336 Central Park West: Review and Ratings

Review of 336 Central Park West by Carter Horsley

This very impressive maroon-bricked building at 336 Central Park West at 94^th Street displays one of the most graceful and unusual cornices of the city.

The 15-story building was erected in 1929 and converted to a cooperative in 1971. It has 103 apartments.

It was designed by Schwartz & Gross, one of the city's most active architectural firms specializing in apartment buildings before World War II. The firm also designed the Brentmore at 88 Central Park West and most of its designs were more conventional, though still attractive. They were particularly active on Park Avenue with buildings at: 470, 525, 885, 888, 910, 911, 930, 941, 970, 983, 1045, 1070, 1095, 1125 and 1165 Park Avenue.

This is one of several very interesting buildings in a pleasant stretch of Central Park West in the 90s. It has protruding air-conditioners and inconsistent fenestration, as well as two small curved balconies above its canopied and landscaped entrance.

It is two blocks south of a subway station and the cross-town bus service at 96th Street.

Bottom Line

Like a blooming rare red orchid, the top of this pre-war building across from Central Park just flares and flares and with no lipstick!

Description

Cornices are protruding rooftop elements that cap a building's façade composition.

They are horizontal exclamation marks that 'separate a building from the sky', from a pedestrian point of view. They are the pronounced precipices that form very important accents, especially since in an urban setting, where most buildings are built to uniform street walls, are often seen from severe angles rather than directly.

Although many fine cornices in the city are well-detailed, often mirroring Italian Renaissance, they generally are straight-edged. Some have curved façades beneath them and some have scalloped forms. Here, the architects have created a gently undulating roofline of great grace.

Norval White, Elliot Willensky and Fran Leadon wrote of this building in their fine book, The A.I.A. Guide to New York City: "This 16-story apartment house is crowned with terra-cotta reminiscences of Egyptian-styled cavetto cornice (Art Deco Egyptian, not the Egyptian Revival of the 1840s). The tapestry brick enriches the viewer’s experience closer to eye level.”  

Peter Salwen’s excellent book, Upper West Side Story: A History and Guide, perhaps offers a better description:

“[It] was Central Park West’s earliest Art Deco building, with variegated ‘tapestry’ brickwork and vaguely Egyptian motifs (possibly stylized papyrus plants) in the flared terra-cotta trim and crowning water tower.”

The combination of the façade's rich dark color, and the rather delicate detailing of the cornice, is surprising and spectacular. The most famous Egyptian-style building in the city was the Tombs, a jail and court building, now demolished, in Lower Manhattan. Of existing buildings, the Pythian condominium building on 70th Street east of Broadway is full of Egyptian-style elements in a quite bold, even gaudy, manner. Here, however, the motif is quite muted and one wonders what would be the visual effect if the cornice "papyrus" was covered in green-glazed terracotta.

Amenities

The building has a full-time doorman, a live-in superintendent, a laundry, a children’s playroom, storage and two separate wings with 24-hour manned elevators.

Apartments

Apartment 17D is a one-bedroom unit with a 22-foot-wide living room that opens onto an 11-foot-long dining room and an enclosed and windowed kitchen. The apartment has three large terraces, one is 38 feet long, one is 31 feet long and the third is 28 feet long.

Apartment 9F is a two-bedroom unit with a 12-foot-wide entry foyer next to a 17-foot-wide chef’s kitchen, a 17-foot-long staff room, a 14-foot-long den/media room and a 27-foot-long living/dining room.

Apartment 4F is a two-bedroom unit with a 14-foot-wide entry foyer that leads to a 23-foot-wide living room, a 19-foot-wide dining room, an 18-foot-wide kitchen and a 13-foot-long staff room.

Apartment 8L is a two-bedroom unit with an 8-foot-wide entry foyer next to the windowed and enclosed, 14-foot-long kitchen and the 19-foot-long living/dining room.