44 West 77th Street
Studio Apartments | |
{{{designated_other1_name}}} #06101.000177
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 | |
| Location | 44 W. 77th St., New York, New York |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°46′48″N 73°58′34″W / 40.78000°N 73.97611°WCoordinates: 40°46′48″N 73°58′34″W / 40.78000°N 73.97611°W Fatal error: The format of the coordinate could not be determined. Parsing failed. |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1907 |
| Architect | Harde & Short |
| Architectural style | Late Gothic Revival |
| NRHP reference # | 83001748[1] |
| NYSRHP # | 06101.000177 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | 1983-05-19 |
| Designated NYSRHP | 1983-04-01[2] |
44 West 77th Street, also known as the Studio Building, is a 14-story housing cooperative on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, US. It was designed by Harde & Short and was completed in 1909. The apartment building has Neo-Gothic decoration made of terracotta, which was largely dismantled in the 1940s. The Studio Building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a contributing property to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission's Central Park West-76th Street Historic District.
Description
44 West 77th Street is located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, US.[3][4] It is on the south side of the street just east of Columbus Avenue, occupying a nearly square land lot of 100 by 102 feet (30 by 31 m),[3] and faces the American Museum of Natural History to the north.[5][6] The building's location on the south side of 77th Street allowed it to take advantage of sunlight from the north.[3] The building was designed by Harde & Short.[7][8]
Exterior
The facade was inspired by French churches and Belgian government buildings.[4][9] The facade is mostly made of brick, interspersed with limestone trim and divided vertically by three protruding bays of windows.[6][3] The original decorations include extensive tracery, arches, finials, trefoil or quatrefoil motifs, and crockets.[10] Terracotta is used for decorations above the ground story.[10]
On the ground floor is an elaborate arched doorway; the recessed windows on either side have protruding hoods.[6][3] The doorway and windows are flanked by stepped buttresses, which ascend three stories.[3] Within the protruding bays, there are carved spandrel panels between each floor. Some of the windows are double-height units, which illuminate artists' studios. The outer two bays are flanked by ribs, which ascend to the 12th floor.[6][3] As built, the western (right) bay had a tower topped by tracery, while the eastern (left) bay terminated abruptly.[11] The decoration on the western tower included a turret, crockets, and a pediment, all in the Gothic style; these decorations were dismantled in the 1940s.[3] The eastern bay has a dormer at the rooftop, housed within a steep roof.[6][3]
Interior
The interior floor plan remains mostly intact and, uniquely among Harde & Short's buildings, still retains its original entrance vestibule.[3] The first floor has a lobby with gray walls, bronze chandeliers with finials, and gilded stair rails and doors.[11] The lobby has engaged columns on the wall, which support a ceiling with groin vaults, dividing the space into three bays. The lobby also has elaborate limestone-framed, round-arched openings, some of which lead to other rooms. Above the interior doorways are transom windows, which have tracery.[3]
The apartments on the upper stories were designed by their tenants.[3] As built, 44 West 77th Street included a mixture of standard apartments with large floor areas, along with smaller studios spanning 1 1⁄2 stories.[7] One of the 13th floor units was built for the sculptor Karl Bitter, measuring 44 feet (13 m) long with a double-height ceiling.[4][7] Each of the apartments has a foyer, living room, dining room, sunroom, double-height studio, and multiple bedrooms. Most of the standard apartments remain and are grouped two to a floor. The layouts of several apartments have been modified; for example, some apartments have received new closets, while rooms in other apartments were combined.[3]
History
Walter Russell developed the building,[4] having previously constructed another group of artists' studio apartments on 67th Street.[7] It was completed in 1909.[5][10] Some decorations on the facade had begun to peel off within two years of the building's completion, requiring the replacement of the mortar in the facade's joints.[10]
The Studio Building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1983.[12] It is a contributing property to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission's Central Park West-76th Street Historic District, designated in 1977.[6]
Notable residents
- Robert MacNeil, news anchor[13]
- Aaron Shikler, portraitist;[5] occupied a 3,500-square-foot (330 m2) apartment where he completed many of his portraits[14]
Reception
When the building was completed, it was likened to a "Brobdingnagian cathedral".[10][11] One source wrote that the design was intended to draw attention, "first from a certain bizarre effect and later from the novelty and interest of the facade".[11] By contrast, Architectural Record regarded it as an "apartment house aberration" and preferred that the facade be less elaborately decorated, saying the building's "freakish front" could be seen as a form of self-aggrandizement for the architect.[10]
See also
References
- ↑ National Park Service (2013-11-02). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
- ↑ "Cultural Resource Information System (CRIS)". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. November 7, 2014. Archived from the original on April 4, 2019. Retrieved July 20, 2023. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 National Park Service 1983, p. 2.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Carter's Review". CityRealty. 2011-12-23. Retrieved 2026-05-08.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Cohen, Michelle (2016-05-03). "Late Portrait Artist Aaron Shikler's UWS Co-op in the Iconic Studio Building Asks $7.8M". 6sqft. Retrieved 2026-05-08.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Landmarks Preservation Commission 1973, p. 7.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Alpern 1992, p. 52.
- ↑ National Park Service 1983, p. 3.
- ↑ Alpern 1992, pp. 52, 54.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 Alpern 1992, p. 54.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Architecture and Building 1909, p. 379.
- ↑ Shaver, Peter D.; State, Preservation League of New York (1993). The National Register of Historic Places in New York State. Rizzoli. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-8478-1789-4. Retrieved 2026-04-29. Search this book on
- ↑ Montanez, Abby (2025-03-20). "Late PBS Anchor Robert MacNeil's N.Y.C. Apartment Overlooks the Museum of Natural History". Robb Report. Retrieved 2026-05-08.
- ↑ Chen, Stefanos (2016-12-28). "Manhattan Home of Late Artist Aaron Shikler Asks $7 Million". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2026-05-08.
Sources
- Alpern, Andrew (1992-01-01). Luxury Apartment Houses of Manhattan: An Illustrated History. Courier Corporation. ISBN 978-0-486-27370-9. Search this book on
- Central Park West - 76th Street Historic District (PDF) (Report). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. April 19, 1973.
- National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Studio Apartments (PDF) (Report). National Park Service. 1983. Retrieved April 26, 2026. With accompanying pictures
- "Studio Apartment House; 44 West 77th Street, New York". Architecture and Building. William T. Comstock. 1909.
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- 1909 establishments in New York City
- Historic district contributing properties in Manhattan
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- Residential buildings completed in 1909
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