Sherman Square, 201 West 70th Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 201 West 70th Street by Carter Horsley

This 42-story apartment tower was one of the tallest on the Upper West Side when it was erected in 1972.

Designed by S. J. Kessler, the tower's strong verticality is emphasized by its large piers. With its many balconies and lower base, the building is a quite vigorous insertion into the older fabric of the immediate area, which includes such important nearby landmarks as the Dorilton, across Broadway, and the Ansonia, a few blocks up Broadway.

The 378-building is a cut above many other post-war apartment buildings, including some quite nearby, in its quite bold massing and articulation even if it is not inspired and certainly not contextual.

The dark brown and beige building, which has many good views, was converted to a cooperative in 1984.

It has a very nice roof deck with stunning downtown views and a new gym/healthclub in the basement. Sherman Square at the south end of the intersection of Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue is named after General William Tecumseh Sherman.

In his excellent book, "Upper West Side Story, A History and Guide," (Abbeville Press, 1989), Peter Salwen noted that the famous general "retired to West 71st Street in 1886, looking for peace and quiet, which he said could be had only in the forest or in a great city."

"He soon was one of New York's great toastmasters and first-nighters, taking the el, which he preferred to a private carriage, to the theater district (then at 23rd Street) or to the Players club, the theatrical club on Gramercy Park, which he helped found in 1888. After his death in 1891, the nearby intersection of Amsterdam Avenue and the Boulevard was named Sherman Square," Salwen continued. The Boulevard was the former name of Broadway until 1899.

The building has a large garden that was completed in 2008.

In addition to being near the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, this building is convenient to good public transportation.