Gramercy Place, 280 Park Avenue South: Review and Ratings

Review of 280 Park Avenue South by Carter Horsley

One of the more interesting surprises in the Gramercy Park/Park Avenue South area is this rather large apartment tower that looms up behind the small bank building on the southwest corner of 22nd Street and Park Avenue South.

The 26-story, 259-unit tower used the air-rights over the bank structure to be bigger than normal mid-block zoning would allow and it has placed all of its bulk upfront and created a very spectacular rear court that is one of the finest in the city. The court/garden is faced with decorative walls and the entire lobby and court are very, very handsomely done.

The exterior of the light-colored tower, which is known as Gramercy Place, is a well modulated and quite attractive example of its kind even if it is not particularly innovative.

The project, however, deserves great credit for saving the low-rise building. That structure was built for the New York Bank for Savings in 1894 and was designed in a traditional grandiose manner for such buildings by C. L. W. Eidlitz (who later designed the famous Times Tower in Times Square) and its restoration and conversion for this project was designed by Beyer Blinder Belle, one of the city's finest firms specializing in historic preservation.

Given the incredible population in this area of large and spectacular restaurants, it is a bit surprising that the former banking hall was not converted to a restaurant. It would have been asking a bit much to assume it would have been used as the building's entrance. Instead, it serves quite well as a supermarket, albeit one with a very graceful and imposing façade.

The tower, which has a health club and pool and sundeck but not a garage, was designed by Philip Birnbaum & Associates for Sam Halpern, Harry Halpern and Leonard Wilf.