When bricklayer John P. Thorton hired Frederick T. Camp to
design eight adjoining five-story buildings along the western block front of Fourth
Avenue between 88th and 89th Street in 1887, the
thoroughfare was still only marginally acceptable for respectable living. Although
the soot-coughing trains that had run up and down the center of the avenue had been
relocated below ground in 1875; the stigma hung on.
Considering Thorton’s profession, it is not surprising that
the new structures were brick-clad. One
year after their completion, the road was renamed Park Avenue; perhaps in an
effort to upgrade its reputation and marketability.
Over the next two decades the face of Park Avenue would
change dramatically. Once lined with
small business buildings like groceries and butcher shops, and minor
residential structures; by the turn of the century the avenue saw the arrival
of handsome Queen Anne rowhouses. On the
opposite side of Park Avenue from the Thornton buildings, Simon Ginsberg
operated his upholstery and furniture shop.
In 1905 he purchased No. 1082 Park Avenue and relocated his
shop. Business was apparently good for
Ginsberg, for his upholstery business engulfed most of the building by 1911.
Elegant private homes worthy of Fifth or Madison Avenue
began appearing along the Avenue by the advent of the first World War. The Ginsberg family lived upstairs at No.
1082 when son Herman joined the U. S. Army to fight for his country. Tragically, on October 14, 1918, The Official
U. S. Bulletin listed Private Herman Ginsberg among those missing in action.
When the New-York Tribune announced that Simon Ginsberg purchased
the abutting corner building on January 29, 1922, Park Avenue was undergoing
change again. The private homes and
remaining older business buildings were rapidly being razed and replaced with
modern Art Deco apartment buildings. The
eight brick-clad buildings between 88th and 89th Street
would soon be threatened.
A real estate development syndicate eyed the buildings as
the site for a cooperative apartment house.
In 1924 they began construction of No. 1088 Park Avenue, building around
Ginsberg’s two five-story buildings that he obviously refused to sell.
With everything on the block demolished except his two
hold-out buildings, Ginsberg looked to update his two structures. He commissioned architect Augustus N. Allen
to create a new eye-catching façade for No. 1082. Why he chose to initially ignore his newest real estate
purchase is unclear; at any rate the transformation of No. 1082 was astounding.
A deep Mediterranean-inspired cornice shades the multi-colored facade. |
Entirely faced in vividly-colored terra cotta, Allen’s
refurbished façade was a Mediterranean fantasy.
Decades later the AIA Guide to New York City would deem it “Sicily in
terra cotta.” Below a deeply-overhanging
cornice five stories of brilliant tiles executed by the Federal Terra Cotta
Company of Woodbridge, New Jersey took the form of twisted engaged columns,
heraldic designs, three-dimensional panels and rondels. Above the arcade shop window, framed in an
intricate terra cotta band, a wide surface allowed for the announcement of
Ginsberg’s business name. His name
reappeared in the blank panels below the fifth and third floors.
Ginsberg's business name originall filled the blanks above the show window and over the second floor. |
Eventually the upholster/landlord redid No. 1080 as
well. In 1927 Harry Hurwit designed a
new stucco-covered façade which retained several of the 19th century
elements.
Twisted engaged columns, exuberant capitals, and fantastic heraldic motifs cover the facade. |
By the mid-1930s Simon Ginsberg was still operating his
upholstery business in the building; yet he relinquished the income-producing
ground floor to an Atlantic & Pacific Tea grocery store. Before mid-century Ginsberg would be gone and
the upper stories filled with private medical offices.
![]() |
In 1938 the A & P Store was still at ground level. Ginsberg's name has been removed from the blank panels. photo by Wurts Bros., from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York http://collections.mcny.org/Collection/1082-Park-Avenue-24UFQEPSPSP.html |
The doctors’ offices would remain in the building until 1978
when the upper floors were converted to a single apartment per floor; with two
duplexes in the fourth and fifth stories.
Tragedy struck No. 1082 Park Avenue in June 1996. Since 1980 the sidewalk level commercial
space had been home to the Dutch Girl Cleaners, co-owned by Evelyn and Walter
Alvarez. Known locally as the “lollipop
lady,” the kindly Evelyn was familiar to neighborhood children for the candy she
doled out from behind the counter.
Around 4:30 on the morning of June 11 the 65-year old Evelyn
arrived to open the shop. At 4:51 a 911
operator received a report of two screams and responding police found Evelyn
lying in the doorway of the cleaners, bleeding from the head; the victim of an attempted robbery.
Three hours later the gentle woman known only for her
thoughtfulness and compassion died in Metropolitan Hospital Center.
The magnificent hood over the entry is breathtakingly intact. |
No comments:
Post a Comment