Manhattan Tower Condominium

 condominium, 1928_construction

122-foot, 11-story postmodern residential building originally completed in 1928 as a 6-story building. Designed by Rouse & Goldstone, these floors are clad in dark-red brick with a rusticated limestone water table. In 2002, five new floors were added on top, designed by Alfredo G. Carballude of CMA Design Studio, and the building was converted to condominiums and renamed Manhattan Tower. These upper floors are clad in beige pre-cast stone.

The main entrance is centered on the south facade on 90th Street, with a light well above the ground floor. The entrance has wood, metal, and glass double-doors between two windows, covered by a peaked, green canvas canopy extending out over the sidewalk. There are also glass panes above the doors and side windows, and the entry is flanked by black marble pilasters, each with a stacked column of squares - between the tops of the pilasters is a black marble band with four large, white stone diamond shapes surmounted by a metal railing. To the right the ground floor has a deeply-recessed service entrance atop a small set of iron steps. Continuing east are five slightly-projecting brick piers extending up the height of the original six floors. To the left of the first pier is a very narrow window, and between the first two is a wider but shorter window. Two narrow double-windows flank the eastern pier, with a taller one at the east end. The 2nd-6th floors at this east section have eight bays of single-windows, the middle ones framed by the piers. A narrow stone string course separates the upper floors from the ground floor, interrupted at each pier, with another string course setting off the 6th floor.

The newer top floors at the east section have two center bays of tripartite windows, flanked by a bay of narrow double-windows and end bays with wider double-windows, each somewhat recessed into the stone facade. Along the base of the 7th floor are six projecting, ornamental white squares with diamond shapes circumscribed by circles. The roof line is marked by a simple, thin stone cornice.

The ground floor to the west of the main entrance has six bays of single-windows with the middle four grouped together. Below, the water table grows slightly taller toward the west due to the slope of the site, and there is a single basement opening at the center, with an iron grille. The upper floors also have six single-window bays. The newer 7th floor has two tripartite windows flanking a double-window, and has a set-back section at the east end, with a metal railing. The rest of the west section sets back above the 7th floor, also with a metal railing. The set-back 8th-11th floors have a tripartite window at the west end, followed by a double-window, a small square window, and another tripartite window. The rear wall of the light well has two bays of single-windows, and the east-facing sidewall has one bay of single-windows on the upper floors, and three on the lower floors. The west-facing sidewall of the light well has a double-window and two single-windows.

The lower floors of the rear, west elevation are clad in yellow brick and have several bays of single-windows, also with some smaller bathroom windows.

The east facade along the avenue has plate-glass-and-metal storefronts along the brick ground floor. There is another light well at the center above the ground floor, dividing the facade into north and south wings. The south wing has a large single-window at the south end (on the 2nd-6th floors), followed by a smaller single-window, another one divided in two by iron mullions, and another large single-window. The north wing has five bays of single-windows, with three piers running from the 2nd-6th floors, the northern one wider than the other two. There are a pair of red metal fire escapes running down the lower floors of these wings. The rear wall of the light well has two single-windows with a small bathroom window in between, and the north- and south-facing side walls have three bays of single-windows.

The newer upper floors have two bays of narrow double-windows in the rear wall of the light well, which continues up to the roof line. There is one bay of single-windows on each side, and then the rest of the sidewalls are angled at 45-degrees to meet the east facade. The south angled facet has a bay of double-windows, and the north angled facet has a bay of single-windows and one of double-windows. The south wing has a bay of narrow double-windows at the south end, followed by a wide double-window and smaller square windows. The north wing has two wide bays of double-windows. The same diamond-circle-square ornaments run along the base of the 7th floor as seen on the south facade.

The upper floors on the north facade, overlooking the shorter building to the north, have double-windows at the east end. To the west is a bay of square windows, then a somewhat-recessed area with two bays of double-windows. The rest of the facade has another bay of square windows and one of double-windows. The west end is set back and two bays of tripartite windows flanking a bay of small bathroom windows.

The building contains 81 condominium units. The ground floor along the avenue is occupied by Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ restaurant, and All My Children Daycare & Nursery School.