History and architecture
Austerely classical in feeling, and displaying great dignity in its formal composition, this building is a fitting home for a distinguished society. It is designed in the Roman Eclectic style and solidly constructed in fine gray granite.
The facade is divided into very severe end pavilions bounding and containing a colonnaded central section which, though treated with great discipline, is nobly ornamental. At the second floor level a wide horizontal band course runs around the entire building, creating a ledge in the slightly recessed central portion of the structure. Resting on this ledge, and of great compositional importance, are the eight three-quarter engaged Ionic columns of the colonnade. These support a cornice which, apart from the handsome bronze grille-work of the large side windows, is the only element of the building which may be said to be richly ornamented. The pedimented heroic size main portal on Central Park West makes a very grand entrance to the building.
The easternmost section, facing Central Park, was completed in 1908, while the north and south wings were added in 1937. These additions, though designed by another architect, were so skillfully integrated, into the existing work that the structure appears to have been perfectly designed and constructed in one operation by one architect.
Sources and further reading
This history comes from the Landmarks app’s historical catalog. Names and building uses may reflect the period described.