Champion Parking

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5-story Romanesque-revival commercial building/parking garage completed in 1889 as a stable for the New York Cab Company. Designed by C. Abbott French, it is clad in reddish-orange brick with stone trim. The New York Cab Company occupied the building from its completion in 1890 to 1909. It was probably the largest stable on the Upper West Side, housing hundreds of horses, cabs (a shortening of cabriolet, a type of carriage), and related supplies. In subsequent years, the demand for horse-drawn vehicles rapidly declined, and for the rest of the 20th century, under various names, the building was an automobile garage, with retail stores along Amsterdam Avenue. Sherman Square Motors Corporation became the main tenant around 1924. In addition to managing the garage, they operated an auto repair shop. The Walton family sold the building in 1946. From this time until the 1980s, it was occupied by the Berkeley Garage.

Both the Amsterdam Avenue and West 75th Street facades are divided into four double bays of paired windows. Each bay begins at the 2nd floor, rising from a continuous brick frieze that terminates at the 5th floor with a round-arched window that consists of two windows crowned by fanlights. The 2d, 3rd, and 4th-floor windows are flanked by shallow brick pilasters, with three vertical rows of grooved brickwork that begin at the 3rd floor and conclude near the top of the 4th floor. The windows are all topped by rough-faced grey stone continuous lintels across each bay, with thinner rough-faced sills. Both façades terminate with a prominent cornice. Painted black, it incorporates dentiled moldings, small scalloped arches, and a curved decorative element where the two facades meet.

On Amsterdam Avenue, the base has been altered to accommodate a sizable restaurant. It has a non-historic awning, windows, doors, and the surface is painted white. The entrance to the garage is located at the north end where there is a large entrance and an emergency exit, also painted white. Above the wide entrance are two non-historic signs, one horizontal, and the other, attached to the 2nd & 3rd floors, vertical. The narrower opening at the north end is flanked by original cast-iron panels. Above this entrance, some windows have been sealed and a low bulkhead is visible on the roof.

The West 75th Street façade has fewer alterations. There are three monumental round arches. Trimmed with decorative brick work, the west and center arch rest on a textured granite base, painted white and black. The east arch is sealed and painted orange. The granite base that flanks the east arch is not painted. The center arch incorporates a roll-down metal elevator door and a large entrance. A sign projects out from the west arch. There is a small window opening, with vertical bars, directly west of the west entrance. Between the west and central bay, projecting from the 2nd and 3rd floors, is an illuminated sign. The east bay, 2nd through 5th floor, has a historic metal fire escape.

The garage is now operated by Champion Parking, while the commercial spaces are occupied by West Side Comedy Club, and Playa Betty's restaurant on the ground floor along the avenue.

s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2209.pdf
academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/D85B08SN/downl...