Morris B. Sanders Studio & Apartment

History and architecture

Morris B. Sanders, Jr. designed and built 219 East 49 Street in 1934-35. Located in the Turtle Bay section of Manhattan, between Second and Third Avenues, this building was one of the earliest structures in New York City to adapt the aesthetic principles pioneered by Le Corbusier and other European modernists starting in the 1920s. Whereas the nearby Lescaze House, considered to be the first truly modern-style residence in New York City, was built on East 48 Street as an alteration to an existing structure in 1934, the 5½ story Sanders Studio & Apartment was an entirely new structure. Planned with two duplex apartments and an office for Sanders on the first floor, the upper stories are cantilevered and clad with blue glazed brick and several types of glass.

There is hardly any ornament, no stoop to ascend, and the entrance is set at a slight angle to the street. This level, in contrast to the floors above, is faced with white marble and features a curved, waist-high planting bed. The upper stories juxtapose solids and voids, alternating recessed balconies with rear walls of clear glass and glass-block windows. At the time of completion, 219 East 49 Street was received favorably. The Architectural League of New York City awarded the project a silver medal for domestic architecture in 1935, applauding the architect’s “fresh and modern use of glazed brick and glass brick and a harmonious color scheme.”

Articles devoted to the house were also published in London’s Architectural Review and the Architectural Forum. Morris Lapidus, who collaborated with Sanders on a pavilion at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, later described it as “a fine modern building, one of the first of its kind.”