Columbus Park Tower, 100 West 94th Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 100 West 94th Street by Carter Horsley

This 27-story apartment building at 100 West 94^th Street on the east side of Columbus Avenue on the Upper West Side was erected in 1967 as part of the ambitious and controversial
West Side Urban Renewal Plan.

It has 163 co-operative apartments.

It is known as Columbus Park Tower.

It was designed by Ballard, Todd & Snibbe.

It is not too far from a Whole Foods store, a post office and good cross-town bus service on 96^th Street.

Bottom Line

This bulky brute of almost sleek balconies modernly slapped on a dark brown-brick slab tower is one of the more attractive buildings along the 1960s’ urban renewal section of Columbus Avenue and it has been recently significantly enlivened by three restaurants in its plaza and a pyramidal fountain in its large, multi-level, rear garden.

Description

The building has a one-story retail base beneath a second-story with an open frame-like design that made the large slab tower seem to “float.”  The tower had three large vertical sections with light-colored balcony walls facing westward that gave it a strong sense of momentum that was slightly relieved by the division of the balconies on the top two floors into smaller sections that was a nice way to “top” it off.

The view of the tower from the east, however, was less successful as it had a large central section without the attractive balconies.

In their great book, “New York 1960, Architecture and Urbanism Between The Second World War and The Bicentennial,” Robert A. M. Stern, Thomas Mellins and David Fishman noted that this building was somewhat enlivened by concrete balustrades enclosing the building’s balconies.”

“Yet,” the authors continued, “like its less interesting companions, this building shattered the neighborhood scale in ways that the pre-1961 wedding-cake designs never had.”

In commenting on the city’s West Side Urban Renewal plan, the authors maintained that “by and large the new construction was ordinary and distinctly at odds with the traditional character of the neighborhood,” adding that “Most of the new apartment buildings were undifferentiated free-standing superslabs rising from ill-defined plazas that were mandated not only by zoning but also by even more stringent controls developed as part of the urban renewal plan, which hopped to transform Columbus Avenue into a kind of Modernist Champs Elysees for the middle class.  Taken as a group, the new structures lacked a sense of coherent urbanism; individually, they were banal.”

The building’s trio of sidewalk cafes and restaurants greatly enhance the Columbus Avenue streetscape especially the white-picket fence surrounding Elizabeth’s Neighborhood Table.

The landscaped, multi-level garden at the rear of the building has a Mayan-style stepped fountain that is mostly metallic but still rather impressive.

The building’s lobby has white marble walls and a very nice concierge station. 

The building also has a fitness center and a laundry.

Amenities

The building has a full-time doorman and a garden with a fountain.

Apartments

Apartment 22A is a three-bedroom unit with an entry into the 18-foot-long kitchen that leads to the angled entrance to the 16-foot-long living room that has an 11-foot-wide terrace.

Apartment 8G is a three-bedroom unit that has an entrance that leads past the enclosed and windowed, 9-foot-long kitchen to the 24-foot-long, living/dining room with an 11-foot-wide balcony.

Apartment 4F is a two-bedroom unit with an entry foyer that leads past a 10-foot-long, open kitchen to a 23-foot-long living/dining room with an 11-foot-wide balcony.

Apartment 6D is a one-bedroom unit with 776 square feet and a 24-foot-long living/dining room, a 10-foot-long open kitchen and a 23-foot-wide balcony.