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555 Edgecombe Avenue
555 Edgecombe Avenue is an apartment building at the southwest corner of Edgecombe Avenue and 160th Street in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Built between 1914 and 1916, it was originally known as the Roger Morris Apartments after the retired British Army officer who built the nearby Morris–Jumel Mansion, and was designed by Schwartz & Gross, who specialized in apartment buildings. The building was declared a National Historic Landmark under the name Paul Robeson Residence in 1976, and it became a New York City designated landmark in 1993.
The building has an exterior of brick and terracotta. It has twelve floors, plus a basement and a cellar that are visible on Edgecombe Avenue. The double-height main entrance in the cellar, on Edgecombe Avenue, is set in an arched opening with ironwork at its peak. When 555 Edgecombe Avenue opened, there were 105 apartments with a combined 479 rooms. Over the years, the building has been rearranged, with 127 or 128 apartments as of 2022[update].
Albert J. Schwarzler bought the site on the western side of Edgecombe Avenue, between 159th and 160th Street, in 1908. The structure, which opened in January 1916, occupies the northern half of Schwarzler's site. Initially, the building catered to mostly white tenants, who all moved out between 1938 and 1940 as more black residents moved into the neighborhood. Numerous African American figures moved into the building, including actor/singer Paul Robeson and musician Count Basie, for whom part of the adjoining section of Edgecombe Avenue is named. After Schwarzler died in 1941, the building was sold in 1943, then again to Daddy Grace in 1947. The building was sold twice more in 1960, after Grace's death, and was owned by Matthew Golson and his family from 1960 until 2022.
555 Edgecombe Avenue is at the southwest corner of Edgecombe Avenue and 160th Street in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. The trapezoidal land lot covers 13,926 square feet (1,294 m2), with a frontage of 102.58 feet (31.27 m) and a depth of 150.42 feet (45.85 m). It has an alternate address of 400 East 160th Street. The building is near the top of Coogan's Bluff, a cliff on the western bank of the Harlem River, and faces the Morris–Jumel Mansion to the north and Highbridge Park to the east.
Although the building is five blocks north of the Sugar Hill Historic District, it is sometimes considered in Sugar Hill because of the building's high concentration of black residents. The intersection of Edgecombe Avenue and 160th Street is co-named "Paul Robeson Boulevard" and "Count Basie Place", after two notable residents. The street is co-named after Basie, while the avenue is co-named after Robeson. The building itself was frequently nicknamed "The Triple Nickel" because of its street address—in the United States, a nickel is worth five cents.
The site is part of the former estate of British Army colonel Roger Morris, who acquired land in Upper Manhattan in 1765 and built the Morris–Jumel Mansion at the top of Coogan's Bluff. The Morris family lived in the mansion until 1775, and the estate was occupied by the Continental Army, then by British and Hessian officers, during the American Revolutionary War. After the British evacuation of New York in 1783, the estate passed through multiple owners; the Jumel family bought the estate in 1810 and lived there for several decades. The Jumel estate had been split up by the end of the 19th century, and V. K. Stevenson bought the site of 555 Edgecombe Avenue at an auction in 1882. The construction of the New York City Subway's first line in 1904 spurred the development of row houses and apartment buildings in Washington Heights, which for the first time had easy access to Lower Manhattan.
The building was designed by Schwartz & Gross. It consists of twelve stories that are fully above ground, as well as a basement and cellar, which are one and two stories below the first floor, respectively. Due to the slope of the site, the basement and cellar are above ground level on Edgecombe Avenue. As such, the building's Edgecombe Avenue facade measures 14 stories high. The National Park Service (NPS) describes the building as thirteen stories high, plus the penthouse; an NPS report counts the basement as floor 1.
The facade is divided vertically into seven bays on its eastern elevation, facing Edgecombe Avenue, and thirteen bays on its northern elevation, facing 160th Street. The basement and cellar are clad with granite. The first through twelfth stories are clad with beige brick; the window sills, lintels, and band courses are made of terracotta. There are tripartite windows and double-hung windows on both elevations; the tripartite windows consist of a large central panel flanked by two narrower ones. The southern and western elevations are made of pale yellow brick with plain rectangular window openings. There is also a light court on the southern elevation.
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555 Edgecombe Avenue
555 Edgecombe Avenue is an apartment building at the southwest corner of Edgecombe Avenue and 160th Street in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Built between 1914 and 1916, it was originally known as the Roger Morris Apartments after the retired British Army officer who built the nearby Morris–Jumel Mansion, and was designed by Schwartz & Gross, who specialized in apartment buildings. The building was declared a National Historic Landmark under the name Paul Robeson Residence in 1976, and it became a New York City designated landmark in 1993.
The building has an exterior of brick and terracotta. It has twelve floors, plus a basement and a cellar that are visible on Edgecombe Avenue. The double-height main entrance in the cellar, on Edgecombe Avenue, is set in an arched opening with ironwork at its peak. When 555 Edgecombe Avenue opened, there were 105 apartments with a combined 479 rooms. Over the years, the building has been rearranged, with 127 or 128 apartments as of 2022[update].
Albert J. Schwarzler bought the site on the western side of Edgecombe Avenue, between 159th and 160th Street, in 1908. The structure, which opened in January 1916, occupies the northern half of Schwarzler's site. Initially, the building catered to mostly white tenants, who all moved out between 1938 and 1940 as more black residents moved into the neighborhood. Numerous African American figures moved into the building, including actor/singer Paul Robeson and musician Count Basie, for whom part of the adjoining section of Edgecombe Avenue is named. After Schwarzler died in 1941, the building was sold in 1943, then again to Daddy Grace in 1947. The building was sold twice more in 1960, after Grace's death, and was owned by Matthew Golson and his family from 1960 until 2022.
555 Edgecombe Avenue is at the southwest corner of Edgecombe Avenue and 160th Street in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. The trapezoidal land lot covers 13,926 square feet (1,294 m2), with a frontage of 102.58 feet (31.27 m) and a depth of 150.42 feet (45.85 m). It has an alternate address of 400 East 160th Street. The building is near the top of Coogan's Bluff, a cliff on the western bank of the Harlem River, and faces the Morris–Jumel Mansion to the north and Highbridge Park to the east.
Although the building is five blocks north of the Sugar Hill Historic District, it is sometimes considered in Sugar Hill because of the building's high concentration of black residents. The intersection of Edgecombe Avenue and 160th Street is co-named "Paul Robeson Boulevard" and "Count Basie Place", after two notable residents. The street is co-named after Basie, while the avenue is co-named after Robeson. The building itself was frequently nicknamed "The Triple Nickel" because of its street address—in the United States, a nickel is worth five cents.
The site is part of the former estate of British Army colonel Roger Morris, who acquired land in Upper Manhattan in 1765 and built the Morris–Jumel Mansion at the top of Coogan's Bluff. The Morris family lived in the mansion until 1775, and the estate was occupied by the Continental Army, then by British and Hessian officers, during the American Revolutionary War. After the British evacuation of New York in 1783, the estate passed through multiple owners; the Jumel family bought the estate in 1810 and lived there for several decades. The Jumel estate had been split up by the end of the 19th century, and V. K. Stevenson bought the site of 555 Edgecombe Avenue at an auction in 1882. The construction of the New York City Subway's first line in 1904 spurred the development of row houses and apartment buildings in Washington Heights, which for the first time had easy access to Lower Manhattan.
The building was designed by Schwartz & Gross. It consists of twelve stories that are fully above ground, as well as a basement and cellar, which are one and two stories below the first floor, respectively. Due to the slope of the site, the basement and cellar are above ground level on Edgecombe Avenue. As such, the building's Edgecombe Avenue facade measures 14 stories high. The National Park Service (NPS) describes the building as thirteen stories high, plus the penthouse; an NPS report counts the basement as floor 1.
The facade is divided vertically into seven bays on its eastern elevation, facing Edgecombe Avenue, and thirteen bays on its northern elevation, facing 160th Street. The basement and cellar are clad with granite. The first through twelfth stories are clad with beige brick; the window sills, lintels, and band courses are made of terracotta. There are tripartite windows and double-hung windows on both elevations; the tripartite windows consist of a large central panel flanked by two narrower ones. The southern and western elevations are made of pale yellow brick with plain rectangular window openings. There is also a light court on the southern elevation.