Ritz Tower
The Ritz Tower is a luxury residential building at 465 Park Avenue on the corner of East 57th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It was built from 1925 to 1926 as an apartment hotel and was designed by Emery Roth and Thomas Hastings for journalist Arthur Brisbane, who was the developer. The Ritz Tower is about with 41 stories, making it the tallest residential building in New York City upon its completion. Because it was initially classified as an apartment hotel, the building was constructed to a greater height than was usually permitted.
Its classically-inspired design contains numerous setbacks with balustrades, as well as windows with pilasters and pediments. The lower floors are highly ornamented, featuring sculpted putti and urns, as well as rusticated limestone blocks. The top of the tower has a pyramidal roof with a tall obelisk. The interior of the building uses rich material, such as parquet floors and wood-paneled walls, all part of Brisbane's desire to make the Ritz Tower the most sought-after apartment hotel in the city. The tower had no individual kitchens in any of the 400 units. Residents over the years have included many personalities associated with the media. When the Ritz Tower was constructed, it received critical acclaim from architectural writers.
After the Ritz Tower opened on October 15, 1926, Brisbane contracted with the Ritz-Carlton Company to manage the building and the restaurants in it. Brisbane was soon unable to pay off the debt load and sold it to William Randolph Hearst, his longtime colleague and friend, in 1929. Hearst gave up the building to his bondholders in 1938 and the Ritz Tower became a housing cooperative in 1956. The retail space at the base has contained several restaurants and stores over the years, including Le Pavillon, one of the first authentic French restaurants in the U.S. In 2002, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Ritz Tower as a New York City landmark.
Site
The Ritz Tower is at 465 Park Avenue, on the northeastern corner with 57th Street, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The building faces west toward Park Avenue and south toward 57th Street. It is near the Fuller Building and the Four Seasons Hotel New York to the west, 500 Park Avenue to the northwest, and 432 Park Avenue and 450 Park Avenue to the southwest.The Ritz Tower occupies two land lots: a larger lot for residential and commercial use and a smaller lot for commercial and office use. The bulk of the building is on an L-shaped lot with an area of, a frontage of along 57th Street to the south, and a maximum depth of. The corner lot at Park Avenue and 57th Street has an area of, a frontage of along 57th Street to the south, and a frontage of along Park Avenue to the west. This arrangement exists because the developer, journalist Arthur Brisbane, never purchased the lot at the corner of Park Avenue and 57th Street. This lot contained a brownstone occupied the Roome family, who were loath to sell and instead leased the lot for $15,000 a year.
The site is at the intersection of two historically fashionable thoroughfares. By the late 19th century, the Park Avenue railroad line ran in an open cut in the middle of Park Avenue. The line was covered with the construction of Grand Central Terminal in the early 20th century, spurring development in the surrounding area, Terminal City. The adjacent stretch of Park Avenue became a wealthy neighborhood with upscale apartments. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, East 57th Street largely contained homes and structures built for the arts. Many of the residential structures on 57th Street were replaced with offices, shops, and art galleries by the 1920s.
Architecture
The building was designed by Emery Roth and Thomas Hastings and opened in 1926. Roth was the original architect; Hastings, a partner in the firm Carrère and Hastings, became involved in the project later on. Alexander S. Deserty was the consulting engineer. The Ritz Tower is variously characterized as 40, 41, or 42 stories tall, depending on whether the building's pinnacle is counted. The building has a height of to the roof above the highest story and to its pinnacle. According to architecture writer Robert A. M. Stern, the building "pinpointed the nexus of fashionable apartment house living".The Ritz Tower contains numerous setbacks to conform to the 1916 Zoning Resolution. There are setbacks on the fourth, 19th, 21st, 25th, and 33rd stories, as well as a pyramidal hip roof topped by an obelisk above the 40th floor. The fourth-story setback overlooks the three-story-tall corner lot on Park Avenue, which was leased from the Roome family. If the Roomes had ever taken back ownership of that lot, they could detach the setback section from the rest of the building, then install a staircase and elevator for their own use. The corner lot was never reverted to the Roome family, which sold the lot in the late 20th century. The other setbacks are mostly placed on all four sides of the building. The setbacks doubled as balconies for residents of the stories at which each setback was positioned.
Facade
The exterior of the Ritz Tower was designed during a transitional era of architecture in New York City, where architects were moving away from classical designs favoring Art Deco or modern classical designs. The building's lowest three stories are clad in rusticated blocks of limestone. The other stories are clad in tan brick, with Italian Renaissance-style terracotta ornament and articulation on all four sides. The design of the base was influenced mostly by Hastings's involvement, while Roth was more responsible for the upper stories. Steven Ruttenbaum described the upper stories' decoration as a "bolder and more aggressive type of ornament" than was used on the base, since the fine detail on the base would not have been noticed on higher stories.The ornament is largely clustered around the base, setbacks, and top of the building, while the middle stories are comparatively bare. The setbacks contain finials and obelisks, which soften the perceived sharpness of the setbacks.
Base
Facing west on Park Avenue, the limestone base is divided vertically into five bays. The center three bays contain double-height round arches while the outer two bays contain rectangular doorways with elaborate stone entablatures. The northern doorway is the building's main entrance and the southern doorway contains an entrance to the ground-level retail space. On the third story, the center three bays each contain two rectangular windows, separated by cartouches and flanked by flat panels, while the outer two bays each contain a single opening within flat panels. A balustrade runs above the third story. In the center three bays, the balustrade contains an ornamented parapet with putti and urns.Facing south on 57th Street, the limestone base is eight bays wide. The westernmost bay, closest to Park Avenue, contains a rectangular doorway with an elaborate stone entablature at ground level. To the east are three rectangular storefronts alternating with three double-height round-arched openings. The seventh bay from the west, a round arched opening, is a service entrance with a suspended awning; it was originally an alternate entrance to the interior. The eighth bay, the easternmost, contains a rectangular service entrance. Similarly to on Park Avenue, the third floor windows are largely grouped in pairs, though three of the outer bays are single windows. There are three cartouches on the third story, which correspond to the arched window openings below. A stone band with a cornice, atop the third story, is a continuation of the balustrade along Park Avenue.
Upper stories
On Park Avenue, the fourth story is eight bays wide, with the two outermost bays projecting slightly from the rest of the facade. The fourth-story windows are surrounded by stone quoins, with a stone disk above each window, as well as a terracotta string course above the entire fourth story. The fifth through 17th story windows are largely identical to each other, consisting of rectangular openings, with air conditioning units underneath some windows. The exception is the two outermost bays on the fifth floor, which are each flanked by stone pilasters and surmounted by a pediment. The south and north facades are very similar to the Park Avenue facade, except that both facades are twelve bays wide; the north facade adjoins a 15-story building. The east facade is also similar, but with nine bays, and adjoins a six-story building. On all four sides, a terracotta string course runs above the 17th story.At the double-height 18th story, all four facades are similar to each other, aside from the number of bays. On each facade, the outermost bays are flanked by brick piers, and they contain broken pediments with cartouches at their centers. The center bays on each side consist of rectangular windows, above which is a continuous lintel and several rectangular terracotta ventilation openings. Above the 18th story is a balustraded cornice with obelisks. The 19th story is set back on all sides and has rectangular windows topped by a lintel. The 20th story has rectangular windows with their own sills, and it is surmounted by a balustraded cornice with obelisks. The 21st through 24th stories are similar to each other, but with a string course and stone band above the 24th story. The north and south facades are wider on these respective stories than the west and east facades.
The 25th through 32nd stories are plain brick and are topped by a string course and balustrade. On the 33rd and 34th floors, the window bays are separated vertically by pilasters and horizontally by recessed spandrels. A string course, balustrade, and central pediment runs above the 34th story. The windows on the 35th story are connected by lintels and topped by a string course. The 36th and 37th stories contain plain openings. On the 38th story, there are three windows on all sides, with the center window on each side being ornately decorated. There is a partial hip roof above the 38th story, surmounted by a square tower with rounded corners. The 39th story has one window on each side while the 40th story has three small openings on each side. Above this is the hipped copper roof of the square tower, with finials at the corners and a limestone lantern and a pinnacle at the center. The pinnacle initially had a gold ball atop it, and the corners also had smaller obelisks with gold balls.