Corner Children

Monday, April 2nd, 2007

Corner Children

Park Avenue and 23rd Street

23rd Street and Park Avenue in Manhattan.

14 Responses to “Corner Children”

  1. Way too cool, I don’t remember seeing these but probably did, good shot.

  2. Randall, you’re good at this. What can you find out about this building. It’s on the South East corner. I think the address is 100 East 23rd Street. At least that’s the address of the Vitamin Shoppe at that corner.

  3. If it might be 110 East 23rd as the main entrance, and is 10 stories high it’s from 1905 and cost $70,000
    Oswald Oelschlaeger / owner 918 Hudson st, Hoboken, N J

    George M Walgrove / architect 42 E 23d [23rd] st

  4. You are probably right, Randall. Next time I’m up that way, I’ll check the entrance number. Thanks.

  5. Mike, I was in the middle of research when the power went off, back now, I was using google maps to see if I could tell which building it is, it MAY have a Park Avenue address since it’s on the corner and having a "Park Avenue" address was and is a big thing!

    Park and 23rd, about 20 stories hight with a fairly large overhanging rooftop cornice right?
    Google maps gets in pretty close but not quite close enough to see smaller details.

    The style says Stanford White to me, I don’t find any building over 12 stories high in the database there, so it may be older than 1900.

    These figures are very good quality, this was a top notch project which is another reason I suspect White. Next time you are up there let’s see more of it and the exact entrance address if possibe and I’ll look again.

    I believe this is the building;
    (deleted)

  6. That’s not it, Randall. Here’s a photo of the full whole building:

  7. So fabulous. I love this shot. Just amazing to have this level of detail out of the gaze of everyone – apart from those armed with supersonic lenses.
    Incredible dedication to detail .

  8. I’m constantly gazing upward looking for these things. And yes I love my dmc-fz5.

  9. Ahh ok Mike great! I’ll look again, that’s about 8 stories give or take depending on how the floors are arranged inside.
    Other than the panels this building looks pretty plain. I believe the top floor MAY have been an addition, the large cornice typically would be the roof, if I’m right the addition of the toop floor could have been done just a few years later after construction- not unheard of.

  10. Now that you mentioned it, it does look like an addition.

  11. Hey Mike, your other photo has the note "23rd st FOURTH avenue" which would now be Lexington (the old sign on the building says "fourth"
    I was looking at 23rd and Park becuase your title was 23rd and park :)

    100 e 23rd comes up on the corner of PARK and shows this;

    Number of floors: 16 Building Gross Area: 145299 sq. feet
    Residential Units: 179 Total # of Units: 190

    Anyway, something isn’t right because the database for that intersection says there is that 16 story building at #100 and a 12 story building but nothing around 7 or 8. I’ll look again when I have a moment.

  12. It’s a Park Avenue address, 295 Park Avenue South:
    http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/rental/38603–295-park-avenue-sout...
    Sorry to have sent you off on a wild goose chase with the 23rd Street address of the Vitamin Shoppe.
    http://www.preserve2.org/gramercy/proposes/ext/ension/295park.htm

    The New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was organized in 1875 in response to a law passed in that year by the New York State Legislature authorizing the establishment of branches of this child-welfare organization in each county of state. The organization was established to investigate cases of cruelty to children under the age of 16, to care for abused children, and to assist in the enforcement of laws established to protect children.

    The Society’s building on the southeast corner of Park Avenue South and East 23rd STreet was begun in 1892, the same year that work began on the adjoining United Charities Building. It is clear from the restrained exterior design that the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children did not wish to expend a great deal of unnecessary money on the embellishment of their new headquareters. The building has an unadorned stone base, a simple yesllow brick upper facade, and modest terra-cotta detail. The major ornamental features are located on the seventh floor, where terra-cotta panels with figures of children represent the original use of the building. These panels are modeled after those designed by Andrea Della Robbia at the Ospedale degli Innocenti in Florence. This terra-cotta work was created by the Perth Amboy Terra Cotta Company. The main entrance, located in the center of the Park Avenue South elevation, was originally set within a projecting two-story portico with freestanding columns, but this entrance has been cut back to the building line. The building has been converted into apartments.

  13. Not a problem Mike, see, we were discussing Park Ave and I mentioned it likely had a Park Ave address as that holds prestige and it turned out to be right!

    Good find on the data, the database I access didn’t have this building at all because it’s pre 1900 construction-I had wild-carded my search and it showed no buildings in that area that fit the height, so I was almost certain w/o the address etc that it was pre 1900 and that was right too- 1892
    The architects were Renwick, Aspinwall & Renwick, so I was wrong there, but if this is the same Renwick I have in mind JAMES Renwick, he was the architect of Grace church and St Patrick’s

    The budget explains the somewhat plain building and in the back of my head the thought came to me the panels had some connection to Della Robbia and children, possibly the owner’s daughter- they are unusual.
    I think you have another photo of a building with some Della Robbia carvings- babies swadled tightly in wraps, it was originally a foundling hospital and as I remember it was up somewhere in the 20′s on the East side, NY hospital
    This was New York Lying-In Hospital (1899) in the early 20th Century, 60 percent of all NYC hospital births were here.

    static.flickr.com/60/186830324_4e162f1ebe.jpg
    static.flickr.com/64/186830325_15654e6192.jpg?v=0

  14. Yup:
    gammablog.com/?p=3245

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