The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted today to landmark Manhattan House at 200 East 66th Street. An excerpt from the Commission's statement is below:
Manhattan House, 200 East 66 Street
Manhattan House, the sprawling full-block, modernist white-brick icon on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, attracted such renowned tenants as actress Grace Kelly and jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman. Set between a block-long garden and two driveways, the 21-story, 10-tower structure elevated white brick as a fashionable building material and popularized balconies, green spaces and driveways in many new residential high rises constructed in New York City after World War II.
“Manhattan House set a new standard for apartment construction in New York City and gave modernism a strong foothold here,” said Commissioner Tierney. “Although Manhattan House inspired many new architectural imitators, very few came close to what it achieved. It joins a growing list of modern landmarks we’ve designated since 2002, such as the Summit Hotel and Socony-Mobil building.”
The New York Life Insurance Company commissioned the New York office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the Chicago-based firm that was at the forefront of the development of modern architecture in the United States, to design Manhattan House. Completed in 1951 and occupying a block between 65th and 66th streets and Second and Third avenues, the building reflects the theories of Le Corbusier, the renowned 20th century French architect who was known for setting enormous, slab-like apartment buildings in open spaces.
In addition to Grace Kelly and Benny Goodman, some of the Manhattan House’s tenants included such design luminaries as George Bunshaft, the lead architect of the building for Skidmore, Owings &Merrill; Elizabeth Potts, founder of the American Institute of Interior Designers; and furniture designer Florence Knoll. Actress Grace Kelly lived there for a brief period in the early 1950s, as did jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman, who died in his apartment in 1986. Former New York State Governor Hugh Carey and Frank Hardart, co-founder of the Automat restaurant chain, also lived in Manhattan House.
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5 comments:
When will there be an article on the fact that the pipes in Manhattan House are breaking everywhere during the construction, that tenants are being flooded, and that the owner does not reimburse tenants for the property damage caused during this process and, apparently, does not have insurance coverage for it? Don't buyers have to know this kind of information? Are buyers aware that they will live in a construction zone for years to come, without board control?
The landmarks' commission and other city agencies are well aware that the tenants in Manhattan House are enduring leaks, floods and asbestos abatements in their apartments and in the lobby.
Potential buyers should go to the websites for the NYC Department of Buildings and the NYC Housing Preservation and Development, both of which show numerous violations against the owner for construction work on weekends without a permit, as well as the damage caused to many tenants (not all) from leaks and flods caused by the owners' construction work impacting on old, broken pipes that are not being replaced.
BUYERS BEWARE!!!
For some reason, the numerous asbestos abatements performed in the lobby and in the rent-stabilized and other apartments are not listed at those sites. Shouldn't there be a site listing all the places where work is done in a building as large as Manhattan House?
Hi,
I begin on internet with a directory
I worked at manhattan house when Mr. goodman lived there & also did work for him. I was a handyman there. ck
Ck, wow. Do you have any memories of Mr. Goodman you'd be willing to share? It would be interesting for those of us who only know his music.... Best Wishes, SH.
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