309 West 104th Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 309 West 104th Street by Carter Horsley

This handsome, mid-block, red-brick, 10-story apartment building at 304 West 104^th Street between West End Avenue and Riverside Drive was erected in 1926 and converted to a co-operative in 1989.

It had been bought by the Primust Realty Corporation in 1946 from the Freisler Realty Corporation, which had bought it earlier that year from Arnold Barnett.

All 40 apartments are rich in prewar details like beamed ceilings, hardwood floors, and painter's moldings. Storage transfers with the apartments, and the pet-friendly building's amenities include a bike room, laundry room, lending library, and common garden. While it does not have a fitness center, it is conveniently located near several popular fitness centers. It is also located near popular restaurants, several grocery stores, and transportation.

Bottom Line

A very handsome and elegant mid-block apartment building near a couple of parks.

Description

The building has a 1-story white stone base with a canopied entrance beneath a broken pediment.

The second floor windows have arched brickwork ending in small stone white squares and the arches have white stone keystones and are separated by circular decorative elements.

The third floor has rectangular stone decorative elements between alternate bays with diamond shaped masonry elements.

The ends of the building have rusticated pilasters flanking a window bay.

The center window on the 6^th floor has a very attractive window surround and the top window on the highest floor at the building’s sides has a broad balustrade balcony and window surround and the center windows at this level have stone rectangular decorative elements above them and beneath an attractive bandcourse at the top of the building.

The building permits some window air-conditioners.

Amenities

The building has a live-in superintendent and a bicycle room.

Apartments

Apartment 8A is a two-bedroom unit with an entry foyer that leads to a pantry and a 14-foot-long enclosed and windowed kitchen and a 16-foot-long living room.

Apartment 3B is a two-bedroom unit with a 10-foot-long entry foyer that leads to a 19-foot-long living room and a 12-foot-long kitchen.

Apartment 4C is a three-bedroom unit with an entry into a 13-foot-long dining area that leads to a 22-foot-long living room in one direction and a 17-foot-wide eat-in, windowed kitchen and a small study.

History

A June 28, 1998 article by Joyce Cohen in The New York Times noted by in 1996 the building had security concerns about homeless people sleeping in the vestibule and a mugging and it locked the outside vestibule door as well as the inside door, “installing a buzzer on each so that visitors had to ring twice to get in,” adding that it also “removed residents’ names from the outside directory, making it impossible to tell who lives in what apartment.”

“An unexpected side effect of their two locked doors,” the article continued, was “far fewer take-out menus under their apartment doors.”