Park Belvedere Condominiums (New York City, New York)

USA / New Jersey / West New York / New York City, New York / West 79th Street, 101
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345-foot, 34-story postmodern residential building completed in 1986. Designed by Frank Williams & Associates, it is clad in reddish-brown brick above a 2-story base of beige pre-cast stone. The main entrance is on the south facade on 79th Street, with brass-and-glass doors flanking a revolving door; these doors are flanked by a pair of shiny brass columns and covered by a rounded, off-white canvas canopy extending out over the sidewalk. To the left is a plate-glass window, a set of metal service doors and a small storefront. To the right is another plate-glass window into the lobby, and two metal-and-glass storefront bays, the eastern one wrapping around the corner. The 2nd floor begins the fenestration pattern of (from west to east) a double-window, tripartite window, a narrower double-window, two tripartite windows, three narrow double-window bays that are framed by projecting brick piers, and a tripartite end bay (with wider end panes than the center pane) that wraps around the corner mullion. The projecting piers transition to stone at the 2nd floor, where they spring from corbels. The windows all have light-grey aluminum framing.

On the avenue, the ground floor is lined with three metal-and-glass storefronts between wide cast-stone piers. The upper floors have a wide bay at the south end, wrapping around from the corner with five panes (two narrow panes between three wider ones), followed to the north by two bays of tripartite windows, two of narrow double-windows, and two more tripartite bays. Four projecting piers frame the middle bays.

There is a setback above the 12th floor on both main facades, lined with metal railings, and having a pergola-like structure of brick framing the outline of the 13th floor. There is another setback where the west wing terminates at the 14th floor, with the rest of the tower rising up as a vertical shaft to the top floors. The south facade of this upper tower has five bays - the three double-window bays continue from below, with a tripartite bay on the left wrapping around the corner, and a single-window on the right also wrapping around the corner to the south bay on the east facade, which has triple-windows. Continuing north on the east facade is a double-window bay, a tripartite window bay, two narrow double-window bays, and two tripartite window bays. There are small, projecting brick balconies fronting the bays next to the end bays at the 26th, 28th, & 30th floors.

The building has quite a complex geometry at its top. There is a shallow setback at the ends of the east facade above the 30th floor. At the 31st floor, the middle bays are reconfigured as two tripartite windows flanked by double-windows that wrap around the corners to the set-back ends, which have pairs of double- and tripartite windows, arranged differently depending on the floor, with additional small setbacks on these top floors. Balconies front the center two bays at the 31st floor, and at the 33rd & 34th floors, the facade narrows to a center bay of tripartite windows, fronted by a balcony at the 33rd floor, with terraces formed by setbacks at the end bays. The south facade has a balcony at the center bay on the 31st floor, and a larger setback above the 32nd. The lower roof line at the 34th floor is topped by a 2-story mechanical enclosure with notched corners.

The north facade has a narrow double-window at the east end, wrapping around to the east facade. To the west is a tripartite window paired with a much smaller window, and there is another double-window wrapping around the northwest corner. The west elevation is divided into two halves, with the south half projecting a bit farther west. The north half has tripartite windows at the north end, followed by single-windows and another tripartite window. The south half has three bays of double-windows. The setbacks at the top floors narrow the facade up to a crowning, brick-clad water tower enclosure above the mechanical space.

The building contains 148 condominium units. The ground floor is occupied by NYU Langone Podiatry Associates on 79th Street, and along the avenue by Halstead Property Group.
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Coordinates:   40°46'56"N   73°58'32"W
This article was last modified 5 years ago