Wikimapia is a multilingual open-content collaborative map, where anyone can create place tags and share their knowledge.

143 West 95th Street (Charles Vissani House) (New York City, New York)

USA / New Jersey / West New York / New York City, New York / West 95th Street, 143
 apartment building  Add category

3-story (plus raised basement) Neo-Gothic residential building completed in 1889. Designed by James W. Cole, it is clad in limestone. It was originally built for Father Charles Vissani da Nazzano, who had in 1880 established the Commissariat of the Holy Land in the United States. By the end of 1888 a permanent home for the Commissariat was deemed necessary and in December of that year Vissani purchased the building lot at what would become No. 143 West 95th Street from Jane Ann Brown. The building became home to the Franciscan priests working in the Commissariat and it included a chapel for daily prayer. The Commissariat retained possession of the 95th Street building until 1905 when the Rev. Godfrey Schilling sold it to Peter B. Englebert. By 1908 it was home to the Greve Family who would stay on in the house for decades. By now the crosses and carvings associated with the Catholic organization had been removed and the building had become a highly-distinctive townhouse. In 1946 the house was converted to apartments, and was renovated again in 1969.

A dog-legged box stoop winds down and right from a parlor-floor entrance with a wooden door with iron hinges and a glass pane, below a fanlight. The elaborate stoop is faced in rough-cut stone and contains an arched basement window opening with an iron grille facing the street. The stoop's balustrade walls and the areaway wall are smooth faced and are punctuated by oculi. A metal grille door under the stoop leads to the basement. A metal gate provides access to the areaway from the sidewalk. The raised basement of the residence is faced with rough-cut stone; the smooth stone facing of the upper stories begins just above the basement windows which have sharply cut rectangular openings, grilles, and simply detailed heads.

Above the basement, the facade of the residence has three window bays at each floor, with each level differentiated by varying window surrounds and ornament. The parlor floor contains large round-arched openings, each flanked by pilasters and topped by pointed arches. The tympanums are filled with profuse foliate detail surrounding central shields. From west to east are depicted laurel, symbolizing honor and victory; palm, symbolizing the pilgrimage; and oak, symbolizing strength. Windows at this floor are fronted by grilles and have projecting sills supported by brackets; blind oculi are found between the brackets.

The points of the parlor-floor arches intersect the 2nd-floor sill course. Window openings there are square-headed and are emphasized by pointed arches and elongated drip moldings. A carved trefoil is found below the point of each arch. A cross originally surmounted the center window. 3rd-floor window openings are rounded and have carved ogee-arch moldings with bosses; protruding sills are supported by brackets with foliate carving.

The 143 West 95th Street house is taller than most other row houses on the street. Its parapet has a tripartite design emphasized by pinnacles with trefoil motifs extending above the roof line. The lower edges of the pinnacles are carved and have scrolls. The raised central section of the parapet forms a pointed gable and accommodates an arched niche whose pointed molding was originally surmounted by a cross. The rounded protruding base of the niche is filled with foliate carving and intersects the ogee molding of the central 3rd-floor window. A band of stylized trefoils borders the parapet.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   40°47'34"N   73°58'10"W
This article was last modified 5 years ago