The Ansonia Condominium (New York City, New York)

 condominiums, interesting place

226-foot, 17-story Beaux-Arts residential building completed in 1902 as a luxury apartment hotel. Designed by Paul E. M. Duboy, the sprawling building housed 2,500 rooms. It is clad in rusticated limestone, buff-colored brick, terra-cotta, and wrought-iron. The plan of the Ansonia is quite unusual as it is asymmetrical, because of the angle of Broadway, and indented by two light courts on its north and south façades and one each on its east and west façades. The Ansonia's enormous bulk is somewhat reduced by its complex massing and its intricate ornamentation. The light courts break up the monumental façade and allow the maximum amount of light and air to penetrate the interior. The most striking features of the building are the corner towers on Broadway, which their domes and railings which rise slightly above and repeat the theme of the 3-story convex mansard roof the crowns the building. The three great facades are very French in their detail. The sense of verticality established by the tiers of windows and by the recessed light courts and rounded corner towers is skillfully modulated by a series of horizontal balconies. Those at the top and just above the 3-story rusticated stone base are continuous and are constructed of limestone. Iron balconies at the intermediate floors though not all continuous are nonetheless carefully related to those above and below. The lower balcony is carried on single and paired elongated console brackets, while the brackets supporting the 6th-floor balcony are somewhat shorter, though still rather large. Simpler brackets carry the smaller, 1- and 2-bay iron balconies at the middle floors, and the grand, stone top balcony has enormous brackets with carved grotesque faces below them, and stone balustrades along the top.

The architect has contrasted highly ornamented and delicate ironwork against terra-cotta and massive limestone detail, and has contrasted quoins and rustication against smooth paneled surfaced of brickwork. Storefronts line the bays of the ground floor along Broadway, and there are residential entrances on both 73rd and 74th Streets. The main entrance is in the center wing of the south facade, deeply recessed within an arched, 3-bay vestibule of tiling by Guastavino Fireproof Tile Co. The center bay at the rear has a revolving door below an intricate fanlight of leaded-glass. The other two arched bays (and the side bays at either end of the vestibule) have leaded-glass infill. A cartouche crowns the apex of each entry arch, with the double-height openings extending to round-arched tripartite windows at the 2nd floor, each crowned by an oversized keystone with a laughing, grotesque face. The two southern light courts are fronted at the ground floor by a double-height round-arch in rusticated limestone, each flanked by a tall, narrow window (filled-in at the west light court). The east arched opening has glass-and-metal infill and is flanked by staggered, paired Ionic columns that support a large, rounded pediment, scrolled and broken in the center by a cartouche. There are matching columns and pediment at the west light court, but the infill has been replaced by a plain stone wall with two metal service doors. The wings at each end of the south facade have three bays, the outer pair of each topped by large cartouches surrounded by rounded lintels on console brackets; the middle bays here have stone moldings topped by smaller scrolled keystones with floral ornament. The end bay on the west end has been filled-in at the ground floor, and the corner of the facade is rounded; the other two bays have replacement windows that are lower than the originals. The east end retains the French windows with many small panes in metal framing that fill each bay. Extending to the east is the turreted southeast corner, with three windows on each floor arranged around the cylindrical turret. At the 2nd & 3rd floors, the end wings have three bays of single-windows - there are splayed lintels and scrolled keystones at the 2nd floor, and the 3rd-floor windows are flanked by the long, paired brackets supporting the lower balcony.

At the east facade along Broadway the base the wider bays with plate-glass storefronts are topped by large tripartite windows at the 2nd floor, or they have paired windows separated by carved piers with elaborate ornament, and the narrower bays (most of which repeat the round-arched openings topped by cartouches and rounded lintels). A matching turret marks the northeast corner.

The north facade on 74th Street is slightly narrower due to the angle of Broadway, and is also divided into three wings by light courts; these courts extend down to the ground level, with the openings spanned by decorative convex arches at the 2nd floor. While the east portal still leads back to a secondary building entrance, a small, modern storefront has been inserted into the west portal at the ground floor. The middle and west wings have two bays of windows, and the wider east wing has three bays, although at the lower two floors, two are combined into one wider bay (paired windows at the 2nd floor, and a large square opening with glass-and-black-iron infill at the ground floor. Unlike many building with light courts, the inward-facing walls of these light courts continue the ornate decoration and wrought-iron balconies from the other facades.

The upper floors are clad in brick and the edges of each wing are lined stone with quoins. Most of the single-windows on the upper floors have hooded stone lintels, scrolled keystones, and ornate wrought-iron Juliet balcony railings. There are six bays on both of the wings on the east facade, all of which have double-windows (segmental-arched at the end bay) except for the 3rd bays from the center light court. These have larger, multi-paned openings with tripartite windows with notched corners and non-projecting iron railings. These two bays culminate in arches with large cartouches at the top of the 11th floor. A band course runs below the 12th floor, with carved faces at each pier that form the bases of the giant brackets over each pier, supporting the projecting stone upper balcony. Another band course tops the 13th floor, above which begins the tall, multi-story slate mansard roof. Rows of rounded dormers pierce the mansard, as well as circular oriel windows, and tall brick chimney extending up above the roof line. The corner turrets have copper tops that were originally crowned by great domed finials.

The rear, west-facing facade is largely clad in brick, with stone quoins at the edges. There are projecting, tripartite end bays on both wings, with copper spandrels. The mansard continues on the north wings, while on the south wing there top four floors have four boldly-projecting bays with angled ends, each cantilevered out over the floors below. The west light court is deeper and extends all the way down the the ground.

Completed at the turn of the century, the Ansonia was a luxurious rival to its nearby neighbor, the Dakota. The building was converted to condominiums in 1990, with about 430 units, some of which have been further combined down to 385 units. In addition to the ample apartments, the Ansonia featured a grand ballroom, several cafes, tea rooms, writing rooms, a lobby fountain with live seals, a palm court, a Turkish bath and the world's largest indoor swimming pool. These amenities enticed many famous cultural personalities to take up residence in the building. The Ansonia's enormous bulk is somewhat reduced by its complex massing and its intricate ornamentation. Light courts break up the monumental facade and allow the maximum amount of light and air to penetrate the interior. The Ansonia has been home to a number of celebrities over the past century, including Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, Gustav Mahler, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Arturo Toscanini, and Igor Stravinsky. The building was also home to a more risque tenant--the swingers' club Plato's Retreat, which was once located in the building's basement (which is now a Gristedes Grocery Store). The ground floor along Broadway is now occupied by The North Face store, Sephora cosmetics, and a TD Bank branch.