Former Helen Miller Gould Stable

History and architecture

The former Helen Miller Gould Stable, an early work of the noted firm of York & Sawyer, is an eminently pure example of the late French Renaissance style and set an exceptionally high standard of carriage house design. The facade presents the style's general characteristics, including symmetry, vertical correspondence, the combination of limestone and brick laid in Flemish bond with dark headers, aediculated dormers, the high hipped roof of slate and the tall flanking chimneys, while details culled from early 17th century prototypes successfully evoke the architecture of the reign of Henri IV. Built in 1902-03, this stable, the only one of the many lining this mews-like section of West 58th Street to survive unaltered and intact, adds dignity to the street with its distinguished facade design.

This stable, four stories and a basement, is constructed of limestone and brick laid up in Flemish Bond with dark headers. Characteristic of the late French Renaissance style — associated with the reign of Henri IV — the limestone is used for those parts of the facade where the load is greatest: the ground story arch, the quoins at the wall angles, the window frames, and the entablature. The attenuated hipped roof, flanked by a lower mansard, masks the fourth story. The massive flanking chimneys are also characteristic of the style.