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

 high-rise, Art Deco (architecture), apartment building, 1931_construction

226-foot, 19-story Art-Deco residential building completed in 1931. Designed by Schwartz & Gross, it is clad in beige brick with a base of tan cast-stone. A deep light well opening to the west forms the mass of the building into a U-shape.

The east facade facing Central Park is 10 bays wide, with the main entrance in the 5th bay from the south. It has glass double-doors below a rounded, green canvas canopy extending out over the sidewalk. The ground floor has a fluted texture, with rounded, vertical stone ribs flanking each pier and also appearing above the windows. Most of the window bays have large casements in grey metal framing. At the bay to the north of the entrance, as well as the 3rd bay from the south, there are narrower window units paired with smaller windows. The 3rd bay from the north has a black metal service door next to a narrower window and set down a step from the sidewalk. Projecting, vertical floral elements of cast-stone begin at the piers at the top of the ground floor; at the outer bays they sprout narrower buds at the 3rd floor. At the four middle piers, they extend higher before sprouting the smaller buds, which repeat with another sprout at the 4th floor. The middle bays have fluted, cast-stone spandrels between the 1st-4th floors. The 2nd & 3rd bays from the south, and the 3rd & 4th bays from the north have spandrels of dark-grey brick. All of the windows on the upper floors have grey metal framing organizing them into rectangular segments, most subdivided into four small panes. The facade is dotted with protruding air-conditioning units that, in bold and a rare instance, actually provide some welcomed texture.

The building has numerous setbacks at its top all with protruding vertical floral elements that also appear at its base but break free at the top where they become strong finials. The end bays and middle bays set back above the 15th floor, with more shallow setbacks above the 17th and 18th floors.

The south facade on 84th Street spans eight bays. The wide bay near the center has three single-windows, the center one a little wider above the ground floor. To the right are three bays of single-windows paired with smaller windows, and an end bay that matches most of the windows on the east facade. To the left are three bays of larger, wide windows, with a small, narrow window inserted between the first two. The flower-like projecting stone elements appear again on this facade, at both the base and top. The center bays have dark-grey brick spandrels, while the outer bays have spandrels of beige brick. The western two bays and the eastern three set back above the 15th floor, with shallow setbacks also across the 17th & 18th floors.

The rear, west-facing facade is divided into two wings by the narrow but long light court. The south wing has three bays of windows and the north wing has two wider window bays. A far-recessed section farther north has another two bays. The front part of the north facade has one bay of single-windows, while the set-back portions farther back have a mix of wide and narrow windows. At the middle of the east side of the roof there is a tall mechanical penthouse and water tower enclosure.

The building contains 140 apartment units.