Mann Realty Services today named Nest Seekers International as the sales and marketing company for its recent condominium conversion of the former rental apartment building at 36 Gramercy Park East that is "guarded" by two sentry knights in armor at its entrance.
The 12-story, Neo-Gothic-style building was erected in 1909 as a co-op with 24 apartments and was converted to a rental apartment building in the 1940s. It was designed by James Riely Gordon for John E. Olsen.
It now has 51 apartments. It has sidewalk landscaping, four light stanchions and a step-up entrance as well as some gargoyles.
In an October 24, 2004 article in The New York Times, Christopher Gray described the building's exterior as "a startling expression the Gothic, a huge, white, lacy terra cotta screen of pointed arches, gargoyles, bosses, shields and other elements of a style that was gaining popularity because it was suited to the vertical character of the new, taller buildings - the Woolworth Building was completed in 1913 in a very similar style."
Mr. Gray noted that initially "apartments at the Gramercy Park building were advertised for sale at $8,900 to $12,000, and some were rented at $2,350 to $3,168 a year," adding that "The 1915 census picked up a miscellany of businessmen and professionals, along with some artistic types - like John Barrymore, who was a year away from breaking out of a career as a popular star of lightweight comedies and becoming one of the most acclaimed dramatic actors of his day."
The first three floors of the building, according to Mr. Gray, were "meant to be marble but were executed in less-expensive terra cotta, and the entrance hall floor was specified as Tennessee marble, while in fact it was finished in a lovely, irregular art tile in brown, green, red and tan."
The terra-cotta-clad, Neo-Gothic building has a light-court entrance with a four-step-up entrance flanked by knights in armor.
Residents in the building are entitled to keys to Gramercy Park which the building overlooks.
One of the building's early residents was Alfred Ringling, who was one of the Ringling Brothers famed for their circus.
The 12-story, Neo-Gothic-style building was erected in 1909 as a co-op with 24 apartments and was converted to a rental apartment building in the 1940s. It was designed by James Riely Gordon for John E. Olsen.
It now has 51 apartments. It has sidewalk landscaping, four light stanchions and a step-up entrance as well as some gargoyles.
In an October 24, 2004 article in The New York Times, Christopher Gray described the building's exterior as "a startling expression the Gothic, a huge, white, lacy terra cotta screen of pointed arches, gargoyles, bosses, shields and other elements of a style that was gaining popularity because it was suited to the vertical character of the new, taller buildings - the Woolworth Building was completed in 1913 in a very similar style."
Mr. Gray noted that initially "apartments at the Gramercy Park building were advertised for sale at $8,900 to $12,000, and some were rented at $2,350 to $3,168 a year," adding that "The 1915 census picked up a miscellany of businessmen and professionals, along with some artistic types - like John Barrymore, who was a year away from breaking out of a career as a popular star of lightweight comedies and becoming one of the most acclaimed dramatic actors of his day."
The first three floors of the building, according to Mr. Gray, were "meant to be marble but were executed in less-expensive terra cotta, and the entrance hall floor was specified as Tennessee marble, while in fact it was finished in a lovely, irregular art tile in brown, green, red and tan."
The terra-cotta-clad, Neo-Gothic building has a light-court entrance with a four-step-up entrance flanked by knights in armor.
Residents in the building are entitled to keys to Gramercy Park which the building overlooks.
One of the building's early residents was Alfred Ringling, who was one of the Ringling Brothers famed for their circus.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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