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

 apartment building, 1929_construction, Renaissance Revival (architecture)

205-foot, 16-story Renaissance-revival/Beaux-Arts cooperative-apartment building completed in 1929. Designed by Schwartz & Gross, it is clad in beige brick above a 2-story rusticated limestone base with a grey granite water table. The east facade facing Central Park West has seven main bays, plus a narrow bay next to the southernmost main bay. The main entrance on this facade is in the 2nd main bay from the south, with glass-and-metal double-doors below a peaked grey canvas canopy extending out over the sidewalk. The narrow bay to the left has a metal-and-glass secondary door, and there are two such matching doors in the 3rd bay from the north. The other bays have double-windows with iron grilles at the ground floor. These are repeated without the grilles at the 2nd floor, and joined by another double-window above the pair of doors near the north end, a double-window above the main entrance, and with a small bathroom window in the narrow bay near the south. Both of the end bays have dentiled sills at the 2nd floor, above white terra-cotta spandrels that feature three round-arches and two roundels. A dentiled band course caps the base.

On the south facade on 69th Street there are 10 main bays, plus a narrow bay 2nd from the east and one just to the left of the main entrance on this facade, which is in the 4th main bay from the east. This entrance is slightly recessed and has glass double-doors, sidelights, and transom between slender engaged columns with an elaborate pattern of chevrons and foliate ornament, supporting a a frieze with more carved foliate ornament. The entry is covered by a suspended, white metal canopy with dentils along the lower edges and a scalloped top with rows of finials. The other bays at the ground floor have double-windows, except for a single-window seen at the 2nd bay from the west, and five single-windows across the two bays to the immediate left of the entrance. There is also one exception at the 2nd floor, where the 5th bay from the west has a tripartite window. The end bays have the same spandrels between the two floors of the base as on the east facade.

Above the base the edges of both main facades are lined with terra-cotta rope quoins. The 3rd-4th floors have double-height, white terra-cotta enframements around the main window bays, edged in rope moldings and topped at the 4th floor by foliate ornament at the inner bays, and by trios of small round-arches at the outer bays (four arches at the north end bay on the east facade). In between the two floors, each bay has a terra-cotta spandrel with carved foliate ornament in deep relief. The two bays of smaller bathroom windows have simple stone sills. The 4th floor is capped by a projecting string course. The window pattern continues on the upper floors, although some are replaced by tripartite windows, and the panes are offset and uneven in some of the double-windows, which lack the thick black iron mullions of the rest of the double-windows.

The south facade is dotted with some protruding air-conditioning units, and has some vents cut below the windows, while the east facade has almost entirely vent cutouts. The 14th-15th floors have projecting terra-cotta enframements at the end bays and middle bays (three middle bays on the east and four on the south), flanked by 2-story, projecting terra-cotta pillars. The end bays have scalloped bases at the 14th floor and elaborate foliate ornament in the spandrels between floors, and are topped by triangular pediments at the roof line that are broken by urns. The middle bays have shallow arches above the 14th-floor windows, with carved ornament above and below. The pillars are partially fluted and spring from scrolled bracket bases, and each interrupts the scalloped terra-cotta roof cornice, where they are topped by acorn finials.

Set back from each side and wrapping around a light well on the north side, the penthouse on the 15th floor is also clad in brick and has a variety of double- and single-windows, as well as doors opening onto terraces. Many of the doors and windows feature stained glass. Above the penthouse is an octagonal tower, centered on the east elevation, which contains a single large room. The tower continues as a slightly-narrower, octagonal water tank enclosure. The lower part of the tower has one large window on each of the four main facets, and the upper part of the tower has four roundels. Both levels have scalloped cornices, and the upper one is peaked at each of the four facets.

The west elevation is clad in beige brick. Its southern half has a bay of tripartite windows and one of single-windows. The north half, separated by a narrow recessed bay lined with single-windows, has two bays of double-windows flanked a bay of single-windows. At the north end is one more bay of tripartite windows, set far back. The north elevation has four bays of single-windows on its east half, with the middle two grouped together. The deep light well is lined with many bays of single- and tripartite windows. The west part of the north elevation, on the other side of the light well, has a bay of single-windows and a bay of tripartite windows, and then two set-back bays with double- and single-windows.

The building was converted to a co-op in 1961, with 94 apartments. The penthouse was once occupied by William Randolph Hearst, and was later owned by designer Giorgio Armani, and now businessman John Legere.