PS90, 220 West 148th Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 220 West 148th Street by Carter Horsley

PS90 is a former New York City public school at 220 West 148^th Street in Harlem that was converted to 75 residential condominium apartments in 2009.  The project sold out in January 2012.

About 75 percent of the building’s units are market-rate and the remainder are affordable housing.

The conversion was made by L + M Development Partners, Inc., which also did the large Kalahari apartment building in Harlem and was a co-developer with Toll Brothers of Northside Piers in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  Financing was provided by Goldman Sachs’ Urban Investment Group.

The extremely handsome, Collegiate Gothic-style building was designed by Charles B. J. Snyder, who was chief architect and superintendent of New York Schools from 1891 to 1922.  It was built about 1905. 

It and other Snyder schools had intricate red-brick masonry and elaborate stonework including gargoyles, finials and bas-reliefs.  Other Snyder designs were employed at the DeWitt Clinton High School that is now home to the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan.  During his “reign,” Snyder oversaw the construction of more than 400 public schools in the city of which almost 300 are still in use.

Bottom Line

The conversion of this former public elementary school into condominium apartments involved a very extensive renovation that has resulted in a palatial building of great elegance.  The building has a lovely landscaped courtyard that looks like it has been transplanted from the grounds of a grand French chateau.  The building’s high ceilings and broad hallways make it one of Harlem’s most distinguished residential buildings.

Description

The six-story PS90 is built like an “H” with a large courtyard on 148^th Street and a larger courtyard on 147^th Street, where it is also known as 217-219 West 147^th Street. 

Windows on the fifth floor are arched and the corners of the building are highlighted with stone quoins.

There are some large bay windows.

Amenities

The building has an attended lobby with doorman, a fitness center, a roof deck, a residents’ lounge and party room with kitchen, a media room, a work studio, Fresh Direct cold storage, a bicycle room and storage lockers.

Apartments

All apartments have up to 12-foot-high ceilings, up to 10-foot-high oversized windows, open plans, Bosch washers and dryers, central air-conditioning and herringbone pattern floors.

Kitchens have KitchenAid stainless steel appliances, quartzite countertops, Hansgrohe faucets, Faber range hoods, custom walnut toned cabinetry, halogen recessed lighting, gray staggered bond mosaic wall and floor tile. 

Bathrooms have slate accents, rain shower heads, dual flush Aquadis toilets, honed Palmira tile baths and shower walls and glass shower enclosures.

The one-bedroom apartment 1C has a long entrance gallery that leads to a dining area with an open kitchen and then to a 20-foot-long living room with a 140-square-foot terrace.

Another one-bedroom unit, Penthouse A, has a 23-foot-long living/dining area with an open kitchen and a 348-square-foot, L-shaped terrace.

Penthouse E has an entrance directly into the dining area with open kitchen and is across from a 131-square-foot terrace with sliding doors that is overlooked on one side by a 16-foot-long living room and the other by the 14-foot-long bedroom.

Apartment 5F on the fifth floor has two bedrooms and a 23-foot-long living/dining area with an open kitchen.

Apartments L on the second through the fourth floors have two bedrooms, and long galleries.

Apartment 1J is a two-bedroom unit with a very large living/dining area with an open kitchen and very large bay windows that open onto a 220-square-foot curved terrace.

Apartment 1H has a 22-foot-long living/dining area with an open kitchen that opens onto a curved, 274-square-foot terrace.  The apartment has two bedrooms and a small study.

Apartment 5P on the fifth floor has three bedrooms and 1,641 square feet of space.