From Common Brownstones to Mansion Row

Christopher Gray, whose weekly architectural history columns in the Times are always a pleasure to read, wrote a particularly interesting piece yesterday about a block on the Upper East Side that began life composed of exclusively brownstones but evolved over to include a grand assortment of limestone and brick mansions. A photo from 1892 shows East 81st between Fifth and Madison looking much like South Portland Avenue does today–a consistent row of chocolate-colored brownstones. In the first two decades of the Twentieth Century, however, most of the houses were significantly altered to the fancier, more varied, designs now visible from the street. The evolution is particularly interesting in light of today’s debates over landmarking. The street was grander and more architecturally diverse after all the renovations, to be sure, but that is mostly a function of the fact that the block was, and is, in a particularly affluent area, i.e. there was never any danger of a Fedders building going up here! But it may be possible that some people at the time deemed these new designs to be garrish and “out of context”. It doesn’t change our pro-landmark stance one bit–but it is does make you think carefully about the impact of intervening on the natural process of free-market urban evolution.
Townhouse Block That Began in Brownstone [NY Times]