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126-146 West 95th Street (New York City, New York)

USA / New Jersey / West New York / New York City, New York / West 95th Street, 126-146
 rowhouse, apartment building

A row of eleven eclectic Queen Anne/Victorian-style 4-story residential buildings completed together in 1886. Designed by William J. Merritt, they are clad in a mixture of reddish-orange brick and brownstone. The wildly varied look of the row -- with clashing gables, oriel windows and other large features -- was termed by the critic Montgomery Schuyler, writing in the magazine The Architectural Record, the ''reign of terror'' style.

No. 126 at the east end is clad in redder brick and has a grey-painted box stoop winding down and right from a parlor-floor entrance on the left with a wood-and-glass door. In front is a grey-painted, rough-faced stone wall (topped by black iron railings) enclosing plantings, with an iron gate accessing the foot of the stoop. Next to and behind the stoop are two single-windows with splayed brick lintels and iron grilles. To the right of the parlor-floor entrance is an expansive double-window, and rough-faced, white stone band tops both this window and the doorway. The next floor has a central, black cast-iron projecting bay of three windows with angled sides; panels above the windows are adorned with small rosettes, and a thin cornice caps the projecting bay. The top floor has a large, round-arched 4-pane window with brick voussoirs. The facade is topped by a brick parapet lined with two string courses and a stone coping.

No. 128 has the same roof line height as No. 126, but fits four floors above the basement level, all clad in slightly more orange brick. A straight stoop on the left leads up to a parlor-floor entrance with a red wood-and-glass door below a rough-faced stone lintel. In front is a lower stone wall with an iron railing, and a gate at the left side. Next to the stoop are two single-windows with splayed brick lintels and iron grilles, projecting out from the rest of the facade. This 2-window projecting bay continues onto the parlor floor, with a stone sill and rough-faced stone lintel topped by an iron railing. There is a very narrow window in the east- and west-facing side walls of the projecting bay. The top three floors have large openings with four window panes with black metal framing. They have thin stone sills and wider lintels, all rough-faced. The top of of the facade matches No. 126, but surmounted by a metal railing.

No. 130 is clad in brick on the upper floors, and white-painted, rough-faced stone on the lower levels, with a metal stoop on the left replacing the original. The parlor-floor entrance has a wood-and-glass door and transom, and to the right is a double-window. The stone at the parlor floor extends up at the ends to frame the base of the large round-arched window at the next floor, divided into five sections by slender, spiral pilasters of black iron. The arch has brick voussoirs and a white stone keystone supporting a very small, rounded balcony with an iron railing above. This balcony fronts the middle of a triple-window on the next floor, with the panes separated by brick mullions, and with a rough-faced white stone lintel running across the top. An additional floor was built on top in 2015, slightly set back from the original roof parapet, which has a white stone coping and steps down at the ends. The top floor is also red brick, has three single-windows, and is capped by a metal canopy that projects out boldly in front.

No. 132 has a stoop on the left leading up to a parlor-floor entrance with a paneled wooden door with a leaded-glass pane. The brick at the basement level is of a muddier hue that the floors above, and there is a double-window with an iron grille at the basement; a broad, smooth band of light-brown-painted stone sets off the parlor floor, which has another double-window next to the entrance, and is topped by a rough-faced band of brownstone. The 2nd floor has a tripartite window and the 3rd floor has two single-windows. There are thin, rough-faced brownstone sills and wider, rough-faced lintels. In between the two 3rd-floor windows is a square panel of red terra-cotta with a grid of small squares with varied rosettes. At the roof line is a brick parapet with several various terra-cotta bands, surmounted by a high parapet wall of brick.

No. 134 is clad in brick on the upper floors and stone on the lower levels, both painted white. A stoop on the left, with iron handrails above the short sidewalls, leads up to a parlor-floor entrance with paneled red wooden double-doors below a fanlight. A matching round-arched opening to the right has a double-window with an iron grille that bows out at the bottom. The basement level also has a double-window with an iron grille next to the stoop. The 2nd floor has a tripartite window and the top floor has a large round-arched tripartite window with an iron railing across its lower half. The top of the facade has two thin bands of stone across the roof parapet, with a stone coping on top.

No. 136 is fully clad in red brick, with a brownstone stoop on the left leading up to a round-arched parlor-floor entrance with a paneled wood-and-glass door in a beige stone surround. The arch has brick voussoirs, as does the matching arch to the right, which has a double-window. The basement level below has two small single-windows with iron grilles. The 2nd & 3rd floors have tripartite window arrangements separated by brick pilasters. They both have rough-faced sills and flat stone lintels bands, and the outer windows at the 3rd floor are slightly angled back. The facade is crowned by a Flemish stepped gable with stone copings on each step; at the center is a round-arched niche with a corbeled sill.

No. 138 is very similar to No. 134, but with red-painted brick, two separate single-windows next to the stoop, paneled wooden double-doors with half-fanlight tops, and a tripartite window in the east round-arch with wooden framing. It also has a projecting metal oriel window at the 2nd floor, with angled end panes and a small, grey shingle roof. The top of the facade has a metal railing enclosing the roof terrace.

No. 140 is clad in brick and the lower levels match those at No. 128, except with a straight stoop with brick sidewalls topped by stone, and a different wood-and-glass door and transom. The lintels over the doorway and projecting window bay are also smooth instead of rough-faced. The upper floors have two bays of double-windows, with the east bay having a stone sill with a wavy pattern at its base on the 2nd floor, a horizontal glass transom and stone panel separating the two floors, and a round-arched fanlight at the 3rd floor with brick voussoirs. The west bay has segmental-arched openings at both floors, with brick voussoirs, and the facade is topped by a brick parapet with two terra-cotta bands and a stone coping surmounted by a metal railing.

No. 142 is clad in brick has a dog-legged box stoop winding down and right from a segmental-arched parlor-floor entrance on the left with a recessed wood-and-glass door. The double-window to the right appears to have been shortened at some point, with the segmental-arched brick lintel remaining; a keystone tops the lintel here and at the doorway. The basement level has two single-windows with iron grilles, and there is also a grille over the lower half of the parlor-floor window. The upper floors are set off by a rough-faced stone string course with brick corbeling below it. They have triple-windows with a brownstone spandrel in between them. There is a brownstone lintel above the top-floor's window, with red terra-cotta fields on either side of the upper portions that have grids of small squares with various rosettes. A brownstone gable extends up from these, the edges lined in rough-faced stone and a large rosette decorating the center. Brick parapets extends from either side and the roof line is marked by a metal railing that the peak of the gable interrupts.

No. 144 is clad in red-painted brick and has a high stoop on the left with brick sidewalls capped by stone. The round-arched parlor-floor entrance has narrow wood-and-glass double-doors below a fanlight. To the right is a wider round-arch with a tripartite window and fanlight in white wooden framing. Below, the basement level is banded with brownstone and has two single-windows with iron grilles. The arches at the parlor floor have brick voussoirs, above which are fields of small projecting dots. The corbelled, rough-faced string course from the neighboring house at No. 142 extends across this facade as well. The upper floors have tripartite windows, with the top floor having more pronounced narrow outer panes and a wider center pane. They are divided by brick mullions at both floors, and topped by a flat brownstone lintel at the 2nd floor, surmounted by a brick panel with a row of incised squares. A rough-faced brownstone sill course runs below the 3rd floor, where the east side has an end pier with vertical ribs.

No. 146 at the west end is clad in red brick and has its stoop replaced by a ground-level entrance on the left, with a black wood-and-glass door framed by narrow, dark-grey metal pilasters and topped by a cornice. To the right the ground level is banded with stone and has two single-windows with iron grilles, below a rough-faced stone lintel. The original parlor-floor entrance is replaced by a single-window and there is a double-window to the right, both mostly covered by iron grilles, and topped by a flat stone lintel. Between the two openings is a small, square terra-cotta panel with ornamental design. The upper floors are dominated by a 2-story central bay of tripartite windows, projecting at the 2nd floor, where they are set in black metal, with angled ends and panels at the top and bottom. The 3rd-floor window is round-arched, with brick voussoirs. The facade is crowned by a brick roof parapet with an iron railing.

Nos. 126 & 128 are single-family townhomes, while the others have been separated into multiple units.
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Coordinates:   40°47'33"N   73°58'10"W
This article was last modified 5 years ago