36 West 35th Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 36 West 35th Street by Carter Horsley

This very handsome mid-block building was erected in 1893 as a residence hotel for bachelors.

An article on the building at daytonianinmanhattan.blogspot.com noted that such properties “did not offer kitchens since bachelors neither intended nor were expected to cook for themselves.”

The six-story building replaced two mansions and “sat on a rusticated limestone base,” the article continued, adding that “above, the architect complimented buff-colored brick with exuberant terra cotta ornamentation.”  “Here,” it added, “Italian Renaissance met Beaux Arts in a structure that was at the same time formal and just a bit ostentatious.”

It was known as the Oakdale Hotel.

“Among the well-to-do tenants in 1893 was at least one actor,” the website noted.  “Comedian and singer Charles H. Hopper was the son of George H. Hopper whose family had made its fortune in Standard Oil.  Although the younger Hopper found his career interests far apart from the oil business, he made his own fortune.  As well as living at the Oakdale, he maintained a country estate called Driftwood.  Problems came for the popular entertainer while he was playing the part of Calendar Maker in Sidney Rosenfeld’s production of Rainmaker of Syria at the Casino. The play was a failure and the cast had not been paid in over a week on October 9, 1893. Hopper ran into Rosenfeld at the stage entrance where he was arguing with cast members regarding the back pay. The actor punched the producer, staggering him backwards and causing him to fall against a gas jet and break his glasses. Hopper was held on $300 bail at the Jefferson Market Courthouse.”

“Actresses of the day were not expected to conform to the rules of polite society,” the article continued, “and Marie Burroughs did not disappoint. Born Lillie Arrington in San Francisco, she traveled to New York at the age of 17 in 1883 to become a star. A decade later she had accomplished her goal. The attractive actress was regularly seen on stage starring in productions such as the 1890 The Battle of the Strong, The Profligate in 1894, and the 1899 production of The Meddler. Eyebrows were no doubt raised when the entertainer took up residency in the Oakdale’s male-only sanctuary in 1901. The same year that Marie Burroughs moved in, the up-to-date Oakdale had telephone service; an amenity that no doubt helped to maintain its high-class reputation.”

In 1922, Eugene O’Neill, the playwright, was living in the building in bad health and a decade later the lobby had retail space and by 1944 the street, which had many attractive buildings was fully commercial and, according to the website, “decidedly unfashionable” as “bachelor flats, by now, were a thing of the past.”

The building, however, made a comeback after a few decades when it was converted in 1988 to 37 co-operative apartments.

Bottom Line

This handsome mid-block co-operative apartment building is one of the shortest of many attractive buildings on the street and opened in 1893 as a hotel for bachelors and one of its residents was Eugene O’Neill, the playwright.

Description

The building has a three-story stoop with a canopy and an entrance surround.  It has a two-story rusticated, painted limestone base beneath a buff-colored masonry façade with arched windows on the 4^th and 6^th floors.  It has a nice cornice and permits protruding air-conditioners.  The building has sidewalk landscaping.

Amenities

The building has a roof deck, storage, a laundry, and a live-in superintendent.  It permits pets.

Apartments

Penthouse F is a two-bedroom duplex with a 15-foot-wide living room with a spiral staircase to an upstairs bedroom and terrace.

Apartment 2E is a one-bedroom unit with a 15-foot-long living/dining room with an 8-foot-wide open kitchen and an Art Deco fireplace.

Apartment 4D is a studio unit with a 21-foot-long living room, an open kitchen and a storage deck.