Building of the Day: 94-102 Prospect Park West
The BOTD is a no-frills look at interesting structures of all types and from all neighborhoods. There will be old, new, important, forgotten, public, private, good and bad. Whatever strikes our fancy. We hope you enjoy. Address: 94-102 Prospect Park West, between 5th and 6th St. Name: Apartment buildings Neighborhood: Park Slope Year Built: 1899…
The BOTD is a no-frills look at interesting structures of all types and from all neighborhoods. There will be old, new, important, forgotten, public, private, good and bad. Whatever strikes our fancy. We hope you enjoy.
Address: 94-102 Prospect Park West, between 5th and 6th St.
Name: Apartment buildings
Neighborhood: Park Slope
Year Built: 1899
Architectural Style: Neo-Italian Renaissance
Architects: Unknown, for developer Charles Hart
Landmarked: Yes
Why chosen: When I think of gracious rowhouse apartment living in Park Slope, this group of five buildings always comes to mind. (House numbers 95-97 omitted from the sequence.) I guess it’s because I really like all of the details that went into this very handsome group; the undulating bays, the very pleasing way your eye moves across the group as a whole, taking in the detailed ornament, and then rising to the oval windows, and then those beautiful loggias with the ballustraded porches curved by the roofs of the bays and then accented by the columns. The style and date of these buildings would generally lend itself to limestone, not brownstone, but I like how the darker stone really accents all of the carved ornament, and contrasts with plants and trees. Whoever designed these was quite good, and he got it just right. These buildings were never single family homes, they were designed to be apartment buildings in a rowhouse style configuration, and even though it would be tough, I’d want a top floor apartment. Besides legs of steel, I’d have an amazing view of the park, and watching nature’s path through the seasons from this vista would be heaven. I only wish all of the stoops and original doorways were still intact, like 102’s.
Believe it or not, the best attribute of these buildings is not apparent: from the rear windows of the top floor apartments, you get the best, most classic Park Slope view west of any location other than 9 or 35 PPW. Over the whole Slope to the harbor and beyond.
Went to an open house here not too long ago, the layouts are different and lovely. Can’t beat the location. The exterior speaks for itself and I couldn’t do it justice.
I would have read that sentence and come to the same conclusion as you, MM. Whatever. They are gorgeous!
This is a beautiful row – definitely built as one families. I would also bet that they were destooped in 50’s, by the 60’s people were thinking about putting stoops back on and by 70’s they were going up throughout Slope. Handsome full-block rows can also be found on 8th Ave., between Union and President and an early one (c. 1872) on 7th Ave. between St. John’s Pl. and Lincoln. This whole block remained intact until 1930’s when #55 was converted to a funeral home and #57 to a pharmacy, second floor dental office and apts. above. Both these buildings lost their handsome stoops at that time.
“Of this row of five neo-Italian Renaissance apartment houses, built as townhouses…..”
Upon another reading, SavetheSlope, you may very well be right. My first reading of the report led me the other way, but now reading it again….. Well, won’t be the first or last time I’m wrong.
I guess the proof would be more on the inside, and the set-up of the floors, layout of rooms, dressing rooms, original detail and scale, etc, etc. Perhaps someone who lives in or has visited one of these will chime in.
The Designation Report seems to indicate that these buildings were indeed originally built as single-family houses.
I have seen these buildings over and over again, never get tired of looking at them, they are just about my favorite.
This is as close to perfection as you could get, i just love them, love them, love them.
no seriously, I really do love them. !!
Oh, you can’t really compare these to the Dorilton. I often would go out of my way to walk to the 72nd subway instead of the 66th street station when I lived on West 69th and CPW just to get a better gawk at that beauty. That and getting across the traffic and pedestrian choked mess near Lincoln Center was suicidal whereas the 72nd Street area was much more calmer, plus it has that charming historic headhouse.
But for these brownstone beauties, I’ll admit, they have an abundance of ornament but I can imagine the interiors being quite lovely and sunny, thanks to the added third level bay. Either or, if we look at the majority of the architecture bordering Prospect Park West, almost all of it is an attempt to be overly extravagant while the side-streets, as you said, Garfield for example, are more subdued but still nonetheless lovely. Personally, I’d take one of these bad boys just for the park view yet and all that ornament. Even if they were sandwiched onto a side-street, they’d still maintain a regal and attention-grabbing sense.
The tragedy here is that most of them had their stoops torn off (probably in the 60’s), which really destroys the effect for me.