History and architecture
This handsome apartment house built around a large central courtyard fills a short city block between Broadway and West End Avenue. Designed in the Italian Renaissance style by Clinton & Russell for the Astor Estate, it remains today much as it was when originally built with the exception that stores have been added at street level on the Broadway side.
William Waldorf Astor named his apartment house after the very fine old Apthorp mansion which once stood at Ninety-first street. Historically, the site of the apartments was once occupied by the country house of Baron John Cornelius van den Heuval, former governor of Demeorara. This house was built in 1796 and demolished in 1905. Among the notable tenants who have lived in the Apthorp are Robert P. Doremus, one time president of the New York Stock Exchange, Robert Ingersoll of dollar watch fame, Ferdinand Pecora, a justice of the New York Supreme Court, Robert C Weinburg, prominent city planner, and the choreographer George Balanchine.
Sources and further reading
This history comes from the Landmarks app’s historical catalog. Names and building uses may reflect the period described.