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About St. James Tower, 415 East 54th Street
This 32-story, 106-unit tower was erected in 1983 and designed by Emery Roth & Sons for a development group that included some English investors.
In his book, "New York A Guide To The Metropolis Walking Tours Of Architecture And History," (McGraw-Hill, 1983), Gerard R. Wolfe compares this building with River Tower, a much larger apartment tower of the same period across the street that is angled on its site: "A solid vertical cube of dark purple brick with radial corners and flush windows, this condominium building emanates strength, if not innovation, and unlike its ostentatious neighbor, hides its massiveness behind the line of the street wall."
While this tower is not as dramatic and stark as River Tower, it is sleekly flamboyant, especially for this rather sedate and conservative Sutton Place neighborhood. The building fenestration is very handsome with very broad living room windows and the aforementioned rounded corner windows.
The building's plaza is one of the best in the city with good landscaping, water and seating and attractive lighting. It is, indeed, a rather unexpected but needed amenity in such a built-up environment. The only trouble is that this block really did not need two midblock plazas.
While this building is chic in its minimalist style, its newness, at least in comparison with its surroundings, is quite glamorous. Its amenities include a sundeck, a health club, a bicycle room and storage area.
It was developed by a British group headed by Michael W. Stevens and Peter J. de Savary on the former site of Le Club, which, in the early 1960's, became the city's first private discotheque and for many years its most exclusive and glamorous.
The building has computerized lighting in hallways that brighten when doors open and spotlights on door-locks as well as bidets, 9-ft-3-inch ceilings, 6-ft. bathtubs and the landscaped plaza has two contiguous pools separated by the glass exterior wall of the 27-foot-high lobby.
The building is named after a London club opened by Mr. Stevens.
Bromley/Jacobsen Architecture and Design laid out the apartments and the public spaces.
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