Portfolios > Buildings of Origin

The eleven-story, Arts and Crafts style apartment house, was built in 1914 for the Strathcona Construction Company, and designed by the distinguished architectural firm of George and Edward Blum. Prominently located on the northeast corner of Riverside Drive and West 155th Street, with a projected cost of $600,000, No. 780 was considered one of the tallest and most expensive buildings in the neighborhood. The fenestrations facing west onto Riverside Drive included symmetrical openings with square-shouldered double-hung wooden sash glazed in large cylinder glass panes with lights numbering three-over-three. This light configuration is repeated on the primary façade looking onto 155th Street including three centered bays of large window openings measuring 48-50 inches in width. The third elevation diagonally looking north onto Riverside Drive includes three-sided window openings, which include four windows in one-over-one configurations. The original façade of 780 Riverside Drive remains largely intact with the exception of its original wooden multi-lighted sash windows.

In March of 1997 the original wooden double-hung sash of 790 Riverside Drive were replaced by contemporary one-over-one aluminum retrofitted window systems. Original wood brickmolds were left intact beneath extruded aluminum panning. At that time, forty original wooden double-hung sash were gathered, becoming the first collection of retrieved sash, initiating the Window Installation Collection, and establishing the interest to study the issue of contemporary aluminum replacements in New York City residential buildings.
Catherine Albert