279 Central Park West: Review and Ratings

Review of 279 Central Park West by Carter Horsley

One of the newer apartment houses on Central Park West, this 24-story building, at 279 Central Park West on the north corner at 88^th Street, was erected as a condominium in 1988 and is one of the few buildings in the city to have curved-glass corner windows.

The windows, add a very graceful note to the building's asymmetrical composition, but also take advantage of its stupendous views of Central Park.

The building, which is also known as 1 West 88^th Street, was developed by David Edelstein and Harry Simpson and designed by Costas Kondylis.

This building has only 38 apartments, some of which are duplexes.

It is on the site formerly occupied by the five-story Progress Club, a very exclusive Jewish 'men’s club' that was designed in 1904 by Louis Korn. Converted in 1932 it became a part of the Walden School, occupying about 22,000 square feet of space in the building.

But, according to New York 1980, Architecture and Urbanism Between the Bicentennial and the Millennium by Robert A. M. Stern, David Fishman and Jacob Tilove, “efforts by neighborhood activists to have the Progress Club landmarked were unsuccessful.” 

A New York Times article, by Andree Brooks, noted that the “Landmarks Preservation Commission decided that the building was not sufficiently significant, in part because the cornice had been removed 15 years ago for the addition of another floor.”

“Early plans,” Stern, Fishman and Tilove continued, “for a black glass tower with stainless steel banding on the site were dashed by the 1984 zoning amendments that called for more traditional materials, resulting in a beige brick, round-cornered tower rising from a limestone base for fifteen stories above which the building, in a dizzying series of setbacks, rose to an elevator bulkhead and watertank enclosure that was faced with decorative windows recalling those of the Beresford.”

“The building aimed for an affluent clientele,” the authors continued, “with eleven of its forty-four apartments planned as duplexes and all units featuring nine-foot ceilings, separate service entrances, and formal dining and living rooms.The success of the building’s attempt at contextual responsiveness was a subject of some debate. One observer, Alex Cohen, writing in Oculus, felt that its façade was ‘interrupted by awkwardly framed bay windows and partial rustication. Thin stone pediments give the building the look of a new kid on the block who is trying too hard to fit in.”

The building's asymmetrical shape was determined by special "contextual" zoning that the city enacted in the 1980s, which called for floors to be setback above the boulevard's traditional "building wall height" of 15 stories. Similar zoning is in place along much of Broadway, where numerous buildings, with the same kind of setbacks, were built beginning in the 1980s —although most of those had more symmetrical setbacks because they were on larger sites. The only other building on Central Park West, similar to this one, is at 353 Central Park West at 95th Street, but it has a more sculpted and attractive top and it does not have curved-glass windows.

Bottom Line

Although the building's asymmetrical silhouette is a bit clumsy, it offers great views, modern conveniences, a good location and the exclusivity of few apartments. There is excellent cross-town bus service as well as a subway station two blocks south on Central Park West at 86th Street.  

Description

It has a three-story, rusticated limestone base with very handsome window grills on the first floor. The masonry façade above the base is also rusticated and has some bay windows.

Its canopied entrance leads to a recessed revolving door beneath an arched pediment supported by four columns and a large lobby with dark wood paneling.

Amenities

The building has a concierge, a live-in superintendent, a fitness center, private storage, a bicycle room, a nursery and a laundry.

Apartments

Windowed kitchens have Sub-Zero refrigerators and Bosch stainless-steel appliances including wine coolers.

Penthouse 22 is a two-bedroom unit with a 7-foot-wide entry foyer that leads to a 27-foot-long corner living room and a 12-foot-wide den in one direction and a 14-foot-wide dining room next to a 14-foot-wide enclosed and windowed kitchen in the other. The foyer is next to a 24-foot-long hall.

Penthouse 21 is a three-bedroom unit with a foyer that leads to a gallery that opens onto a 21-foot-wide corner living room that winds past an enclosed kitchen to a 16-foot-wide dining room.

Apartment 6B is a three-bedroom unit that has a foyer that leads to a 35-foot-wide living/dining room and a 14-footpwide enclosed kitchen.

Apartment 3B is a three-bedroom duplex with a foyer and gallery with staircase that open onto a 22-foot-wide library and 23-foot-wide living room next to a 14-foot-wide dining room and an enclosed 13-foot-wide kitchen.  The bedrooms are on the upper level.

Apartment 10C is a three-bedroom unit with an 11-foot-long entry foyer that leads to a 19-foot-long living room and a 16-foot-long dining room near an enclosed kitchen.