The El Dorado Cooperative (New York City, New York)
USA /
New Jersey /
West New York /
New York City, New York /
Central Park West, 300
World
/ USA
/ New Jersey
/ West New York
World / United States / New York
high-rise, Art Deco (architecture), apartment building, 1931_construction, housing cooperative
346-foot, 30-story Art-Deco cooperative-apartment building completed in 1931 for the Elkay Building Corp. Designed by Margon & Holder with Emory Roth as consulting architect, it replaced the 8-floor El Dorado Flats. It was originally planned to be 16 floors but this was extended to 28; it is the northernmost of Central Park West's great twin-towered apartment houses. The towers are on the eastern side of the building's site and there is a large court behind them flanked by the mid-rise wings on the side-streets. The Eldorado's 3-story base is peach-colored cast stone rather than limestone, reflecting the fact that this project was intended for a slightly less affluent clientele than its twin-towered neighbors to the south. The upper floors are clad in tan brick trimmed with light brown brick and yellow terra-cotta.
The building extends along the entire Central Park West frontage between West 90th Street and West 91st Street, 200 feet along West 90th Street, and 194 feet along West 91st Street. In the center of the ground floor of the Central Park West frontage is the main entrance consisting of three faceted portals with bronze frames. A rounded, green canvas canopy extends from the center bay out over the sidewalk. Above each entrance are a pair of highly ornamental plaques embossed with Art-Deco-style geometric and floral forms. In the spandrels between the faceted entry arches and the plaques are panels with birds. Separating each pair of panels, as well as the windows above, are stepped piers with geometric incising. Above these piers are projecting skeletal cast-stone motifs. A frieze of Art-Deco chevrons and arches crowns the cast stone base of the building. On the ground floor, to each side of the entrance are windows and metal doors with Art-Deco grilles and handrails, all of which belong to professional office spaces.
On Central Park West, the windows of the main bulk of the building (floors 2-14) are massed in a symmetrical pattern of 2-3-2-3-2-6-2-3-2-3-2. All of the windows were originally metal-paned casements with thin metal mullions. Each original window is divided into two movable casements of eight panes, each with a single transom of six panes. The small window panes add a sense of texture to the facade and prevent the window openings from becoming voids in the design. The 1st and 3rd window groups from either end project slightly, while the other groups are separated by projecting piers. The 2nd and 5th groups from either end are framed with light brown brick that gives a vertical thrust to the facade. This vertical thrust is strengthened by the use of raised brick bands below the windows and by the addition of tan brick piers between the windows of the 2nd group from each corner. The patterned brick-work also appears in the central two bays at the 13th and 14th floors (the exterior floor numbers may not always correspond with the interior numbering system). Projecting from the two central 13th-floor windows are 3-sided stone balconies each supported by a single corbeled bracket and ornamented with a vertical chevron panel. The five central window groups step back above the 14th and 16th floors to form balconies, while the three end groups on either side rise up two additional floors before setting back at the 16th floor and again at the 17th floor. All of the balconies have Art-Deco railings. Patterned brickwork and pairs of terra-cotta balconies also appear on the 15th and 16th floors of the end sections and on the 16th floor of the central section. The brown brick bays are ornamented at their summits by terra-cotta panels adorned with chevron, diaper, and other geometric patterns.
The towers rise free of the base for twelve stories. Each tower is six bays wide on Central Park West and is faced with tan brick highlighted by brown brick panels at the four central windows. Terra-cotta balconies appear at the 26th floor and terra-cotta panels at the 27th and 28th floors. The side elevations have similar detailing. There are corner penthouses at the 29th floor, as each tower steps back to the crowning pinnacle with its fin-like projections. It is these stepped pinnacles that give the El Dorado its distinctive silhouette and make the building immediately identifiable from as far away as Fifth Avenue.
On the side streets the El Dorado is 17 stories tall with the 3-story cast stone base continuing for the first seven bays before it drops down to a 1-story base. Only near the Central Park West corners are there window bays articulated with the vertical brown brick bays used on the front elevation. The side facades have penthouses with railings, the balconies and terra-cotta ornament described on the front, as well as professional office doors and secondary residential entrances with Art-Deco carving. To the rear of the building are cast-stone arches with Art-Deco metal gates (the outer face of each gate is covered with a metal sheet).
The building was converted to a co-op in 1982, with 208 apartments.
streeteasy.com/building/the-eldorado
daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2023/02/blog-post.html
www.neighborhoodpreservationcenter.org/db/bb_files/1985...
www.landmarkwest.org/building/300-central-park-west-el-...
The building extends along the entire Central Park West frontage between West 90th Street and West 91st Street, 200 feet along West 90th Street, and 194 feet along West 91st Street. In the center of the ground floor of the Central Park West frontage is the main entrance consisting of three faceted portals with bronze frames. A rounded, green canvas canopy extends from the center bay out over the sidewalk. Above each entrance are a pair of highly ornamental plaques embossed with Art-Deco-style geometric and floral forms. In the spandrels between the faceted entry arches and the plaques are panels with birds. Separating each pair of panels, as well as the windows above, are stepped piers with geometric incising. Above these piers are projecting skeletal cast-stone motifs. A frieze of Art-Deco chevrons and arches crowns the cast stone base of the building. On the ground floor, to each side of the entrance are windows and metal doors with Art-Deco grilles and handrails, all of which belong to professional office spaces.
On Central Park West, the windows of the main bulk of the building (floors 2-14) are massed in a symmetrical pattern of 2-3-2-3-2-6-2-3-2-3-2. All of the windows were originally metal-paned casements with thin metal mullions. Each original window is divided into two movable casements of eight panes, each with a single transom of six panes. The small window panes add a sense of texture to the facade and prevent the window openings from becoming voids in the design. The 1st and 3rd window groups from either end project slightly, while the other groups are separated by projecting piers. The 2nd and 5th groups from either end are framed with light brown brick that gives a vertical thrust to the facade. This vertical thrust is strengthened by the use of raised brick bands below the windows and by the addition of tan brick piers between the windows of the 2nd group from each corner. The patterned brick-work also appears in the central two bays at the 13th and 14th floors (the exterior floor numbers may not always correspond with the interior numbering system). Projecting from the two central 13th-floor windows are 3-sided stone balconies each supported by a single corbeled bracket and ornamented with a vertical chevron panel. The five central window groups step back above the 14th and 16th floors to form balconies, while the three end groups on either side rise up two additional floors before setting back at the 16th floor and again at the 17th floor. All of the balconies have Art-Deco railings. Patterned brickwork and pairs of terra-cotta balconies also appear on the 15th and 16th floors of the end sections and on the 16th floor of the central section. The brown brick bays are ornamented at their summits by terra-cotta panels adorned with chevron, diaper, and other geometric patterns.
The towers rise free of the base for twelve stories. Each tower is six bays wide on Central Park West and is faced with tan brick highlighted by brown brick panels at the four central windows. Terra-cotta balconies appear at the 26th floor and terra-cotta panels at the 27th and 28th floors. The side elevations have similar detailing. There are corner penthouses at the 29th floor, as each tower steps back to the crowning pinnacle with its fin-like projections. It is these stepped pinnacles that give the El Dorado its distinctive silhouette and make the building immediately identifiable from as far away as Fifth Avenue.
On the side streets the El Dorado is 17 stories tall with the 3-story cast stone base continuing for the first seven bays before it drops down to a 1-story base. Only near the Central Park West corners are there window bays articulated with the vertical brown brick bays used on the front elevation. The side facades have penthouses with railings, the balconies and terra-cotta ornament described on the front, as well as professional office doors and secondary residential entrances with Art-Deco carving. To the rear of the building are cast-stone arches with Art-Deco metal gates (the outer face of each gate is covered with a metal sheet).
The building was converted to a co-op in 1982, with 208 apartments.
streeteasy.com/building/the-eldorado
daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2023/02/blog-post.html
www.neighborhoodpreservationcenter.org/db/bb_files/1985...
www.landmarkwest.org/building/300-central-park-west-el-...
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_El_Dorado
Nearby cities:
Coordinates: 40°47'18"N 73°58'3"W
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