70 West 87th Street (New York City, New York)

 apartment building  Add category

4-story (plus raised basement) Queen Anne-style residential building completed in 1889. Designed by John G. Prague, it is clad in red brick and brownstone. The high stoop on the left leads up to a parlor-floor entrance with narrow wood and wrought-iron double-doors with a decorative pattern, below a transom with a similar wrought-iron design. To the right of the stoop the basement level has a large tripartite window with an iron grille. There is a partial-arched, gated basement entry in the side of the stoop.

To the right of the main entrance is a slightly-projecting bay with three windows with iron grilles that bow out at the bottoms, and separate transoms. The 2nd floor matches this bay, capped by a small, short roof above a stone cornice. To the left is a single-window with transom, in a brownstone surround. The 3rd floor has a similar window on the left, but with a quoined brownstone surround and attached transom. On the right is a double-window with matching surround. A band of small dentils runs across the tops of the windows, and a simple stone band course sets off the top floor.

The 4th floor has a tripartite window arrangement in brownstone surrounds with thin, projecting pilasters; there are also projecting brick pilasters at the ends. Above another simple projecting band course is a central gable, edged in stone and dentils, with a central, vertical stone ornamental element and an octagonal cap. To the sides of the gable the roof line has continuations of the brick end pilasters, and the roof line is topped by a metal railing.

The house was first owned by J.L. Stevens, but was sold in 1903 to F.L. Gillette. It was sold again in 1909 and 1910, before being sold to the Broadedge Corporation in 1920, who leased rooms in the building, as did a few later owners. The interior was heavily altered in 1948 when the basement was converted to a launderette and the upper floors were again rented out as furnished rooms. The configuration lasted until 1995 when the commercial space was replaced by two apartments and the upper floors were divided into two apartments each. A penthouse was added behind the parapet, creating a duplex on the top floor.