No.’s 7 – 13 Washington Square North

While not an official Fifth Avenue address, the westernmost of the row of houses between Fifth Avenue and University Place is directly adjacent to – and in fact is entered from – Fifth Avenue.

Called “the most important and imposing block front of early 19th Century town houses in the city” by the Landmarks Commission, the buildings on this row are classic examples of New York’s Greek Revival townhouses of the 1820s and 30s: constructed of red brick with white trimmed sidelights, transoms and pilasters as the chief architectural features.  

However, the houses from No. 7 through No. 13 (the structure that borders Fifth) are actually the façade of a 1939 building by architects Scott & Preston.  The historic exteriors of the houses were preserved while the interiors were rebuilt as an apartment house with a new entrance. 

The result is a new multi-family dwelling that makes no change to the scale or historic appearance of the row: a minor masterpiece of contextual development.

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