Upper West Side, West End Avenue Between 88th and 87th Streets

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

I was startled at my first sight of these towers, especially the one closest. It seemed out of place, medieval. In fact the AIA New York Guide calls it "a startling work." But not exactly for its medieval appearance. More for its being in the imaginative vein of French neo-Classicist architecture. So I was off by a few hundred years.

Luckily, there is a 1987 Streetscapes article to provide a story. It describes the towers this way:

The most-striking feature of the church is its unequal pair of high, open towers on the West End Avenue front. Without bells, they have no apparent function and are haunting, evocative forms.

Note also that in January 2007, I posted a shot from the 86th Street side of this church.

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Upper West Side, West End Avenue at 88th Street

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

It's about time we saw some people on this walk. And luckily, they're not all wearing black.

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Upper West Side, West End Avenue Between 90th and 89th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2008 …………click to enlarge

Here I go again.

See the short building between two tall buildings?



Mary Sargent © 2008 ………click to enlarge

Here it is again, showing just how much taller the two tall buildings are.



Mary Sargent © 2008 ………click to enlarge

Farther down the block, here's another short building between two tall buildings.



Mary Sargent © 2008 …....……click to enlarge X And here you can see how tall the tall buildings are. Okay. Did you notice that the two short buildings are identical? What is going on in the streets of New York? Do architects and builders like to mess with us? Are they playful? In case you think I'm just showing you the same building twice on different days, notice that the doorway is on the left in the first short building and on the right in the second. Okay, so they're not identical; they're mirror images. See map.

Upper West Side, West End Avenue Between 91st and 90th

Mary Sargent © 2008 ………click to enlarge

It is a happy night when there is a Streetscapes article about the building I have just posted. My questions are all answered. If only Christopher Gray had noticed that the buildings across the street (see last night's posting) needed their own article.



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

Since you have a place to go for your questions about the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation, I will confine myself to criticizing the bright blue canopy. If ever anything was out of place, garish and unnecessary, this is it. If the perpetrator of this deed couldn't come up with a canopy more in keeping with the gothic style of this church, they should have just let people walk in the rain. If they can walk in the rain to St. Patrick's, they can walk in the rain to this Greek Orthodox Church. Good Lord. So to speak.

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Upper West Side, West End Avenue Between 91st and 90th Streets

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



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



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

Above are three shots which, together, show the entire east side of the street. North end, middle section and south end. You're going to have to pay close attention here, so drop everything and concentrate.

Okay, notice in the first photo that the end building is of a completely different style of architecture from the buildings next to it. I don't know what it's called (Italianate?), but I know it's different. It has ionic columns, and reddish brick and stripes at the top, whereas next to it is a row of typical New York brownstones.

In the next photograph, we see a good midsection of the brownstones, noticing that they are almost symmetrically organized. The windows at the top are entirely symmetrical, i.e., 2 square windows, 4 round windows, 4 square windows, 4 round windows, 2 square windows (you have to look at all three photographs to check this out). So they seem to have all been built by the same builder.

In the last photograph, we see that the end building is identical to the one on the north end. I don't know what to make of this. Was the entire block built as one? But why such disparate architecture? Or did some different architect just happen to obtain the two end lots? What really happened here?

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Upper West Side, West End Avenue at 92nd Street

Mary Sargent © 2008 ………click to enlarge

A bit of color. Not too much!

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Upper West Side, West End Avenue Between 94th and 93rd

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This is so West End Avenue. The monotony of it even overcomes the tree (see the tree?) which just disappears into the building.

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Upper West Side, West End Avenue Between 96th and 95th Streets

This afternoon I took a bag of clothes to the Salvation Army on West 96th Street. Afterwards, since I needed a short photowalk, I walked down West End Avenue to 86th Street, then back over to the subway on 86th and Broadway. Ten blocks isn't necessarily a short photowalk, but this being West End Avenue, I knew I wouldn't be dallying long.

It was a real November day, gray and bleak. Perfect for West End. See?


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

This shrouded building is the Emily Dickinson School, grades K-5.

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Upper West Side, West End Avenue, at 94th Street, looking north

Mary Sargent © 2008 … ….. click to enlarge


This shot was taken at 8:15 p.m., as the sun was winding down and so was I. Would you have thought West End Avenue was so hilly? (You won't see it unless you enlarge.)

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Upper West Side, West End Avenue at 104th Street

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


In late October last year, I took a 10-block walk on West End Avenue and complained about how dull it was: "One big apartment building after another, nothing commercial and no street life. The only reason it's not the dullest block in Manhattan (that honor falls to Fort Washington Avenue) is because the buildings are better looking than those on Ft. Washington and they have better details."

Well, why didn't I show you one of those dull, but relatively good looking buildings with relatively better details?

I did take photographs of 5 or 6 of them, including this very building, but didn't post any. Must have been the mood I was in.

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Upper West Side, West End Avenue Between 102nd and 103rd Streets

Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

And so we bid adieu to West End Avenue. For the end of the actual walk, go to the beginning. I mean, scroll down to October 28 and 27, in that order.

Tomorrow, Chelsea. Don't get excited, it's only Seventh Avenue.

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Upper West Side, West End Avenue Between 98th and 99th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Go here to see the entire building.


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Upper West Side, West End Avenue Between 97th and 98th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

Upper West Side, West End Avenue between 96th and 97th Streets

Mary Sargent © 2007 …………………………………….. click to enlarge

X
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And so I start my walk up West End Avenue.

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