240 Central Park South (New York City, New York)

 high-rise, apartment building, 1941_construction, Modern (architecture)

266-foot, 28-story modernist-Art Deco residential building completed in 1941 for Albert Mayer. Designed by Mayer & Whittlesley, it has a shared 1-story lobby and commercial base along Broadway that connects it with the south tower, which is shorter at 15 floors. The south tower uses an alternate address of 235 West 58th Street. Both are clad in orange brick, and have dark slate sills and cantilevered concrete balconies with metal railings.

The north building is roughly C-shaped in plan around an entrance court on Central Park South. Storefronts are located on the west side of the entrance court and on the Columbus Circle/Broadway side of the buildings, some with rounded storefronts staggered along the diagonal of the property line. The shops' roofs comprise part of the central courtyard and entrance court. A complete renovation in 2003 restored the storefronts to their original appearance, with bronze framing around the plate-glass, and black sign bands.

The northern building rises 20 floors, topped by an 8-story upper tower (plus tank house). There is brick patterning on the lower portions (2nd to 4th floors) of the northern facades of the two wings, which are each four bays wide. An abstract mosaic mural ("The Quiet City," by Amedee Ozenfant) is located over the entrance, in two panels above and below the 3rd floor. A variety of windows pierce the facade, ranging from tripartite to very narrow single-windows; the end bays wrap around the corners. Cantilevered balconies are placed above the 7th floor on corners facing Central Park, and above the 12th floor on corners of the southern facade. There are comer windows where there are not balconies, except on the southern wing. The eastern wall of the building is set back from the side lot line above the ground floor (which is surmounted by a terrace with its original metal railing); the wall is pierced by windows.

The 20th floor has penthouses, the original solarium/recreation room, and three roof terraces (including one to the south), the eastern one having a pergola. The tower (21st to 28th floors plus tank house) has balconies on the 22nd to 26th floors of the northern facade; corner terraces on the 27th floor of the northern facade; and tank house surmounted by a roofed terrace (now enclosed). The northern facade of the tank house portion of the tower has windows divided by pilasters clad in blue-gray extruded terra-cotta blocks (the lower
portion of the east pilaster has been replaced by brick). Roofs have chimneys, wing walls, bulkheads, and stairs.

The entrance court has a concrete sidewalk leading to the entrance with low retaining walls with aggregate concrete coping, one stone-clad entrance post, tile and flagstone paving to the east with a tree pit and small planting beds, and a planting bed to the west. The original iron railing (lined on the interior with a planting strip) borders the court along the Central Park South sidewalk and is set on a base (now clad in flagstone). A long, rounded, green canvas canopy extends out to the sidewalk. The slightly-projecting entry pavilion at the ground floor has large window panes with transoms, and an inset entrance with glass double-doors surmounted by a projecting roof that extends to the east as a canopy, which is supported by a pole. The west wall of the entrance court is clad in blue-grey extruded terra-cotta blocks; this wall encloses a small 1-story storefront section that is surmounted by a terrace with metal railing. The east wall of the court has four large windows. The upper floors are dotted with protruding air-conditioning units.

Along Broadway, four of the retail storefronts (between the two towers) have rounded corners, staggered along the property line. The southern building of the complex is a slightly irregular slab in form. The lobby entrance on 58th Street has an enframement of orange extruded terra-cotta blocks around double-doors. To the west of the lobby entrance is an original glazed green tile inset planter; and a row of four very small windows set high on the ground floor. At the west end, the corner is chamfered at the ground floor storefront, with angled double-doors; the floors above are supported by a brick-and-metal-clad corner pier. To the east of the lobby entrance, multi-pane windows flank an inset office entrance, with a wood-and-glass door, brick steps, and iron gate. The ground story is capped by brick patterning.

There is a recessed bay at the east end. Like the north building, the facades have a mix of tripartite, narrow double-windows, and narrow single-windows. The west facade along Broadway has four bays; the 2nd bay from the south angled back, with its windows wrapping around the corner to a short south-facing wall that connects with the recessed south end bay. Cantilevered balconies are placed above the 10th floor at the southeast corner (fronting the recessed bay) and at the west facade's north bay and angled 2nd-bay from the south. These also all have metal railings. There are corner windows where there are not balconies. The roof has a garden, a pergola at the west end, and mechanical bulkheads.

The central courtyard consists of the area between the Central Park South and 58th Street buildings, as well as the roofs of the 1-story shops along Columbus Circle/Broadway, which now have a green roof. The curved glass wall of the ground-floor conservatory (connecting the lobbies of the two buildings) overlooks the courtyard on the west side. The eastern portion of the courtyard is divided by the submerged (zigzag in plan) hand truck ramp (bordered by brick walls) leading to the basement from the off-street loading area on 58th Street; to the east of the ramp is a planting bed.

The buildings contain 321 apartments units. The storefronts are occupied by Farinella Pizza Bakery, Magnolia Bakery, Venchi handbags, Le Pain Quotidien restaurant, Columbus Circle Wines & Spirits, Lenscrafters opticians, Dino's Shoe Repair, Starbucks coffee, and Marea restaurant.

s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2116.pdf
www.nytimes.com/1997/02/09/realestate/a-model-of-high-d...
archive.org/details/isbn_9780810944411/page/201/mode/1u...