Recent from talks
The Normandy
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
The Normandy
The Normandy is a cooperative apartment building at 140 Riverside Drive, between 86th and 87th Streets, adjacent to Riverside Park on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Designed by architect Emery Roth in a mixture of the Art Moderne and Renaissance Revival styles, it was constructed from 1938 to 1939. The building was developed by a syndicate composed of Henry Kaufman, Emery Roth, Samson Rosenblatt, and Herman Wacht. The Normandy is 20 stories tall, with small twin towers rising above the 18th story. The building is a New York City designated landmark.
The lowest 18 stories of the building are H-shaped, flanking courtyards to the west and east. There are numerous setbacks, some of which double as terraces. The first two stories are clad in rusticated blocks of limestone, with horizontal Art Moderne-style horizontal grooves. There are two semicircular entrances at ground level. The remainder of the facade is made of light brick with cast stone ornamentation, as well as movable windows and curved corners. The building has a sunken lobby leading to two elevator banks. On the upper stories, there were originally 250 apartments, each with two to seven rooms. The rooms are generally more compact than in earlier luxury apartment buildings, with many rooms arranged around central galleries. There is a double-level penthouse suite in each tower with seven rooms.
The building, possibly named for the French ocean liner SS Normandie, replaced twelve row houses built in the late 1890s. Plans for the Normandy apartment building were announced in August 1938; the building opened in September 1939 and was the last major apartment house developed on the Upper West Side before World War II. The Normandy was resold in 1944, 1952, and 1960. The building was converted to a housing cooperative in 1979 following a failed conversion attempt in 1971. The building was designated as a city landmark in 1985 amid a controversy over window replacements.
The Normandy is at 140 Riverside Drive on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. The building occupies the eastern sidewalk of Riverside Drive, across from Riverside Park between 86th Street to the south and 87th Street to the north. The Normandy is situated on an L-shaped land lot with an area of 28,700 square feet (2,670 m2). The lot measures 200 feet (61 m) along Riverside Drive, 125 feet (38 m) along 86th Street, and 160 feet (49 m) along 87th Street. The surrounding area contains row houses, as well as apartment buildings such as the Red House on 85th Street.
After the completion of Riverside Drive in the late 19th century, row houses were built on and near it. The site of the Normandy was occupied by twelve row houses that were built in 1896 by Henry Cook. These were composed of eight houses at 140–147 Riverside Drive, three at 348–352 West 87th Street, and 351 West 86th Street. Traffic engineer John A. Harriss acquired the house at 140 Riverside Drive in 1910. This house had contained a log cabin, chapel, and ballroom. Harriss's firm Rivercrest Realty acquired six of the adjacent houses in 1918. Rivercrest bought the remaining houses by 1921, and Harriss planned to build an apartment building on the site. The plans never materialized and the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company took over the buildings in 1933.
The Normandy was designed by Emery Roth in an Art Moderne style (not to be confused with a modern style). Roth avoided characterizing the Normandy as a modern-style building, in the belief that "every building is modern when erected". Original plans had called for the building to be designed in an Italianate style. Some Italianate details are retained in the final design, such as pilasters with ornate capitals; parapets with balustrades; and a pair of small "towers" above the main building. The facade shares several Art Moderne elements with Roth's earlier 888 Grand Concourse apartment building, including curved "pavilions" and recessed entrance vestibules.
The Normandy is 20 stories tall. The main section of the building rises 18 stories. These stories are roughly arranged in an "H" shape, with two pavilions, or wings, which flank courtyards both to the west and the east. The eastern section of each pavilion contains setbacks. The street-facing walls of each pavilion's eastern section have setbacks starting at the 15th story, while the inner faces of each pavilion have setbacks beginning at the ninth story. A two-story tower rises above both the building's northern and southern ends; each tower contains one penthouse apartment. The towers' presence may have been inspired by Roth's previous designs, which contained towers for mechanical equipment and water tanks.
The courtyards have a total area of 9,000 square feet (840 m2). According to The New York Times, the courtyards were landscaped by a "horticultural expert from Cornell University". The west courtyard is slightly recessed from Riverside Drive and is separated from the street by a wrought-iron and stone railing with urns. The rear or east courtyard is larger, with dimensions of 80 by 100 feet (24 by 30 m). The presence of the courtyards allowed every apartment to receive natural light from two frontages. Apartments in the center of the "H" received natural light from both courtyards. Roth included these courtyards because he believed residents wanted suburban features such as "a pleasant outlook, not bleak walls and windows".
Hub AI
The Normandy AI simulator
(@The Normandy_simulator)
The Normandy
The Normandy is a cooperative apartment building at 140 Riverside Drive, between 86th and 87th Streets, adjacent to Riverside Park on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Designed by architect Emery Roth in a mixture of the Art Moderne and Renaissance Revival styles, it was constructed from 1938 to 1939. The building was developed by a syndicate composed of Henry Kaufman, Emery Roth, Samson Rosenblatt, and Herman Wacht. The Normandy is 20 stories tall, with small twin towers rising above the 18th story. The building is a New York City designated landmark.
The lowest 18 stories of the building are H-shaped, flanking courtyards to the west and east. There are numerous setbacks, some of which double as terraces. The first two stories are clad in rusticated blocks of limestone, with horizontal Art Moderne-style horizontal grooves. There are two semicircular entrances at ground level. The remainder of the facade is made of light brick with cast stone ornamentation, as well as movable windows and curved corners. The building has a sunken lobby leading to two elevator banks. On the upper stories, there were originally 250 apartments, each with two to seven rooms. The rooms are generally more compact than in earlier luxury apartment buildings, with many rooms arranged around central galleries. There is a double-level penthouse suite in each tower with seven rooms.
The building, possibly named for the French ocean liner SS Normandie, replaced twelve row houses built in the late 1890s. Plans for the Normandy apartment building were announced in August 1938; the building opened in September 1939 and was the last major apartment house developed on the Upper West Side before World War II. The Normandy was resold in 1944, 1952, and 1960. The building was converted to a housing cooperative in 1979 following a failed conversion attempt in 1971. The building was designated as a city landmark in 1985 amid a controversy over window replacements.
The Normandy is at 140 Riverside Drive on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. The building occupies the eastern sidewalk of Riverside Drive, across from Riverside Park between 86th Street to the south and 87th Street to the north. The Normandy is situated on an L-shaped land lot with an area of 28,700 square feet (2,670 m2). The lot measures 200 feet (61 m) along Riverside Drive, 125 feet (38 m) along 86th Street, and 160 feet (49 m) along 87th Street. The surrounding area contains row houses, as well as apartment buildings such as the Red House on 85th Street.
After the completion of Riverside Drive in the late 19th century, row houses were built on and near it. The site of the Normandy was occupied by twelve row houses that were built in 1896 by Henry Cook. These were composed of eight houses at 140–147 Riverside Drive, three at 348–352 West 87th Street, and 351 West 86th Street. Traffic engineer John A. Harriss acquired the house at 140 Riverside Drive in 1910. This house had contained a log cabin, chapel, and ballroom. Harriss's firm Rivercrest Realty acquired six of the adjacent houses in 1918. Rivercrest bought the remaining houses by 1921, and Harriss planned to build an apartment building on the site. The plans never materialized and the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company took over the buildings in 1933.
The Normandy was designed by Emery Roth in an Art Moderne style (not to be confused with a modern style). Roth avoided characterizing the Normandy as a modern-style building, in the belief that "every building is modern when erected". Original plans had called for the building to be designed in an Italianate style. Some Italianate details are retained in the final design, such as pilasters with ornate capitals; parapets with balustrades; and a pair of small "towers" above the main building. The facade shares several Art Moderne elements with Roth's earlier 888 Grand Concourse apartment building, including curved "pavilions" and recessed entrance vestibules.
The Normandy is 20 stories tall. The main section of the building rises 18 stories. These stories are roughly arranged in an "H" shape, with two pavilions, or wings, which flank courtyards both to the west and the east. The eastern section of each pavilion contains setbacks. The street-facing walls of each pavilion's eastern section have setbacks starting at the 15th story, while the inner faces of each pavilion have setbacks beginning at the ninth story. A two-story tower rises above both the building's northern and southern ends; each tower contains one penthouse apartment. The towers' presence may have been inspired by Roth's previous designs, which contained towers for mechanical equipment and water tanks.
The courtyards have a total area of 9,000 square feet (840 m2). According to The New York Times, the courtyards were landscaped by a "horticultural expert from Cornell University". The west courtyard is slightly recessed from Riverside Drive and is separated from the street by a wrought-iron and stone railing with urns. The rear or east courtyard is larger, with dimensions of 80 by 100 feet (24 by 30 m). The presence of the courtyards allowed every apartment to receive natural light from two frontages. Apartments in the center of the "H" received natural light from both courtyards. Roth included these courtyards because he believed residents wanted suburban features such as "a pleasant outlook, not bleak walls and windows".
Recent media