The Dorilton
The Dorilton is a luxury residential housing cooperative at 171 West 71st Street, at the northeast corner with Broadway, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. The 12-story building, designed by local firm Janes & Leo in the Beaux-Arts style, was built between 1900 and 1902 for real estate developer Hamilton M. Weed. The Dorilton is a New York City designated landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Dorilton is roughly H-shaped in plan, with recessed light courts facing south and north. The southern light court, along 71st Street, functions as an entrance courtyard with a gateway. The limestone-and-brick facade is divided into three horizontal sections: a three-story base, six-story shaft, and three-story upper section with mansard roof. The decoration on the facade includes bronze oriel windows curving outward, as well as sculptures, decorative terracotta, and balconies. Inside, the building had its own mechanical plant and three elevators. The lobby had several classical details, while the upper stories had 48 apartments, which by the 21st century had been divided into 60 apartments. The units contained decorations such as paneling, Queen Anne style fireplaces, French doors, and round window bays. Since its completion, the building has been both praised and sharply criticized for its unusual design.
Weed bought the site in February 1900 and hired the firm of Janes & Leo to design a twelve-story apartment hotel on the site. The building cost $750,000 and was intended to attract middle-class residents who otherwise would not have lived in apartments. Storefronts on the ground floor were added after 1919, and many decorative elements were removed or had deteriorated by the 1950s. The Dorilton was sold several times over the years before becoming a housing cooperative in 1984. The exterior was restored in the late 1980s and again in the 1990s, and the interior spaces were restored in the mid-2010s.
Site
The Dorilton is at 171 West 71st Street, at the northeast corner with Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. It occupies the western end of a city block bounded by Broadway to the west, 72nd Street to the north, Central Park West to the east, and 71st Street to the south. The Dorilton occupies a trapezoidal plot because Broadway runs diagonally to the Manhattan street grid. The land lot covers, with a frontage of on 71st Street. The Broadway frontage has variously been cited as,, or. The northern boundary of the site measures wide.The building is near several other structures, including the Rutgers Presbyterian Church and the Ansonia apartments to the northwest, the Apple Bank Building one block north, the Triad Theatre to the east, and the Church of the Blessed Sacrament and the Pythian Temple to the southwest. Directly west of the Dorilton is Verdi Square and an entrance for the New York City Subway's 72nd Street station. In addition, Sherman Square is directly to the southwest.
Architecture
The building was designed by Janes & Leo for real estate developer Hamilton M. Weed. The building has a Beaux-Arts style limestone and brick exterior, featuring monumental sculptures, richly balustraded balconies, and a copper and slate mansard roof. The Dorilton is twelve stories high; the facade rises ten stories before the mansard roof.Form and facade
The Dorilton is roughly H-shaped in plan, with recessed light courts facing south and north. The southern light court, along 71st Street, functions as an entrance courtyard with a gateway divided into three sections. The outer two sections of the gateway contain large wrought-iron gates, behind which was a small, U-shaped driveway, while the center section contains a pedestrian entrance. The gateway also contains four limestone columns, which flank each section; the tops of the columns contain crestings and limestone spheres. In addition, between the two center columns is a frame that surrounds the pedestrian gate, which is decorated with a shield and two cherubs.The facade is divided into three horizontal sections, similar to the base, shaft, and capital of a column. The base consists of the first through third stories; the shaft comprises the fourth through ninth stories; and the capital includes the top three stories. At ground level, the building was originally surrounded by a recessed areaway, which was infilled in the 20th century. The ground and second stories of the facade are clad with rusticated blocks of limestone, while the third story is clad with alternating limestone-and-brick bands. Historical photographs indicate that the ground level facade on Broadway originally contained windows. By the late 20th century, the ground level contained storefronts facing Broadway. There is a large balcony above the third story, which is supported by heavy brackets, some of which are grouped in pairs. The balcony also contains a balustrade, which was originally topped by red or gray terracotta vases.
The midsection is clad largely in brick, except for the corners, which have limestone quoins. The brick was originally painted bright red. The Broadway facade is divided into three pavilions. There are bronze oriel windows curving outward from the center of the Broadway facade and from the center of either wing on 71st Street. The oriel windows on 71st Street are flanked by depictions of the mythological figure Atlas. The oriel window on Broadway is five stories tall and is flanked by representations of women at the fourth story. The northern and eastern elevations are faced in cheaper red brick with varying hues and textures. The ninth story is clad with alternating limestone-and-brick bands. At the ninth story, the southern light court is spanned by an arch, which is supported by a steel truss embedded within it. There are shields at either end of the arch, as well as deep voussoirs and a central keystone on the arch itself; the top of the arch is flat.The tenth story once contained another balcony, decorated with a balustrade and urns. The balcony was supported by large brackets on the ninth floor, which still exist. The building's mansard roof is variously cited as rising two and a half stories or three stories. The mansard was originally covered with slate, but this was replaced with tar paper in the mid-20th century. In addition, there was formerly segmentally-arched terracotta lintels above the eleventh-story windows, as well as large terracotta lintels above the three largest dormer windows on the mansard roof. Some of the copper cresting on the roof remains intact, and there are also chimneys.
Features
The Dorilton's entrance vestibule is decorated with putti that flank a cartouche, similar to the motifs above the center section of the 71st Street gateway. The lobby had several classical details, many of which were later painted over. The building has two passenger elevators and one service elevator, the latter used by freight and servants. The Dorilton also contained a lighting, heating, power, and refrigeration plant in one of its courtyards. The basement contained a storage room for every tenant, as well as an "automobile storage and charging room", which at the time was a novel feature for a New York City apartment building. When the Dorilton opened, each apartment and hallway had a telephone connecting with a janitor's office, and all tenants could use electricity from the building's power plant for free.Apartments
The upper stories originally had four apartments per floor. These apartments were arranged in suites with five, seven, eight, or ten rooms; there were one to four bedrooms in each unit. By 1923, there were 48 units in total, each with five to eight rooms, and each floor contained two to three bathrooms that were shared by all of the apartments. When the building was developed, the space under the mansard roof was intended to be leased out as artists' studios. The top of the building contained a roof garden, in addition to "sun parlors" measuring.The units were decorated with mahogany, oak, white-enamel, and maple trim. The hallways contained paneled wainscoting, while the floors were laid in a parquet pattern, Each residence had a parlor clad with white enamel and mahogany; the dining rooms had high wooden wainscoting, oak-and-mahogany finishes, and beamed ceilings. Many of the apartments were illuminated by the curved oriel windows of the facade. In contrast to later apartment buildings, the apartments typically had much fewer bathrooms than bedrooms, and the closets were extremely small. The hallways were also smaller than in later apartment buildings.
Over the years, many of the apartments have been divided into smaller units. These apartments retain some of their original decorations, such as paneling, Queen Anne style fireplaces, French doors, and round window bays. By the early 21st century, the building had 60 apartments, which vary in layout, and some of the units are duplexes. For instance, one of the eighth-floor duplexes has four bedrooms, two each on the upper and lower levels, in addition to various other rooms. Another unit, a two-bedroom apartment, contains a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, and outdoor terrace. Some of the apartments have fireplaces in both the living room and the dining room, in addition to curved oriel windows. Other apartments have design elements such as private libraries, French doors, and balconies; one of the penthouses has a terrace with a Jacuzzi, dining area, and plants.