60 Gramercy Park North: Review and Ratings

Review of 60 Gramercy Park North by Carter Horsley

This handsome apartment building at 60 Gramercy Park North, which runs through the block to 22nd Street, was completed in 1928 and designed by Emery Roth.

According to Steve Ruttenbaum s great book on Roth, "Mansions in the Clouds, The Skyscraper Palazzi of Emery Roth," "it was Roth's intention that sixteen-story building enhance the refined character of the neighborhood."

"The exterior façades and interior suites," he continued, "were designed for people who appreciative of the conservative and respectable traditions of the area. The façade fronting the park is an eclectic mixture of Italian Renaissance and Spanish architectural motifs, combining in a soaring composition that steps back as it rises to a pinnacle. It is sparingly embellished with decorative terracotta window surrounds and cast-iron loggias. The setbacks, located at the tenth and sixteenth floors, are punctuated with fanciful finials. The penthouse level is covered with a red tile gable roof, and the water tower that rises above it is embellished with giant eagles and elongated triple arches executed in a mannerist mode."

"The exaggerated verticality and symmetrical massing of the building," according to Mr. Ruttenbaum, "impact a picturesque and glamorous quality to its harmonious character. Roth actually designed two buildings that were constructed on a narrow lot that fronts from twenty-first street (Gramercy Park North) to twenty-second street. They were joined only at the first floor level by a one-story rotunda in the garden court that separates them. Both buildings originally contained a total of 162 apartments, ranging in size from one to several rooms to meet the needs of a broad spectrum of occupants."

"The tenants of the largest apartments," Mr. Ruttenbaum continued, "have the advantage of direct park views, while the smaller apartments are located in the rear. Only the larger units have full-size dining rooms; most of the others were equipped with dining alcoves. Maid's' rooms were provided in the largest suites and additional servants quarters were made available to tenants who desired them on the first floor of the twenty-second street building."

"The most desirable apartment in the two structures," he wrote, "was located on the tenth floor facing the park. Besides a large dining room and maid's room, this unit came with a foyer, a large living room that contained a wood-burning fireplace, three bedrooms, two baths and a spacious terrace overlooking the park."

The building, which now has 121 apartments, also has the address of 105-0 East 21st Street and 120 East 22nd Street and because it fronts on Gramercy Park its residents have keys to the park.