Save the West 86th Street Townhouses

To the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission:

We, the undersigned, strongly urge you to preserve and landmark the four townhouses on the south side of West 86th Street between Broadway and West End Avenues (#s 272, 274, 276, and 278). These four townhouses were built in 1895 by the famed architect Charles Pierrepont Henry Gilbert. Gilbert (often known as CPH Gilbert) was a renowned and prolific architect of his time. Gilbert designed mansions for many important New York families, including, the Woolworth family home on 80th Street and Fifth Avenue, (unfortunately, now demolished); the home of Joseph R. DeLamar on 37th Street and Madison (now the Polish Consulate); and the Felix Warburg home (now, the Jewish Museum on 92nd Street and Fifth Avenue). His Fletcher mansion at 79th Street and Fifth Avenue, built from 1897 to 1899, (now known as the Ukrainian Institute of America) is one of his finest and most recognizable works. Both this mansion and his house for Philip Kleeburg at 3 Riverside Drive, built in 1896, are an expression of Gilberts exuberance in the French Gothic style. With curlicues, lacy motifs, pinnacles, and other details, Gilberts elegantly ornamental designs garner positive reviews as his designs evoke fantasy as well as architecture. Many of Gilberts buildings have already been landmarked and, in 2000, the A.I.A. Guide to New York City, by Norval White and Elliot Willensky had indexed 24 of his buildings. We believe for the reasons stated below that the four West 86th Street Gilbert Townhouses (#s 272, 274, 276, and 278) should be landmarked as well.

These four West 86th Street Gilbert townhouses are built in the French Neo-Renaissance style with delightful details worked into their stone facades. These buildings exhibit rounded bays running up three stories of the buildings, petite balconies, intricate floral swags atop the tall windows and mirror-image placement with respect to one another. This unique architectural design allows each of the four structures to be differentiated from the other yet at the same time exhibits a smooth, sensuous curve when viewing the four together. West 86th Street was once all townhouses from Central Park West to Riverside Drive. Now, with the majority of West 86th Street buildings being large-scale structures, it has become the exception to find four unique townhouses together in a row. Thus, the four Gilbert townhouses on West 86th Street have come to represent a historical rarity.

In addition, directly across the street from the buildings is the landmarked St. Paul and St. Andrews Church (on the northeast corner of 86th Street and West End Avenue). Since this is a small block and there are few other buildings, the most noticeable structures are Gilberts turn of the century townhouses and the ornate, stone and terra-cotta Mantuan church. Together these structures are able to set the tone of the block and create a small enclave reminiscent of an older time. The blocks mature trees further the sense that, in this one small space, one has been transported to a different historical time in New York City.

This stretch of West 86th Street with these four unique Gilbert townhouses, as well as the lofty trees, the St. Paul and St. Andrew Church across the street, and the openness of the sky at sunset due to Riverside Park being so proximate imbue this block with a truly special aesthetic. The loss of any one of these elements that now exist would destroy the uniqueness of this historical and beautiful scenario. We hope that you will find CPH Gilberts buildings worth preserving and worthy of a landmarks preservation designation.