Sara Delano Roosevelt Memorial House

History and architecture

The Upper East Side Historic District epitomizes the architectural development of this section of the city in a variety of architectural styles and building types ranging from later 19th-century brownstone rowhouses to mid 20th-century apartment buildings.

A striking Victorian Gothic rowhouse, built as one of a group during the Civil War years, may be seen at 129 East 70th Street. When development began in the late 1860s and early 1870s, rows of brownstone houses in the popular Italianate style were built on several of the side streets, as well as on Madison Avenue. During the second wave of development, in the period of recovery from the Panic of 1873, the construction of brownstone houses in the neo-Grec and Queen Anne styles continued on all of the side streets and on Madison Avenue. Often a group of houses on Madison Avenue and the adjacent side street would be developed together. Some houses were oriented to Madison Avenue, generally including the corner -property, while other houses of the group faced the side street.

Among the architects active in the area during the period were Breen & Mason, Charles Buek, Charles Graham & Sons, D. & J. Jardine, Edward Kilpatrick-, Anthony Mowbray, William P. Parsons, John G. Prague, Thorn & Wilson, and James E. Ware (see Architect's appendix). Genetally without formal training these architects began their careers as masons, carpenters, or builders. A number of them also acted as real estate developers, buying large parcels of property, subdividing them into 20-foot lots, erecting rows of houses on the property, and then selling them to middle class families.

Virtually all of the blocks within the Historic District, with the exception of the Fifth Avenue blockfronts, were initially developed in this speculative manner. Many of these brownstone houses survived only until the early 20th century when they were either replaced by new houses or were extensively altered with completely new facades.