The Senator Robert A. Taft Houses, 1345-1395 Fifth Avenue

The Senator Robert A. Taft Houses face the Martin Luther King Houses over Fifth Avenue for a three-block stretch between 1345 and 1395 Fifth Avenue.  Constructed in 1964 as low-income housing, they may appear bleak to contemporary eyes but have provided homes to generations of New Yorkers since their completion. DeYoung, Moskowitz & Rosenberg were… Continue reading

1325 & 1330 Fifth Avenue

A pair of indifferent but inoffensive “contextualist” buildings face each other over Fifth Avenue.  Pictured above is 1325 Fifth Avenue; its twin at 1330 is identical in every regard.

Two West 111th Street

Two West 111th Street is the first West-numbered building north of West 59th Street and an example of the commercial architecture that made up much of New York in the early 20th century.

1295 Fifth Avenue

A robustly handsome pair of towers finished off in the rough-treated “corduroy” concrete beloved of Brutalist architects, the Arthur A. Schomburg Plaza, also known as 1295 Fifth Avenue, were completed in 1975 as mixed income housing.  Architects Gruzen & Partners, working with   Casto-Blanco, Piscioneri & Feder, produced a pair of 35-story octagonal towers that are… Continue reading

Harlem & East Harlem

Fifth Avenue serves as a spine separating East Harlem from Harlem proper between 110th and 125th Streets.  Harlem is the great repository of New York’s African American cultural life while East Harlem is Manhattan’s historic Latin American center, its vibrant presence showcased on Fifth by El Museo del Barrio, some blocks south.  Further north the… Continue reading