, originally had 10 apartments per floor. During the 1930s and 1940s, these were divided into smaller units.

Sale

The building was sold in 2006 for $426 million, and a deal was made with an outside partner which provided $95 million for renovations. At the time of the sale, 100 of the 163 rental units were rent stabilized, and rumors held that the building would "go

condo A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...

".Horsley, Carter B
"The Apthorp"
on ''The City Review'' website In 2008 the change occurred, and The Apthorp became a condominium.Idov, Michael
"Apoplectic at the Apthorp"
''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

'', September 30, 2007 The asking prices, nearly $3,000 a square foot, or an average of $6.5 million per apartment, make it "one of the most expensive condominium conversion projects" ever, according to ''

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 ...

''.

Notable people

Residents have included

Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckler film, swashbuckling roles in silent films in ...

Nora Ephron Nora Ephron ( ; May 19, 1941 – June 26, 2012) was an American journalist, writer, and filmmaker. She is best known for her romantic comedy films and was nominated three times for the Writers Guild of America Award and the Academy Award f ...

Nicholas Pileggi Nicholas Pileggi (, ; born February 22, 1933) is an American author, producer and screenwriter. He wrote the non-fiction book ''Wiseguy (book), Wiseguy'' and co-wrote the screenplay for ''Goodfellas'', its 1990 film adaptation, for which he rece ...

Joseph Heller Joseph Heller (May 1, 1923 – December 12, 1999) was an American author of novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays. His best-known work is the 1961 novel ''Catch-22'', a satire on war and bureaucracy, whose title has become a synonym for ...

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze; ka, გიორგი მელიტონის ძე ბალანჩივაძე; January 22, 1904 (O. S. January 9) – April 30, 1983) was ...

Al Pacino Alfredo James Pacino (; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he has received numerous accolades: including an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy ...

, Stan Shaffer,

Conan O'Brien Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and producer. He is best known for having hosted late-night talk shows for almost 28 years, beginning with ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' (19 ...

Jennifer Hudson Jennifer Kate Hudson (born September 12, 1981), also known by her nickname J.Hud, is an American singer, actress, and talk show host. Throughout her career, she has received various accolades for her works in recorded music, film, televisio ...

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper Thornton (born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. Her career has spanned over 40 years. Her album ''She's So Unusual'' (1983) was the first debut album by a female artist to achi ...

Bob Balaban Robert Elmer Balaban (born August 16, 1945) is an American actor, author, comedian, director and producer. He was one of the producers nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture for ''Gosford Park'' (2001), in which he also appeared. Balab ...

Rosie O'Donnell Roseann O'Donnell (born March 21, 1962) is an American comedian, television producer, actress, author, and television personality. She began her comedy career as a teenager and received her breakthrough on the television series ''Star Search'' ...

Lena Horne Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American dancer, actress, singer, and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years, appearing in film, television, and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of th ...

, and

Steve Kroft Stephen F. Kroft (born August 22, 1945) is an American retired journalist, best known as a long-time correspondent for ''60 Minutes''. Kroft's investigative reporting garnered widespread acclaim, winning him three Peabody Awards and nine Emmy a ...

."Nora Ephron's Love Affair with the Apthorp"
on ''Curbed NY'' (May 31, 2006)

References

Notes

External links

on ''New York Architecture'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Apthorp Residential buildings in Manhattan Residential condominiums in New York City Condominiums and housing cooperatives in Manhattan Residential buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan Residential buildings completed in 1908 Renaissance Revival architecture in New York City Full-block apartment buildings in New York City Apartment buildings in New York City West End Avenue Broadway (Manhattan) 1908 establishments in New York City New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan Upper West Side