Stephen Gaynor School (New York City, New York)

 school, stable, historic landmark

4-story Romanesque-revival school originally completed in 1892 as a riding academy, stables, and three carriage houses. Designed by Frank A. Rooke, the Claremont was the oldest continuously operated equestrian stable in New York City and the last public stable in Manhattan. It closed in 2007, and has belonged to the Stephen Gaynor School since 2010. Built by developer Edward Bedell, the Claremont was a 4-story carriage stable with a full basement; a penthouse was added in 1901, but demolished in 1990. The structure had stalls for horses on the basement and second floors, and carriage storage space on the 3rd, 4th, and penthouse floors; the main floor was used for carriage storage and for hitching the horses to their burdens. Horses and carriages could be had for hire, and horses could be boarded.

At the same time, Rooke designed three 2-story architecturally compatible private stables which were built on the neighboring lots – now 167, 169, and 171 West 89th Street – which Bedell then sold to local families. They were rehabilitated in 1989 by Buck & Cane to serve as the home of Ballet Hispanico. The westernmost carriage house was demolished, but the front facade was saved, creating an entry into a courtyard area between the two remaining 2-story structures and the main stable building. Both the school and the ballet partnered in building a new 12-story tower directly behind these buildings, on 90th Street, to house additional space.

The facades of the stable and carriage houses are clad in orange-beige Roman brick, limestone, and terra-cotta. The stable has a central, 5-bay arcade flanked by 2-bay end pavilions. At the ground floor, rising above a basement, are three large round-arched openings that indicate the original functions of the interior. The outer arched openings, formed of narrow brick voussoirs with narrow limestone keystones, are outlined by simple brick moldings. Engaged Norman capitals serve as impost blocks, each decorated with carved acanthus leaves in low relief. The office entrance on the east contains wood-framed windows and originally a door. The central arch is framed with a flat, keyed limestone surround with impost blocks that match those of the other entrances. The carved limestone keystone is decorated with the design of the type of horseshoe worn by carriage horses. The central traffic door is wooden with glass panes. Alternating with the large arches are two pairs of arched windows each of which shares a central brick pier, impost block, and intersecting moldings. A limestone water table surmounts the small basement windows, set behind wrought-iron railings with cast-iron anthemion-trimmed newel posts.

The 2nd & 3rd floors contain five central bays, flanked by paired windows in the end pavilions. All window openings have limestone sills and lintels; the 2nd-floor lintel, in the central five bays, is continuous. The 4th floor of the central section contains round-arched windows above which are bands of rectangular brick fretwork at frieze and parapet level. The word "CLAREMONT" appears in terra-cotta panels inset into the lower band of fretwork. At attic level of the the end pavilions are sets of three round-arched windows outlined by intersecting moldings. These end pavilions rise to gabled roofs while the rest of the roof is flat.

The carriage house facades present a basically symmetrical arrangement. The central section has a round-arch above the main entrance, with glass double-doors covered by a stainless-steel canopy and flanked by poster boxes. There is a single-window to the left, and on the right is another window that extends all the way down to the ground. The arch is flanked by a pair of large roundels.The 2nd floor, set off by a corbelled string course, has a center bay of paired windows and single-window end bays, with slightly-projecting piers at the ends. These piers, along with a pair of small intermediate piers beginning at the upper part of the center windows extend up past the roof line. In the center is a gable. The east and west facades differ at the ground floor, where the eastern one has another round-arch (filled by plate-glass) and the western one has a square-headed gate opening back into the courtyard. Both are also flanked by large roundels. At the eastern facade, the arch has a single-window to the left, and a glass door to the right. The western facade has a black wood-and-glass door to the right, and an opening with metal bars to the left. The 2nd floors match, with triple-windows flanked by projecting piers and separated by intermediate piers. The center window in each is topped by a round-arch in brick, and the main piers extend up past the roof line to frame gables (slightly wider than the gable at the center facade) with small recessed roundels centered in them.

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