The El Dorado

The construction of Central Park in the 1860s spurred construction in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, but similar development in the Upper West Side was slower to come.[12][13] Major developments on the West Side were erected after the Ninth Avenue elevated line opened in 1879, providing direct access to Lower Manhattan.[14][15] The first large apartment building in the area was the Dakota, which opened in 1884.[16][17] The city installed power lines on Central Park West at the end of the 19th century, thus allowing the construction of multi-story apartment hotels with elevators.[18]

Among these early apartment hotels was the original El Dorado between 90th and 91st Street.[19][20] The original El Dorado, an eight-story apartment complex completed in 1902,[11] was designed by Neville & Bagge and developed by John Signell.[19] It was composed of two separate structures[6] that collectively contained 50 apartments, each with four to fifteen rooms.[21] There was also a garage, a charging station for early electric cars, and exterior turrets.[19][21] Though the New-York Tribune dubbed the old El Dorado as "the most notable apartment house on Central Park",[21] The New York Times said it much resembled the typical "moderate-rent apartment house".[19]

Lower stories of the main elevation on Central Park West

The El Dorado is 391 ft (119 m) tall.[27] The base is 17 stories high,[5] and two towers rise an additional twelve stories from the eastern portion of the base.[28] The El Dorado is one of four buildings on Central Park West with a twin-towered form; the others are the Century, the Majestic, and the San Remo.[19][lower-alpha 1] The massing of the El Dorado and similar buildings was shaped primarily by the Multiple Dwelling Act of 1929. Under this legislation, the "street walls" of apartment buildings could rise one and a half times the width of the adjacent street before they had to set back. On lots of more than 25,000 sq ft (2,300 m²), the street walls could rise three times the width of the adjacent street.[24] In practice, this meant that buildings on Central Park West could rise 19 stories before setting back.[31] By splitting the upper stories into twin towers, as opposed to a single bulky tower, the developers could increase the amount of space that was near a window.[32]

The Central Park West elevation of the facade is symmetrical and is divided vertically into bays; there is one window per floor on each bay.[5] The lowest three stories of the Central Park West elevation contain a yellow facade of cast stone.[5][33] Above the third story is a frieze of inverted arches and chevrons.[5] Along the north and south elevations, the cast stone base is mostly one story high, except the easternmost seven bays, which are three stories high and designed similarly to the Central Park West elevation.[28] The remaining stories are largely clad in tan brick, though the facade is also trimmed with yellow terracotta and light-brown brick.[5][34] The facade remains largely in its original condition except for some window replacements.[28]

Most of the ground floor contains windows and doors that lead to professional apartments there.[35] The doors have Art Deco-style curved railings.[5][36] The main entrance on Central Park West contains three angled bronze arches at ground level, each of which corresponds to two bays. The spandrels above the arches, between the ground and second stories, are decorated with geometric patterns and motifs of birds.[5][37] On the second story, there are two windows above each arch, or six in total, separated vertically by a stepped bronze pier with an incised geometric pattern. On the third story, there are three cast-stone piers at the center of the facade, which correspond directly to the bronze piers below them.[5] Additionally, service entrances with Art Deco designs are placed on the westernmost end of the 90th and 91st Street frontages.[28]

Windows in the outermost, second-outermost and third-outermost sections from left to right

Above the ground story, the Central Park West elevation is divided into eleven groupings of bays from south to north. The central grouping is six bays wide and flanked by alternating groupings of two and three bays.[5][lower-alpha 2] Above the 3rd story are several groupings of brown-brick bays (flush with the rest of the facade) and projecting tan-brick bays, as well as projecting tan-brick piers that separate different groupings. These design elements emphasize the vertical dimension of the facade. Within the brown-brick bays, the windows on different floors are separated by spandrels with vertical brick bands.[35][lower-alpha 3] Each window is divided into three sections: a pair of movable casement windows, above which is a stationary transom window.[5] On the north and south elevations, the third- and fourth-easternmost bays are clad with brown brick, while the rest of the facade is made of tan brick.[28]

At the 13th story, the two middle bays contain angular stone balconies, which are supported by stone corbels and decorated with chevrons. There are similar angled stone balconies in the outer section of the 15th story.[lower-alpha 4] The five central groupings are set back above the 14th floor, forming a balcony with an Art Deco balustrade. The six outermost groupings are set back above the 16th and 17th floors, and the center six bays are also set back above the 16th floor; these all contain Art Deco balustrades.[5] Above the brown-brick bays, the setbacks are decorated with geometric patterns such as chevrons and diaper patterns.[35]

Tops of the towers as seen from the south

Above the 17th story rise the towers, which are largely clad in tan brick. On Central Park West, the towers are each six bays wide, though the four middle bays have brown-brick spandrels; the other elevations of the towers are decorated similarly. There are terracotta balconies at the 26th story facing Central Park West. The windows on the 27th and 28th stories are decorated with terracotta panels. The corners of each tower are set back slightly above the 27th story, and the remainder of each tower is set back above the 28th story. The top two stories of each tower are penthouse apartments.[28] However, only the south tower's top is habitable, featuring a two-floor, dual-terraced penthouse. The top of the north tower houses a water tank, but the floors beneath are habitable.[11]

The top of each tower contains finials above the 30th story, giving the pinnacles a stepped profile.[28][38] According to Robert A. M. Stern, the pinnacles are shaped like belfries, which can be seen from Fifth Avenue across Central Park.[38] Roth was responsible for the painted metal finials.[11] The pinnacles were visible from New Jersey to the west, Long Island to the east, and Westchester to the north.[39]

As of 2022, the New York City Department of City Planning cites the El Dorado as having 204 residential apartments and 4 non-residential units.[3] When the El Dorado opened, it contained 200 apartments with a total of 1,500 rooms between them.[40] News articles from 1943 described the building as having 220 unfurnished apartments, each of which had three to twelve rooms.[41][42] When the building was sold in 1953, it was described as containing 1,310 rooms across 216 apartments.[39][43] According to a 1986 book by Steven Ruttenbaum, there were 186 apartments with a total of 1,300 rooms. Each of the lower stories had 11 apartments with three to twelve rooms per suite, and most units occupied a single level (as opposed to double-level duplexes). Most units consisted of five to eight rooms; while some suites had twelve rooms, they were outnumbered by those with three or four rooms. In the tower sections, there was one apartment per story, each with eight rooms.[33]

The El Dorado was generally marketed to a less wealthy population than other buildings on Central Park West, such as the Beresford and San Remo.[33] Many apartments did not have servants' rooms. Even the modernistic Art Deco design was intended to appeal to "new money" residents, as opposed to the classical designs of the Beresford and San Remo, where many residents were of "old money" wealth.[33] A 1953 article described the building as also having 675 bathrooms and 13 elevators.[39] The elevators were grouped into five cores; this minimized the need for public corridors except on the ground floor.[33] Many of the units had wood-burning fireplaces and 29 apartments also had outdoor terraces.[43] Some of the original units have since been combined.[44] In the mid-1990s, one of the towers' spires contained a four-story apartment, while the other contained a water tank.[45]

The main lobby was originally decorated in marble. Documents indicate that the lobby contained three murals, which depicted the concept of a high-rise skyline as a "type of promised land", according to Joseph Giovannini of The New York Times.[46] According to a 1953 news article, the main lobby was decorated with murals, statues, and 14-karat gold decorations and friezes. In addition, there were alcoves throughout the lobby.[39] At some point in the 20th century, the lobby was covered in wallpaper and repainted to resemble marble. The original design was restored in the early 1980s.[46] The El Dorado also contains a community center and athletic facility in its two basement levels. There is a community room, which is free for residents to use, as well as a mini basketball court and a gymnasium, which residents pay a one-time fee to use.[47]

View of the main entrance

In March 1929, developer Frederick Brown acquired the original El Dorado Apartments, as well as eight adjacent row houses on 90th and 91st Streets. The assemblage measured 200 ft (61 m) long on Central Park West and 90th Street and 175 ft (53 m) long on 91st Street.[48][49] Three weeks later, Brown resold the sites to Louis Klosk, a Bronx-based developer who planned to erect a similarly named 22-story apartment building at a cost of $8.5 million.[50][51]

Klosk hired Margon & Holder and Emery Roth to design the building, and the architects created multiple designs. Early plans called for a 16-story building with a streamlined base and a flat top.[11] During the development process, Roth's classical designs were changed to more closely resemble the Art Deco style.[11][52] Margon & Holder's final plans depicted a 28-story, twin-towered building that, except for the shape of the finials, was identical to the current building.[11] The final plans called for two towers above a base of 18[7] or 19 stories.[6] The lowest stories would have 186 apartments, each with four to eight rooms.[6] The towers would contain two apartments per floor, each with eight rooms and four bathrooms.[6][7]

Elkay Builders Corporation was hired as the new El Dorado's builder, and demolition of the existing site was underway by November 1929.[6][7] That month, Klosk obtained a $4.5 million loan from the General Realty and Utilities Corporation.[6] The Wall Street Crash of 1929 had a delayed impact on the building. Even in January 1930, a brochure proclaimed that the El Dorado had been "designed with impressive simplicity" and would be completed the next year.[11] Leasing commenced in 1930, but the building was not complete when the leasing season ended at the beginning of October. As a result, it was nearly impossible to obtain a construction mortgage.[53] That November, the building's contractors filed for unpaid mechanic's liens that were worth "several hundred thousand dollars".[53]

Seen from just inside Central Park near 92nd Street

The El Dorado was completed around 1931[54] or 1932.[55] Klosk continued to experience financial issues and, in June 1931, he defaulted on a mortgage worth $3.1 million.[56] Four months later, the New York City government scheduled a foreclosure auction for the El Dorado.[57][58] In early November 1931, the Central Park Plaza Corporation took over the El Dorado for $4.2 million, having submitted the only bid in the auction.[59] Klosk did not live in the El Dorado, but he did have a home nearby on Central Park West.[60] By 1938, the El Dorado's manager E. Eugene Grossman reported that 95 percent of the building's apartments had been rented.[40][61] The next year, Grossman and building resident John Gunther opened a gallery of French art, having found that many residents were also interested in modern art.[62][63] The journalist Peter Osnos wrote that the El Dorado and other Central Park West apartment houses contained many Jewish residents during the 1930s and 1940s, since these buildings were not "restricted", unlike others on the East Side.[64]

Albert Pick Jr. of the Pick Hotels Corporation acquired the building in 1943, buying all of the Central Park Plaza Corporation's stock from General Realty & Utilities Corporation and Lehman Corporation. The purchase was made subject to an existing mortgage of $2.07 million from Aetna.[41][42] The Pick Hotels Corporation refinanced the El Dorado in 1947 with a $2.2 million mortgage loan from Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company.[65][66] Two years later, the Central Park Plaza Corporation announced its intent to subdivide some of the apartments. The units had previously fallen under statewide rent regulations, but the newly divided apartments did not have such regulations. Furthermore, the firm's vice president H. J. McCormick had already subdivided several of the larger units in the preceding year, and many families had quickly leased the small units.[67] Pick obtained a $2.4 million mortgage for the El Dorado from John J. Reynolds Inc. in 1950.[68][69]

In January 1953, Hugh K. McGovern acquired all of the Central Park Plaza Corporation's stock.[55][70] Pick said he had sold the building because Pick Hotels mainly operated short-term hotels, but the El Dorado's occupants were long-term residents.[71] McGovern planned to renovate the basement into a parking garage for residents; the previous owners had spent $750,000 on renovating the building since its opening.[55] That May, the Central Park Plaza Corporation sold the El Dorado to Charles M. "Daddy" Grace, the pastor of the United House of Prayer for All People, an African-American congregation.[39][43] The New York Amsterdam News reported: "All of its occupants are white, and were white when Daddy Grace astonished the real estate world by announcing that he had bought it".[72] Grace said he intended to operate the building solely for investment purposes.[39] At the El Dorado, Grace faced heavy overhead costs because he had to pay high salaries for staff, including elevator operators. By November 1959, he was planning to sell the building, but the U.S. government had placed a lien on his estate, preventing him from selling the property.[73]

Grace died in January 1960.[72] A resident sued Grace's estate the following month, claiming that he had neglected the building during his lifetime.[74] Alexander Gross of Eldorado Estates Ltd. announced in March 1960 that he had bought the building.[73] However, he could not take ownership immediately because a federal court had to approve the sale.[73][75] Gross finally took over the El Dorado at the beginning of May 1960.[75][76] The building still employed elevator operators, who occasionally went on strike, forcing tenants to walk up to their apartments.[77][78] By the late 1970s, the building was owned mainly by Marcus Retter through a management company. Residents during the time generally had a favorable view of staff, in spite of the elevator strikes.[78]

Balconies in central grouping of upper stories

In July 1982, the El Dorado became a housing cooperative; the residents became stakeholders in the El Dorado's upkeep, and nine directors were appointed to manage the building. Over the next two years, the directors upgraded the building using money from the El Dorado's $2.28 million reserve fund. The work included replacing mechanical equipment, automating the elevator cabs, and restoring the lobby and garage doors.[79] Joseph Lombardi redesigned the lobby, while Restoration Planning and architect Michael Jackson executed the restoration.[46] The co-op board also planned to replace the original casement windows with either double-hung sash windows or pivoting windows, since the original windows were leaking. This prompted opposition from some tenants, who urged the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) to designate the El Dorado as a landmark, thus preventing the window replacement.[79]

Difficulties continued in subsequent years. After the building was designated as a New York City landmark in 1985, the co-op board had to revise its plans to replace the windows.[80] The building's value doubled between 1987 and 1989, and the tax for each apartment was correspondingly doubled over a five-year period.[81] By 1992, the windows at the El Dorado were finally being replaced.[82] A gymnasium in the basement, which had been first proposed in the early 1980s, was completed in 1995 after two previous attempts to construct the gym had failed.[47] During that decade, Crain's New York described the Majestic, Beresford, and El Dorado as having "become brand names that grow in strength as noted personalities move in".[83] Starting in 2000, the firm of Lawless & Mangione began restoring the facade as part of a multi-year, $4 million renovation. The cast-stone balconies were replaced with glass-fiber reinforced concrete terraces, and new windows approximating the original designs were also installed.[11]

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