The Langham, 135 Central Park West: Review and Ratings

Review of 135 Central Park West by Carter Horsley

This very elegant, 13-story rental apartment building at 135 Central Park West between 73^rd and 74^th streets is known as The Langham and was erected in 1907.

According to a “Streetscapes” article, published in The New York Times on September 20, 1998 by Christopher Gray, the building was built by Abraham Boehm and Lewis Coon and later owned by the Manocherian family. 

It was designed by Clinton & Russell.

It has 54 apartments.

Bottom Line

One of the most elegant apartment buildings along Central Park West, the Langham flaunts a roof with pyramids at its southeast and northeast corners. In turn, the embelishments harmonize with the steep gables of the Dakota across 73rd Street and the former San Remo Hotel across 74th Street, before it was replaced by the taller, twin-towered San Remo residential. 

Description

The Langham's contextual deference to its famous neighbor to the south, the Dakota, was also reflected in its excellent two-toned façade. Whereas the Dakota had a light yellow brick façade highlighted by brown stone quoins, the Langham had a white brick façade contained within very broad rusticated limestone quoins.

The Langham, in fact, is a more elegant looking building than the Dakota with its symmetry and double-height entrance, large emblazoned marquee, and its top-floor, arched windows. The very handsome marquee is braced by two elaborate brackets at either side and there are several steps leading up to the entrance, which is flanked by landscaping.

The building was also quite modern for its time as it had a central refrigeration plant, built-in vacuum cleaning system connections, a conveyor system for direct mail delivery to each apartment and wall safes in each apartment.

The 13-story building has three light courts on its western side.

Amenities

The building has a concierge and doorman. The building, which has no garage, no health club and no sundeck, is a block north of a subway station. It has a great deal of rustication and sidewalk landscaping. 

Apartments

Apartments have 11-foot-high ceilings and some have paneled libraries and fireplaces.

Some of the top floor apartments have oculi-round windows and at least one of the pyramids on the roof has a duplex apartment in it that was part of a larger penthouse with quite large terraces.

That column also noted that other residents over the years included Irving Bloomingdale, whose father, Lyman, founded the famous store in 1873, and Martin Beck, the theater promoter and head of the Orpheum theater chain, and Mia Farrow, the actress.  

Apartment 12SC is a four-bedroom unit with a 16-foot-long entry foyer that leads past a large kitchen with an angled window and a pantry to a 22-foot-long living room, 15-foot-wide parlor, a 24-foot-long dining room and a 28-foot-long master bedroom.

Apartment 10S is a five-bedroom unit with a 13-foot-wide entry foyer that leads to a 16-foot-library, a 21-door-living room, an 18-foot-long dining room, a 12-foot-long pantry and a 19-foot-long, enclosed and windowed kitchen.

Apartment 1SCR is a one-bedroom unit with a 13-foot-wide entry foyer that opens onto a 21-foot-wide dining area next to a 21-foot-wide kitchen and a 26-foot-long living area.

History

In his excellent book, "New York's Fabulous Luxury Apartments With Original Floor Plans from the Dakota, River House, Olympic Tower and Other Great Buildings," (Dover Publications Inc., 1987), Andrew Alpern noted that "unused now for many years, there was originally an arcaded carriage driveway with access from 73rd Street."

"The entrance lobby was ornately decorated with bronze, marble, carved Caen stone and crystal chandeliers," Alpern wrote.

In their excellent fourht edition of the book, "The A.I.A. Guide to New York City," (Three Rivers Press, 2000), Elliot Willensky and Norval White made an odd remark that the building was "a ponderous bulk until you look at the roofline, where a simple cornice has been so elaborated with ornament and ornate dormers that it sparkles with light."

In his superb book, "New York Streetscapes, Tales of Significant Buildings and Landmarks," (Harry N. Abrams Inc., 2003), Christopher Gray devotes a chapter to the Langham in which he provides the following commentary:

"When the Clark family built the Dakota from 1880 to 1884, they also bought the block-front of Central Park West from 73rd to 74th Street but left it vacant. In 1902, The Real Estate Record and Guide reported that the Clarks put the 73rd-74th Street block-front on Central Park West up for sale, with an unusual restriction: that any subsequent building not exceed the Dakota in height. The restriction was apparently designed to protect the prestige of the Dakota. If the family had been concerned about the views from the Dakota's 73rd Street windows they would more likely have required the construction of four- or five-story houses. Apparently the Clarks could not sell with such a restriction, for the actual sale deed, later in 1902, included only a boilerplate prohibition of stables and billboards. The new owners, Abraham Boehm and Lewis Coon, did not move ahead until 1904, when their architects, Clinton & Russell, filed plans for a $2 million structure, 'the finest apartment house in the city,' [...] The thirteen-floor building is perhaps 25 feet higher than the Dakota and appears even taller because of differences in the mansard roof." 

According to Mr. Gray’s article, “The Langham had four apartments on a floor, with a parlor, dining room, library, three to four bedrooms, and servants rooms in each. The biggest entertaining rooms were generous, 17 by 22 feet, but architects had still not figured out how to divide an apartment efficiently into entertaining, service, and dormitory zones —the bedroom wings stretched out along hallways more than 40 feet long. The rooms were finished in Adam, Elizabethan, Colonial, and other styles, and under the mansard were laundry rooms.”

In his September 20, 1998 "Streetscapes" column, Mr. Gray noted that "the 1907 Langham apartment house at 73rd Street and Central Park West is a tall and sophisticated cosmopolitan, compared to the brooding, scrunched-down Victorian design of the Dakota," adding that its "closets were arranged in peculiar fashion, and there were no private bathrooms."  "Rather," he continues, "Boehm & Coon adopted the common practice of putting sinks in many of the bedrooms, to reduce the loan on the common bathrooms in the apartment halls." 

Celebrities

Mr. Gray also noted that its early tenants included Isadore Saks, Edward F. Albee, the head of the Keith and Keith-Albee Orpheum theater chains and grandfather of the playwright Edward Albee, Lee Strasberg, and Samuel I. Rosenman, "the confidant of Franklin D. Roosevelt who coined the term 'New Deal'. 

He also noted that other residents included Irving Bloomingdale, whose father, Lyman, founded the famous store in 1873, and Martin Beck, the theater promoter and head of the Orpheum theater chain, and Mia Farrow, the actress.