The Century Condominium

 condominium, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, Art Deco (architecture), 1931_construction

345-foot, 32-story Art-Deco building completed in 1931. Designed by Irwin S. Chanin and Jacques Delamarre, it has a U-shaped lobby around a landscaped rear court and the lobby has entrances on Central Park West and the side streets. The Century is one of a pair of twin-towered Art-Deco landmarks (the other is The Majestic) designed and built by Irwin S. Chanin along Central Park West. Both were constructed almost simultaneously, although The Majestic started and opened earlier. Both buildings were named for their predecessors – Century Theatre and Hotel Majestic. The Century was the last of the four great Central Park West twin-towered apartment buildings.

The original drawings called for 416 apartments of 52 distinct varieties, ranging from a single room with a small serving pantry to an 11-room duplex maisonette with a private entrance from the street. When the building was converted to a condominium in 1987 there were about 405 units and now the total is about 350.

The massing of the building is divided into a massive 19-story base that runs along the lot line on all three elevations and a pair of tall towers set at the Central Park West corners. The structure rests on a low rose-colored granite water table, above which is a 1- and 2-story ochre-colored stone base. In the center of the east facade, the 1-story stone base is pierced by the main entrance; the lobby is entered through a pair of glass doors protected by stylized geometric Art-Deco style grilles of "white metal". The doors are set within a modest white metal enframement, and the entrance ensemble is surrounded by the same rose-colored granite used on the water table. This surround is framed by quoin-like forms ending in raised vertical moldings. To either side of the entrance are window groups for professional suites, and a red-painted service door. There are stores at either corner, both with chamfered entrances at the ground floor with glass double-doors.

Vertically the main mass of the symmetrical apartment house can be divided into five pavilions, each separated by shallow bow windows. The three central sections are faced with tan brick that was chosen because of it resemblance to the color of limestone. The facade is enlivened with wide bands of light-brown brick set between all of the windows with the exception of those beside the vertical bowed bays at either end. The central pavilion, above the entrance, is articulated by two windows on each of the floors between 2 & 15. As with all of the windows of the building the sash consists of metal casements. Each window is divided into several movable and stationary panels by thin, reddish-brown metal mullions. In the central section each window consists of two movable casements. Long rectangular panes flank the casements while four stationary panes are set above and four jalousie windows are set below. There are concrete sill bands below each window.

Flanking the central section and separated from it by pairs of bowed window bays are pavilions that consist of pairs of small single casement windows and a double casement. The bowed bays rise vertically from the 2nd floor. Bands of tan and light-brown brick are located between the bays of each pair. The bowed window of each apartment is set below the level of the other windows indicating the presence of sunken living rooms. Each of the bow windows is divided into five parts with three narrow casements flanked by stationary panes. There are fixed transoms above and jalousies below. The bays are enlivened by the use of rust-colored brick spandrels ornamented with vertical bands of projecting bricks laid at an angle. The rows of angled bricks continue the vertical lines of the window mullions.

The corner sections of the building are faced entirely in tan brick and are articulated by large glass solaria. The end pavilions are separated from the central portion of the building by single bowed bays identical in form to those already described. These bays rise to the 17th floor, two stories higher than the central bays. Each solaria consists of eight windows on Central Park West and three on the side streets.

The 16th-19th floors form a transitional zone between the main mass of the building and the towers above. Each of these floors contains cantilevered concrete balconies with metal railings ornamented by Art-Deco style chevron patterns. The twin towers soar upwards to the ornamental crowns that identify the building from afar. They are faced with tan brick with light-brown bands at the corners. The windows are of the type discussed above. On Central Park West, beginning above the 20th floor, the four central windows of each tower are ornamented by bold geometric brick patterns. At the 30th floor each tower sets back to form the unique top that gives the Century its distinctive, recognizable silhouette. Like the massing and ornamentation of the facades and the arrangement of the windows these crowns exhibit a complex interaction of horizontal and vertical elements. Each consists of a main geometric mass (housing a water tower) that is supported by buttresses. The vertical thrust of the buttresses is countered by concrete fins that straddle each corner of the towers. At the northwest corner of the north tower and the corresponding southwest corner of the south tower arched projections with incised channels rise almost to the roof line.

The side street elevations step down in accordance with zoning rules. There are four major levels on each side street elevation, each of which is topped by projecting concrete balconies. The tan-brick facades are interrupted in three locations by pairs of ornamental rust-colored brick window spandrels. On the ground floor are a succession of doors leading to professional offices and secondary residential entrances. At the rear, on each street, are geometric Art-Deco gates leading to the service entrances. Geometric water tower pavilions, similar in form to the tower crowns, are located above the roof line on each side street facade.

The main mass of the building is laid out on a U-shaped plan with a central garden. The inner elevations are faced with the same tan brick used elsewhere and are articulated with a similar fenestration pattern. Numerous protruding air-conditioning units dot the facades.

The north corner storefront is occupied by Valery Joseph Salon.

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