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About The Harrison , 205 West 76th Street
The Harrison has a very central Upper West Side location, around the corner from the Beacon Theater, one of the city's premier concert venues, and several blocks away from the great Ansonia and Apthorp apartment buildings and not far from the 72nd Street subway station on Broadway.
Part of its site was formerly a mid-rise-building that houses the stables for the famous Dakota apartment building at 1 West 72nd Street.
Those are the incontrovertable pluses for the project, which is known as the Harrison and consists of a 19-story building at 205 East 76th Street and a 14-story building at 202 West 77th Street.
Less clear is what to make aesthetically of the project, which has been designed by Robert A. M. Stern for The Related Companies.
Mr. Stern is the nation's pre-eminent Post-Modern architect as well as being the dean of the School of Architecture at Yale University and an author of the greatest books on New York City architecture, a gigantic, five-volume series that traces and illustrates the growth and changes of the city from the 1880s to the present.
He has added some good and some interesting touches to this project, bravura flourishes such as very large bay windows, protruding mullions that have extensions, the building's name neatly enclosed within the height of the building's marquee.
Perhaps more importantly, rather than give the Upper West Side a monolithic single tower he has divided the project into two parts, which minimizes its impact on the skyline (where two considerably tower towers are within a block) and created a visual sense of mystery for pedestrians who can see two very similar facades on what appear to be completely disconnected buildings looming over what appears to be a classic five-story "hold-out" on the northwest corner of Amsterdam Avenue and 76th Street.
To further confuse things, there is a very large and impressive entrance in the middle of the avenue frontage but its for the project's health club, which is owned by The Related Companies.
Over the past couple of decades, The Related Companies has become one of the city's most active developers and so it is a bit puzzling that they could not buy the "hold-out" property, but perhaps they were impatient and eager to get on with building this project so they could move on to bigger things such as the Hudson Yards project.
Both of the buildings here share salmon-colored facades and very large, non-multi-paned windows and both have bases of equal heights that are rectilinear but setback towers with large angled bays, which does not appear to relate contextually with anything nearby and because of the building's flat tops seems whimsical if not arbitrary or awkward.
Such observations, of course, are not necessary derogatory for individuality and unusualness and distinctiveness are urban attributes much admired by many planners and Mr. Stern's application of small bright light green squares in a course on the building's facade is particularly appealing especially when contrasted with the quite vibrant salmon facades.
Amsterdam Avenue for decades was somewhat dreary but in recent years it has become a very, very lively and popular stretch of restaurants and bars from the mid-70s to the mid-80s.
The building's website describes its architecture as "stately" and adds that its "Romanesque revival style includes signature arches, decorative friezes, robust pillars and delicate Juliette balconies," adding that "a work of architectural stature and sophistication, The Harrison reflects the design tradition of Louis H. Sullivan, one of American's most influential architects."
Mr. Sullivan, of course, only designed one building in New York City, the very great Bayard-Condit Building on Bleecker Street that is notable for its caryatids underneath its cornice and its florid capitals. Mr. Sullivan was one of the architects that made Chicago famous for its bay-windows and so the reference to him obviously is based on Mr. Stern's very wide bays at the sides of his towers.
"The Harrison's sweeping, 60' lobby features an awe-inspiring series of Romanesque arches and columns, English oak millwork and a grand stone fireplace. The same sophistication and elegance characteries the 81 residents in the 14-story North Tower and the 51 residences in the 19-story South Tower," the website cooed, adding that all residences are LEED certified.
Kitchens have mahogany cabinetry, cream polished granite countertops, marble backsplashes and grey stone flooring as well as "state-of-the-art" appliances with "fully-integrated wood-paneled refrigerators and dishwashers." Master baths are clad in white marble with polished marble floors with patterned stone borders.
The building has an entertainment lounge with landscaped outdoor courtyard, a "dinosaur-themed children's playroom" (in honor, no doubt of the large bones nearby at the American Museum of Natural History) and a rooftop sun terrace.
The building has a concierge, 24-hour doorman and a garage.
In early 2009, two lots across 76th Street from this project became vacant and will likely be developed at some point.
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