The Eldorado at 300 Central Park West

Central Park West

Central Park West is an avenue that runs north-south in the New York City borough of Manhattan, in the United States....

, on the Upper West Side

Upper West Side

The Upper West Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River and between West 59th Street and West 125th Street...

 of New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, is the northernmost of four twin-towered luxury housing cooperative

Housing cooperative

A housing cooperative is a legal entity—usually a corporation—that owns real estate, consisting of one or more residential buildings. Each shareholder in the legal entity is granted the right to occupy one housing unit, sometimes subject to an occupancy agreement, which is similar to a lease. ...

s that face the west side of Central Park

Central Park

Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...

. The art deco

Art Deco

Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...

 style apartment building fills the complete blockfront extending between West 90th and West 91st Streets and overlooks the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir

The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir — originally and sometimes still known as the Central Park Reservoir — is a decommissioned reservoir in Central Park in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, USA.-Description:...

 in Central Park

Central Park

Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...

.

The Eldorado is located within the Upper West Side-Central Park West Historic District

Central Park West Historic District

The Central Park West Historic District is located in Manhattan, New York City, United States along historic Central Park West, between 61st and 97th Streets. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 9, 1982...

 designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission

New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The Commission was created in April 1965 by Mayor Robert F. Wagner following the destruction of Pennsylvania Station the previous year to make way for...

, and is a contributing property to the Federally-designated Central Park West Historic District

Central Park West Historic District

The Central Park West Historic District is located in Manhattan, New York City, United States along historic Central Park West, between 61st and 97th Streets. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 9, 1982...

.

History

The name is an inheritance from the former El Dorado, an undistinguished eight-story apartment block of 1902 that formerly occupied the full block-front site.

The stock market crash

Wall Street Crash of 1929

The Wall Street Crash of 1929 , also known as the Great Crash, and the Stock Market Crash of 1929, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its fallout...

 that followed the beginning of construction eventually overwhelmed its financing and by 1931 the building was in foreclosure

Foreclosure

Foreclosure is the legal process by which a mortgage lender , or other lien holder, obtains a termination of a mortgage borrower 's equitable right of redemption, either by court order or by operation of law...

 and the builder, Louis Klosk, a Bronx-based developer, lost it. It opened, reorganized under the Central Park Plaza Corporation. Early tenants included New York Senator Royal Copeland and the prominent rabbi of Reform Judaism

Reform Judaism

Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...

 Dr. Stephen S. Wise and Barney Pressman, founder of Barneys New York

Barneys New York

Barneys New York is a chain of luxury department stores headquartered in New York City. The chain owns large stores in New York City, Beverly Hills, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Las Vegas, and Scottsdale, and smaller stores in other locations across the United States.Brands sold include...

, the retail clothing store. More recent apartment owners have been Alec Baldwin

Alec Baldwin

Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work in the soap opera Knots Landing in the role of Joshua Rush. He was a cast member for two seasons before his character was killed off...

, Faye Dunaway

Faye Dunaway

Faye Dunaway is an American actress.Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown...

, Moby

Moby

Richard Melville Hall , better known by his stage name Moby, is an American musician, DJ, and photographer. He is known mainly for his sample-based electronic music and his outspoken liberal political views, including his support of veganism and animal rights.Moby gained attention in the early...

, Garrison Keillor

Garrison Keillor

Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio personality. He is known as host of the Minnesota Public Radio show A Prairie Home Companion Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (born August 7, 1942) is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio...

, Tuesday Weld

Tuesday Weld

Tuesday Weld is an American actress.Weld began her acting career as a child, and progressed to more mature roles during the late 1950s. She won a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Female Newcomer in 1960...

 and Michael J. Fox

Michael J. Fox

Michael J. Fox, OC is a Canadian American actor, author, producer, activist and voice-over artist. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy ; Alex P...

. Author Sinclair Lewis

Sinclair Lewis

Harry Sinclair Lewis was an American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "for his vigorous and graphic art of description and his ability to create, with wit and humor, new types of...

 chose a tower apartment in this building because it had views which encompassed all the bridges of the city at that time. The building was also the fictional address of Marjorie Morningstar

Marjorie Morningstar

Marjorie Morningstar can refer to:*Marjorie Morningstar , a 1955 novel.*Marjorie Morningstar , a 1958 movie....

, the heroine of Herman Wouk

Herman Wouk

Herman Wouk is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author of novels including The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War, and War and Remembrance.-Biography:...

's 1955 novel.

Architecture

The building has 30 floors. The highest floors are in the two separate towers—a design it shares with other Central Park West co-ops like The San Remo

The San Remo

The San Remo is a luxury, 27-floor, co-operative apartment building in New York City located between 74th and 75th streets, about 1/10 of a mile north of the Dakota building The San Remo is described by Glen Justice of the New York Times as "a dazzling two-tower building with captivating views...

, The Century

The Century (building)

The Century is a 1931 Art Deco apartment building located along Central Park West in Manhattan, New York City. It was constructed at a cost of $6.5 million and designed by the firm of Irwin S. Chanin....

, and The Majestic. It was constructed in 1929–1931 to the design of Margon & Holder, for the speculative builder Klosk. The painted metal finial

Finial

The finial is an architectural device, typically carved in stone and employed decoratively to emphasize the apex of a gable or any of various distinctive ornaments at the top, end, or corner of a building or structure. Smaller finials can be used as a decorative ornament on the ends of curtain rods...

s of the towers are a design of Emery Roth

Emery Roth

Emery Roth was an American architect who designed many of the definitive New York City hotels and apartment buildings of the 1920s and 30s, incorporating Beaux-Arts and Art Deco details...

, in association with Margon & Holder. "The futuristic sculptural detailing of the El Dorado, as well as its geometric ornament and patterns and its contrasting materials and textures, make it one of the finest Art Deco structures in the city. The towers are terminated by ornamented setback

Setback

Setback may have the following meanings:* Setback , the distance a structure must be from the edge of a lot* Setback , making upper storeys of a high-rise building further back than the lower ones for aesthetic, structural, or land-use restriction reasons* Pitch , a card game related to All Fours*A...

s with abstract geometric spires that have been compared to Flash Gordon

Flash Gordon

Flash Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by and created to compete with the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip. Also inspired by these series were comics such as Dash...

 finials," observes Steven Ruttenbaum. Details are cast in imitation stone, and there are bronze panels of low relief. The symmetrical massing of the building, with its terraced setbacks can be compared to the strikingly similar massing of Roth's classically detailed The Beresford

The Beresford

The Beresford, at 211 Central Park West, between 81st and 82nd Streets, is an upscale, 23-floor apartment building in New York City. The architect, Emery Roth, was famous for building luxury apartments and hotels throughout the city...

, completed in 1929, months before design of The El Dorado began.

See also

• Central Park West Historic District
  Central Park West Historic District
  The Central Park West Historic District is located in Manhattan, New York City, United States along historic Central Park West, between 61st and 97th Streets. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 9, 1982...
  
  
• List of properties (Central Park West Historic District)

External links

• The Eldorado at New York Architecture Images