Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Upper West Side, Riverside Drive Between 108th and 107th Streets


Mary Sargent © 2008 ………. click to enlarge

See the plaque beside the door? That teeny little dark rectangle there on the right side of the tree? It says "This House (1899-1901) is listed in the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior". Sometimes it's obvious why a building would be listed, but in many cases, like this one, it's not apparent why this one would be listed and, for example, the one next door (see below) would not be.



Mary Sargent © 2008 ……. click to enlarge.........Mary Sargent © 2008 ………. click to enlarge


[Wow, look at that - side by side]

I looked up the National Register on the Web. It's not user friendly, but one can find a specific listing by scrolling through all of the listings. The address of the house with the plaque is 352 Riverside Drive. I did not find that listing, but I did find a listing for 351 Riverside Drive, which is the address of the building next door (above) (which has no plaque). And the dates on this listing are 1875-1899.

Another Manhattan mystery. I'll investigate further as soon as I have time. You bet.

See map.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is not a mystery, once you remember we are in New York City, amid many clever,manipulaive and resourseful folk. The non-listed next door neighbors obviously lifted the sign from the rightful house as a self-protective measure. You and your trusty camera just revealed the truth.

Anonymous said...

Actually, 351 Riverside was built in 1909 by a Turkish tabacco magnate. It is a landmarked building in NYC - I have no idea as to whether it is in the national registry. It does seem from early photographs of 351 that the building next door was not there at the time but it is not completely clear from the photographys that I have seen. The building with the plaque also has an identical sister building one door north.

Mark Hurst said...

Here's more on the Turkish Tobacco Mansion: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/nyregion/03mansion.html

Anonymous said...

Just saw a yearbook for the St Hildas and St Hughs school from 1963 - address 351 Riverside Drive.
How cool to attend school in such a gorgeous bldg.