101 Central Park West (New York City, New York)

 high-rise, apartment building, 1930_construction, Renaissance Revival (architecture)

230-foot, 18-story Renaissance Revival cooperative-apartment building completed in 1930. Designed by Schwartz & Gross, the building is E-shaped wing three wings branching off the long east section that fronts Central Park West. It is clad in dark-red brick above a 2-story limestone base.

The main entrance is centered on the east facade, with bronze-and-glass double-doors below a rounded, navy-blue canvas canopy extending out over the sidewalk. Framing the entry are two double-height columns with Ionic capitals, supporting a rounded pediment over the 2nd floor that is broken by a cartouche. At the 2nd floor, the two windows below the cartouche are separated by a panel with hanging flowery ornament. There are two more single-windows to either side of the entry, creating two bays of three windows each above the ground floor. Continuing to either side is a bay of double-windows, another bay of three single-windows (one of which is replaced by an iron-and-glass door at the ground floor), another double-window bay, and end bays with five single-windows. There are iron grilles on all of the ground-floor windows. The limestone cladding of the base extend up to the 3rd floor at the middle three of the end bays' five windows, with keyed edges, and also extends to the 3rd floor at the two center bays. The 3rd floor is capped by a dentiled string course.

At the 4th-5th floors, the same three windows at the end bays, and the middle four windows at the center, are set in white terra-cotta with rope moldings and floral ornament. The spandrels between the two floors have carved medallions, and there are scrolled keystone topping the 5th-floor windows. At the base of the 6th floor there are ornate stone bases for brick pilasters between these same windows. Between the pilasters (which only slightly project) are terra-cotta spandrels between the 6th-12th floors; the spandrels have varying ornament by floor: either flowers in diamond patterns, urns, garlands, or shields. The 12th floor is topped by a dentiled band course above fluted capitals on the thin brick pilasters.

The 13th-14th floors have terra-cotta pilasters continuing up from those below, the middle ones in each group fluted. The spandrels in the center group between these two floors have garlands, while those at the end groups have medallions. The entire middle part of the facade sets back above the 14th floor, marked by another dentiled band course. The 5-window end bays and their pilasters continue up to a dentiled cornice at the 15th floor. At the top floors most of the windows change to tripartite window. Shallow, terraced setbacks continue up to the main roof line, with three terra-cotta pilasters at the center crowned by orbs that rise above the roof line. There are metal railings at each setback, and at the 18th floor the end bays have wide windows topped by large terra-cotta arches and the bays terminate in short gables. Rising from the center of the roof line is a square, brick-clad water tower enclosure.

The south facade on 70th Street has paired windows at the west end bay, followed by three bays of three windows, two double-window bays flanked a narrow single-window bay, and three bays of single-windows at the east end. The ornament matches that of the east facade, set around the eastern of the three 3-window bays, the middle of the three east-end single-window bays, and the east window of the west end bay grouped with the west window of the west 3-window bay. The middle bays begin a series of shallow setbacks above the 14th floor, with the end bays following at the 15th floor, ending in gabled pavilions that match those on the east facade.

The north facade on 71st Street has a double-window bay at the west end, followed by a single-window bay, a bay of three single-windows, a paired-window bay, another bay of three single-windows, and three bays of single-windows at the east end. The terra-cotta ornament surrounds the west end bay, the paired-window bay in the center, and the 2nd single-window bay from the east. The top is similar to the south facade, but without the gabled pavilion at the west end. There are two secondary doors of glass and metal on both the north and south facades; those on 71st Street are next to each other, while those on 70th Street are spaced apart.

The west ends of the north and south wings are clad in red brick, while the middle wing and the inner-facing walls of the north and south wings are clad in beige brick. Each wing has a varied arrangement of single-, double-, and triple-windows. The inner corner of the north and south wings set back above the 9th floor, and the middle wing has a setback at the same level.

The building was converted to a co-op in 1953, with 94 apartments.