Alexander Robertson School (New York City, New York)

USA / New Jersey / West New York / New York City, New York / West 95th Street, 3

160-foot, 16-story Neo-Renaissance/Neo-Gothic mixed-use residential building/school completed in 1928. Designed by Rosario Candela, it shares the same facade features as 360 Central Park West, at the north end of the block. Part of the building is occupied by the Alexander Robertson School.

The facade is clad in tan brick above a 2-story, light-grey-painted limestone base. The main entrance at the center has paneled wooden double-doors below a pointed-arch with a small shield bearing the number 3, flanked by ribbons. To either side is a secondary entrance with a red-painted door below a drip molding with shields and ribbons. The east end of the ground floor has a triple-window with a metal screen, and the west end has a single-window and a paneled red wooden door below a lower, simple drip molding.

The upper floors have four bays of double-windows with cream-colored iron mullions. The base is capped by a modillioned band course, and the windows above have brick lintels. The 15th floor is set off by a broad band course with a swirling pattern, and there are stone spandrels in each bay between the 15th & 16th floors, each ornamented with a shield. The main roof line at the 16th floor has a brick-and-stone parapet and cornice, with pointed-arches over the windows, surmounted by rows of small pointed-arches along the top edge.

The west elevation above the neighboring row houses is clad in beige brick, with a bay of single-windows at the front edge. Farther back, this facade is recessed and has five bays of single-windows, two of them smaller.

The Alexander Robertson School is a co-educational Junior-Kindergarten through Fifth Grades school that was originally founded in 1789. Alexander Robertson, a wealthy member of The Scotch Presbyterian Church, donated a house and lots on Pine Street as an endowment for a free school for children of the his congregation, now called the Second Presbyterian Church.
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Coordinates:   40°47'28"N   73°57'55"W
This article was last modified 2 years ago