Carter's Review

Columbus Avenue in the high 80's and low 90's was radically transformed from a low-rise residential neighborhood in the 1970s and 1980s in an ambitious and controversial urban renewal development that led to the construction of many high-rise buildings on both sides of the avenue.

In contrast, this 14-story building that was erected in 1986 is relatively modest although it more than makes up for with its quite bold design that surprisingly has few precedents and few followers.

The two floors beneath the top floor have attractive, solid balconies and the roofline above them is indented to give it the look of battlements, or huge crenellation.

This quite aggressive top is softened somewhat by the use of a lighter color brick beneath the balconies, but the overall effect conjures a battleship with its big guns swung up beneath its many smokestacks.

It is also minimized somewhat by the fact that the building's avenue frontage above the first floor is indented with a curved skylight over the first floor's façade of rusticated limestone.

In the midst of its towered and balconied neighbors, this is one little "tough guy," although the brick façades and handsome retail frontage are not at all "brutalistic."

What is surprising is that only two floors have these impressive, large balconies and that fact probably makes them more prominent.

While this is not an architectural masterpiece by any stretch, it is distinctly interesting and not at all inappropriate for its context. The city needs more bold surprises even when they are not completely successful.

The stretch of nearby high-rise buildings is actually one of the city's more attractive and this neighborhood has good schools, churches and a wide variety of retail activity. Central Park is only one long block away and there is excellent cross-town bus service nearby on 86th Street.

The building has 13 apartments a floor, a concierge, storage space, a sundeck, a free health club, a bicycle room, video security and a garage.

The building was designed by Joseph Wassterman of Hoberman & Wasserman, a firm that also designed the much more attractive Columbus Townhouses, a low-rise, mid-block condominium project on the same block.

Mr. Wasserman at one time was president of the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

This building, which is also known as 101 West 89th Street and 100 West 90th Streets, has 154 rental apartments.