24 Gramercy Park South: Review and Ratings

Review of 24 Gramercy Park South by Carter Horsley

This very handsome, 12-story apartment building at 24 Gramercy Park South was erected in 1909 and designed by Herbert Lucas, whose other buildings in the area include 1 Lexington Avenue and the Hotel Irving. 

The building was converted to a cooperative in  1958 and has 18 apartments including several duplexes.              

The building has keys to Gramercy Park and is convenient to many restaurants and good public transportation.

Bottom Line

A very grand but understated pre-war building on Gramercy Park with an impressive portico entrance over a fenced moat with many duplexes including one with 6 fireplaces!

Description

The building has  a very handsome entrance with four columns supporting a large balcony with a cast-iron fence with triple ornate columns at its outer corners, a three-step-up entrance over a moat, and an arched glass transom and two vertical windows. 

The building has a three-story white base beneath a red-brick façade with a very attractive cornice. 

It has some nice curved balconies.

Amenities

The building has keys to Gramercy Park, wood-burning fireplaces, a doorman, an elevator attendant, wine cellars and a laundry.

Apartments

Apartment 8/9 is a three-bedroom duplex with a 22-foot-long gallery on the lower level that leads to a 14-foot-long foyer with stairs to the upper level, a 26-foot-long parlour with two balconies and a fireplace, a 19-foot-long library with a balcony and a fireplace, a 17-foot-long media room with a fireplace, a 21-foot-long windowed dining room with a fireplace, a 22-foot-long eat-in and windowed kitchen, a bedroom and an 11-foot-wide, windowed home office.  The upper level has a large foyer that leads to a 17-foot-wide master bedroom with a fireplace and a 17-foot-wide dressing room with a fireplace.  That level also has a 14-foot-wide sitting room. 

Apartment 1/2E is a three-bedroom unit with an 11-foot-wide entry foyer with stairs to the upper level, a 19-foot-long living room with fireplace, a 16-foot-long dining room and a 20-foot-enclosed and windowed eat-in kitchen.  The upper level has the bedrooms, one with a decorative fireplace, and a narrow, 36-foot-long gallery. 

Apartment 10/11S is a two-bedroom duplex with an entrance on the lower floor to an 11-foot-long den with a fireplace that adjoins a 7-foot-wide dining alcove and a 20-foot-long living room and a 14-foot-wide kitchen.  The bedrooms are on the upper level. 

Apartment 3/4E is a four-bedroom duplex unit with a 16-foot-long entry foyer on the lower level that leads to a 23-foot-long living room with a balcony and a fireplace, a 16-foot-long windowed dining room with a fireplace and an enclosed and windowed 14-foot-long kitchen.  The bedrooms are on the upper level.

History

An October 10, 1908 article in The New York Times provided the following commentary about this building: 

"Art, literature, and the drama will be happily mingled in a new apartment house soon to be erected on the co-operative plan at 24 and 25 Gramercy Park.  Richard Watson Gilder and his son, Rodman D. Gilder, will provide the literary atmosphere.  Art will be represented by Jules Guerin and Herbert Lucas, the architect, while the dramatic element will be provided by Francis Wilson.  These five, together with Charles H. Lee of the United States Leather Company, incorporated at Albany on Thursday the Number Twenty-Four Gramercy Park Company, with a capital of $150,000, to carry through the project.... 

"The apartments will be of the studio type, with large rooms and lofty ceilings.  Each of the six incorporators will have a suite for his own use.  In addition to which the building will contain several other suites to be rented to such outsiders as the incorporators may regard as congenial tenants."