The buildings that are part of the historic district were mostly developed in the 1880s through 1930s, following the construction of Central Park. This was further spurred by the construction of the Ninth Avenue Elevated, which provided easy access to Lower Manhattan.[2]: 10 (PDF p. 24) Tenements and row houses lined Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues (formerly Tenth and Ninth Avenues, respectively), while more upscale luxury buildings were built on Central Park West (formerly Eighth Avenue).[2]: 11 (PDF p. 25) Generally, the further away a lot was from Columbus Avenue and its elevated railway, the more upscale the house was likely to become.[2]: 14–15 (PDF pp. 28–29) By the early 20th century, the row houses were destroyed to make way for apartment buildings. The construction of the New York City Subway's Eighth Avenue Line in the 1920s accelerated this process of redevelopment.[2]: 18–19 (PDF pp. 32–33)
The Central Park West Historic District was federally recognized on November 9, 1982, when it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It had been designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) in 1973. The LPC designation covered a T-shaped area, which included one block of West 76th Street, two adjacent blocks of Central Park West and a short stretch of West 77th Street, as the Central Park West–76th Street Historic District. The local designation and boundaries persisted well past the 1982 National Register listing.[3]
In 1990 the LPC formally extended the local boundaries of the Central Park West–76th Street Historic District to include almost all of the area included in the boundaries of the federal historic district. The much larger Upper West Side-Central Park West Historic District includes the area from 96th Street to 62nd Street and Central Park West to Amsterdam Avenue.[3]
Boundaries
The Central Park West Historic District is a linear historic district including the stretch of Central Park West from 61st to 97th Streets.[1] When the Upper West Side–Central Park West Historic District was designated in 1990 as a local historic district its boundaries closely mirrored those of the 1982 Central Park West Historic District, except the local historic district encompasses land stretching to Amsterdam Avenue.[3] The federal historic district is considerably smaller than the local district.[4][5][2]: PDF pp. 3, 5
Of the buildings within the boundaries of the historic district only one was considered a non-contributing property to the historic character of the district when it was nominated to the National Register: the building located at 80 Central Park West, a 1965 modern building. The area within the district is home to nearly 40 high-quality, luxury apartment highrises. Sprinkled within the residential buildings are four Christian churches, one synagogue, several smaller-scale, multi-family houses, the New York Society for Ethical Culture, the New York Historical Society and the American Museum of Natural History.[4][note 1]
Contributing properties
These properties are contributing properties to the Central Park West Historic District. In general this means that they add to the character of the historic district.
At 30 floors, one of three buildings tied for the title of the district's tallest.[4] It was constructed at a cost of $6.5 million and designed by the firm owned by Irwin S. Chanin.[8] The Century apartment building is located on the former site of the Century Theatre, which was demolished in 1930 and 1931 to make way for the apartments.[9] The building is one of three within the boundaries of the historic district that stretch upwards 30 floors, thus tying it for the title of the district's tallest building.[4]
Informally known as "Ghostbusters Building" since 1984 film was filmed there.[11] In the film, the building (referred to as "Spook Central") was said to have been designed by mad architect Ivo Shandor, in reality, the Art Deco building was constructed in 1929 and designed by Schwartz & Gross. The 19-floor building was portrayed as taller in the film.[4][12]
Also known as the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue. It is the oldest American Jewish congregation[14] is the fifth in a line of structures dating back to 1730, though only the current building was located near Central Park West.[14]
Five townhouses; 3 (352 and 353 Central Park West and 1 West 95th Street) were demolished c.1992 and replaced by 353 Central Park West, a 19-story building
The Central Park West Historic District is significant, in regards to the National Register, for its architecture and its character as a cohesive residential area. The district is located along one of the city's finest residential streets and consists mostly of apartment buildings which are among some of the earliest in New York.[4]
With the 1990 local boundary increase the NYLPC developed the theme that the strength of the historic district lay in its diversity. The Commission called the buildings in the district brashly "commercial" and "stylistically diverse." The Commission went on to stress the importance of the district's special skyline that challenged the whole of the New York skyline. "The stylistically diverse buildings of Central Park West create a streetscape and a skyline which is exuberant and varied as to scale, height and form", the Commission stated.[3]
References
Explanatory notes
^The list contains information on each structure including, its common name. If the building doesn't have a general common name that can be attributed to a reliable source then the address is substituted. The address is listed for each structure because it provides a general reference point to navigate the structures of the historic district. The list's default sort orders the properties as they are on the street, from low numbered blocks (e.g. 15 Central Park West) to high numbered blocks (e.g. 336 Central Park West). Properties with addresses on streets other than Central Park West also follow this order and are in place on the list as they would appear if the historic district were walked through. Linked information on each building's major architectural themes is also listed. Following the date of construction the architect or architects names are listed. Any pertinent remarks are listed in the last column.
Central Park West Historic District, (Java), National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, New York's State and National Registers of Historic Places Document Imaging Project [2], New York State Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved April 2, 2007.
Congregation Shearith Israel, Building Report, International Survey of Jewish Monuments. Retrieved April 3, 2007.