The Coronet, 57 West 58th Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 57 West 58th Street by Carter Horsley

This robust, red-brick, 11-story apartment building was erected in 1901 and converted to a condominium in 1976. It has 85 apartments.

One block from Central Park, this building once had a very impressive façade with a two-story rusticated limestone base with an arched, two-story entrance with canopy and a handsome limestone quoins, a handsome, two-story colonnade in the center of its sidestreet façade between the 8th and 9th floors, and very pronounced pediments above the third floor windows.

Alterations over time, however, have removed the building's cornice and imposed fire escapes on both the avenue and sidestreet frontages. Furthermore, a major balcony is missing beneath the colonnade although four massive and impressive brackets for it still protrude from the face. The top of the building, moreover, has a "modern," slanted skylight somewhat recessed from the building's perimeter that is not unattractive by itself but not in context with the building. The building has a two-step-up entrance that leads to an automatic glass door that leads into a modern and quite attractive lobby with a concierge. The glass door gives the lobby high visibility, but is unadorned and rather incongruous with the building's essential ornateness.

Despite such design problems, the building manages to still be rather elegant, which is due, in part, to the very handsome retail façade of The Manhattan Ocean Club on the sidestreet that is a very well-known "fish" restaurant and has a very distinctive swordfish hanging sign at its entrance.

The architectural context of this building is classic New York City chaos. It is directly across 58th Street from a pleasant but bland pre-war apartment building that backs onto one of the most ornate office buildings on the northeast corner of 57th Street. It is directly across the street from Trump Parc, which has one of the city's most spectacular Art Deco crowns. It is directly behind the St. Moritz Hotel on Central Park South, which is a significant Art Deco skyscraper hotel. It is just to the west of a white-brick apartment building on the sidestreet, which has three major setback plazas, which is rather unusual. It is on the same block as the Plaza and Park Lane hotels and the rear of 9 West 57th Street, the famous and very elegant sloping skyscraper.

There is considerable traffic here as the park drive north entrance in Central Park is one block to the north. The building has no sidewalk landscaping and no garage.

In the post-World War II era, this area was something of a backwater with the exception of the expansion west of Rockefeller Center in the 1960's several blocks to the south. In the 1990's, however, the West Side of midtown witnessed a remarkable upgrading that included the "new" Times Square to the south and the sprouting of many theme restaurants in the 57th Street vicinity, including the delightfully amusing Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde on the Avenue of the Americas between 57th and 58th Streets. In addition, two very major skyscrapers on 57th Street between the Avenue of the Americas and Seventh Avenue dramatically changed this area's skyline.

The area now is bustling with tourists and very lively and there is good neighborhood shopping, including two nearby supermarkets, and Bergdorf Goodman is just down the block.