The Albert Cooperative | NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, apartment building

 cooperative, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, apartment building

Cooperative-apartment building consisting of four structures completed at different times. The first was the 5-story building at the north side of the block, east of University Place. Originally built as three row houses in 1850, they were combined and renovated into the St. Stephen Hotel in 1876. At the southeast corner of 11th Street and University Place, a 7-story building completed was in 1882 with six floors (the top floor was added in 1891). Designed by Henry J. Hardenbergh as an apartment building, it was converted to the Hotel Albert in 1887. The St. Stephen and the Hotel Albert merged in the 1890s. Hardenbergh is most known for his design of The Dakota in the Upper West Side.

In 1904 a 12-story structure was added to the south and then in 1924 a 6-story Neo-Georgian addition to a design by Sugarman, Hess & Berger with William Lawrence Bottomley, located on the NE corner of University Place and 10th Street giving the structure a full block of frontage on University Place stretching from 10th to 11th Street. In 1985, the entire structure was converted to an elegant 204 apartment cooperative.

The former St. Stephen Hotel building is clad in red-painted brick above a grey metal, stone and glass base, with a rather plain facade. The 7-story corner building that was the original Hotel Albert is much more ornate. It is also clad in red-painted brick brick with stone trim. The ground floor has four large segmental-arches, as well as a round-arched entrance to one of the storefronts that is flanked by ornately-carved capitals on the piers. The frontage along University Place is lined with storefronts, separated by banded piers on stone bases. The piers have carved capitals topped by pointed pediments. Paneled cast-iron lintels top each storefront's show windows, and a stone band caps the whole of the ground floor.

The 2nd floor has segmental-arched windows with stone impost blocks; one bay on University Place has a square-headed window with a triangular pediment on top. Another broad stone band course caps most of the 2nd floor. The windows above are all square-headed, with varied stone cornices and lintels. Varied stone balconies with wrought-iron railings grace many of the windows at the 4th, 5th & 6th floors. On the north facade, the piers project between the window bays. The 7th floor is set off by a projecting black metal cornice. Among the top-floor fenestration, each facade has a single circular window. At the roof line each of the windows bays is topped by a triangular pediment, with larger ones over pairs of windows and smaller ones topping single windows.

The taller, middle building on University Place is three bays wide, with a 2-story rusticated limestone base. At the top of the base, a dentil course and four large console brackets support a balustraded stone balcony, which projects further out at the two outer bays. The upper floors are clad in red brick, with stone quoins at the edges and framing the center bay. Horizontal band courses divide the mid-section into 2-story sections. Paneled stone spandrels separate the floors in the center bay of each section. The 4th-floor center window is segmental-arched, and topped with a keystone. The middle window on the 6th & 8th floors also have keystones. The 3rd-floor outer windows have triangular pediments on top, while the 4th floor has simpler splayed lintels with keystones. The 6th & 8th floors also have splayed lintels with keystones at the outer windows. The 9th floor is fully clad in stone, with four enormous scrolled brackets supporting a stone cornice with huge modillions. Above the cornice, the three 10th-floor windows all have triangular pediments. A smaller stone cornice caps the 11th floor, and the top floor has a steep angled mansard with three large rounded dormers. On top is a small roof deck. The exposed upper portion of the south wall is smooth-stuccoed and painted white toward the street, with the rear part clad in red brick.

The 6-story addition at the southwest corner has a 1-story rusticated limestone base, painted beige. It is four bays wide on University Place, and 11 along East 10th Street. The upper floors are clad in red ironspot brick. There are stone and brick quoins at the corners, and separating the three end bays on the south elevation. A centered entry on 10th Street sits under a triangular pediment and has a canvas canopy extending over the sidewalk. The windows all have simple stone sills, except for the 2nd-floor windows above the entrance, and the 2nd-floor windows that are second from the ends. These have stone enframements with rounded pediments. The center window's pediment is broken by an urn; the two windows near the ends have small wrought-iron balconies. A projecting, black metal cornice sets off the top floor, which has intricately carved stone shield panels at the ends of the west facade, and around all three of the end bays on each end of the south facade. The roof line has a crenelated brick parapet, with metal railings between the sections, surrounding a large roof deck.

Some of the former residents include Robert Louis Stevenson, Hart Crane, Thomas Wolfe, Chester Himes, Richard Wright, William Dean Howells, Alfred Kazin, Aram Saroyan, Albert Pinkham Ryder (whose most famous painting, “The Race Track,” was inspired by an event at the Albert), Philip Guston, Bradley Walker Tomlin, Mothers of Invention, Jim Morrison, Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell, and James Taylor.

It was converted into one large building by Bernard Rothzeid Partners in 1975 for Rockrose Development Corp. The ground floor of the greater complex is occupied by SuperCuts, J&J Harmony Cleaners, Iris Nails & Spa, Argo Tea Cafe, Anthony Todd furniture, Mathnasium Learning Center, and Wagwear boutique. Patsy's was a tenant until 2018.

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