Residential Architecture

The AIA guide to New York Architecture is an indispensable companion for wandering around New York, especially if you are interested in architecture.   Luckily it exists in an e-book form, as otherwise it would be a nuisance to lug around (it's heavy).   Often, I will head towards an area with the goal of looking at a neighborhood where there are lots of noted buildings on the book's maps. (It covers details in all five boroughs of New York.)  On a recent walk, I started at the 148th Street Lenox Terminal on the far east side of Harlem, with the goal of walking towards the Hamilton Heights historic district on the west side of Manhattan.  

One of the things you notice when you look at prewar residential buildings is the extent to which they freely imitate and are inspired by virtually every style of architecture and architectural ornament in the past.   In fact, you could say they are "post-modern" in some sense, except that the buildings are not self-consciously quoting past styles, but rather deploying them in every possible way to appeal to their prospective buyers.  Thus you see 

Flemish style roofs, gothic windows, romanesque arches, and everything else under the sun imaginable. Churches, too, are often combining styles, but in a much less eclectic manner. 

Hamilton Heights has some beautiful residential areas, some of them relatively quiet and isolated.  These are not architectural masterpieces by any means, but I can't help but enjoy the exuberance and variety of the buildings.   You can also appreciate what it was that the architects of modern architecture were rebelling against.

Here are some photos of houses:

Somebody really did like that Flemish stuff!

 And there are churches:

Romanesque?

Italian Gothic?

Suddenly there was this church.  A Le Corbusier outtake?

Walking around there are many other things, like these painted murals on building walls.

Mausoleums in Trinity Cemetery:

This building on Riverside Drive looks like it came from Paris:

Ornamental brickwork:

Here is Alexander Hamilton's house, which has been moved twice from its original location.   (Is this where Hamilton lived when he wrote that Broadway musical?)   

The Upper West Side, needless to say, also has lots of eclectic residential architecture:

This is a detail from a building built in 1915 called "The Cliff Dwellers".

Other buildings:

And the West Side Collegiate Church: