265 Riverside Drive: Review and Ratings

Review of 265 Riverside Drive by Carter Horsley

This very handsome, 11-story, pre-war, cooperative apartment building at 265 Riverside Drive on the southeast corner at 99^th Street has 76 units.

It was erected in 1908 and became a co-operative in 1992.

Bottom Line

This handsome, pre-war building has an impressive entrance with columns and attractive façade banding above the three-story limestone base and near the top.

Description

The brown-brick building is distinguished by its three-rusticated limestone base with handsome balconies on the third floor and by the three banks of light-colored stone around its fourth and tenth stories that give the building an Italian Renaissance-style appearance.

The building has a four-step-up entrance flanked by pairs of deeply fluted columns on the drive, a moat fence, and a curved corner.

The building has fine views of the Hudson River and Riverside Park,

Amenities

The building has a part-time doorman, a live-in superintendent and a bicycle room and an exposed rooftop watertank, but no health club, no roof deck and no garage.

Apartments

Apartment 5C is a two-bedroom unit with an entry foyer that leads to a 15-foot-long gallery with one curved end next to a 7-foot-long kitchen and a 20-foot-long angled, living room with a curved corner.

Apartment 8B is a one-bedroom unit with an 8-foot-long entry foyer that opens into a 28-foot-long living room with a 10-foot-long dining area adjacent to an enclosed, windowed, 9-foot-long kitchen.

Apartment 8E is a one-bedroom unit which has an 8-foot-square entry foyer that opens onto a 20-foot-living room with a 10-foot-long, angled, dining alcove adjacent to a 12-foot-long, pass-through and windowed kitchen.

The D line of apartments are one-bedroom units with 14-foot-long entry foyers that leads to 20 foot-long living rooms in one direction and an angled, 13-foot-long dining room in the other next to a 7-footloong kitchen.

History

According to a December 27, 2010 article about penthouses in The New York Times by Christine Haughney, an apartment in the building appeared in “Manhattan,” a movie by Woody Allen.

Location

One of the city's best private schools, Trinity School, is a few blocks to the east on 91st Street and there are many restaurants and stores nearby on Broadway. This lively neighborhood is one of the city's finest architecturally. There is good bus service on Riverside Drive and Broadway and the nearest cross-town bus service is at 96th Street.