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About 455 Central Park West
When it was erected in 1890, the wide circular towers on this site were the New York Cancer Hospital, the first facility of its kind in the nation.
In their great book, "New York 1880, Architecture and Urbanism in the Gilded Age" (The Monacelli Press, 1999), Robert A. M. Stern, Thomas Mellins and David Fishman noted that "it was, along with the Dakota (1882-1884)...the second building of substantial size to be constructed facing Central Park on the West Side since the American Museum of Natural History (1874-77)...and one of the city's grandest public buildings."
"From the first, the marriage of [Charles C.] Haight's individualistic, French Renaissance-inspired imagery to an inventive plan of forty-foot diameter circular towers was widely discussed," the authors observed, adding that "The idea to build an independent cancer hospital had been formulated after a bequest made by John Jacob Astor II to the Woman's Hospital in 1882 to fund a pavilion for the treatment of cancer patients was rejected. Working with John E. Parsons and Elizabeth Hamilton Cullum, a cousin of Astor's wife, the New York Cancer Hospital realized the aspirations to establish the institutions, which was built in three stages. The Astor money paid for the first third of the new facility. The Astor pavilion was to treat women only, but by the time it opened plans were under way for a companion facility for the treatment of men, also funded by Astor. At the same time, a chapel was added near the 105th Street corner."
Eventually, the hospital was converted to the Towers Nursing Home, which would in time became the subject of a major scandal and the buildings would begin to fall into neglect until MCL Companies decided to restore the low-rise buildings and add a 26-story apartment tower.
The new tower's red-brick masonry complements that of the low-rise, château-like structures. The tower contains 81 apartments, many with corner bay windows, and there are 17 in the original buildings, which have wrought-iron gates with a fountain at the center of a circular drive and a courtyard with garden. The original building has an arcaded loggia and some small circular windows.
The building has a Landmark Club with a fitness center and swimming pool and the complex also has a business center, a children's room, individual storage units, and a garage. The Rockwell Group designed the lobby.
Two to four-bedroom tower units were originally priced at $1.35 million to $4.5 million. Each of the larger, 17 units in the original, restored château were priced between $3.5 and $7.5 million.
MCL's portfolio includes River East in Chicago, a 3,000-unit residential and retail complex, and residential projects on Fisher Island in Miami Beach, Fla.
RTKB Architects, Perkins Eastman Architects and Victor Caliandro were the architects involved in the new tower and restoration of the original building.
Several of the apartments in the original building have enormous circular rooms. Three-bedroom, three-bath units on the 20th and 21st floors have 2,446 square feet, three-bedroom, three-and-a-half bath units on floors 16 to 23 have 2,083 square feet, and a penthouse on the 25th floor has 3,540 square feet plus a terrace.
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