Belnord Apartments

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, wealthy New Yorkers were changing their ideas of apartment living. Previously the domain of single men and questionable characters, apartments were gradually coming to be seen as more respectable. Part of the reason for this change was the construction of several modern, luxury apartments, many of which, like the Dakota, offered views of Central Park.

The Belnord was one of the grandest of Manhattan's turn-of-the-century luxury apartments. Built in 1908, the structure was billed as the largest apartment building in the world and one of the city's finest. The thirteen-story building was designed in the manner of an Italian palazzo. Constructed around an interior courtyard, the building also boasted "the largest private open-air garden in the world." That may have been hyperbole, but at 22,000 square feet, the courtyard provided more than enough room for carriages to enter through the building's arched entrances, drop off passengers, and make the loop back out to the street.

The Belnord was designed to be a highly modern residence. It offered six elevators which were entered through the courtyard, and a central vacuuming system. Additionally, some apartments featured parlors, libraries, and a long, fifty-foot dining room. Underneath the courtyard, an area was designed for delivery trucks to make their stops.

In the late twentieth century, the Belnord became the center of an epic dispute between landlord and tenants. For thirty years, some of the Belnord's tenants were involved in a rent strike, one of the longest in the city's history. Tenants alleged that then-owner, Lillian Seril, refused to make needed repairs, allowing the building to slide into a state of discrepitude. The strike ended in 1994, after years of evictions and a suit by Seril against the leaders of the strike, with her selling the building. The new owners agreed to hire enough workers to adequately maintain the property and that tenants would have hot and cold water throughout the day, one of the major problems residents had with the building under Seril.

More recently, a number of empty apartments in the building were converted into condominiums under architect Robert A.M. Stern. The Belnord was part of the inspiration behind Stern's 15 Central Park West. In 2017, the newly refurbished apartments sold for between $3 to 7 million. At the time of the building's construction in 1908, rents ranged from $175 to $500 a month, princely sums for the time.

Kennedy , Shawn . Belnord Sale Leads to End of Rent Fight , New York Times . October 29th 1994. Accessed August 23rd 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/29/nyregion/belnord-sale-leads-to-end-of-rent-fight.html.

Harris , Elizabeth . A Landmark Building with a Fraught History , New York Times . October 21st 2013. Accessed August 23rd 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/nyregion/a-landmark-building-with-a-fraught-history.html.

Architectural Ambler: The Belnord, 225 West 86th Street , The Architecturalist . December 2nd 2009. Accessed August 23rd 2020. https://architecturaltrust.org/architectural-ambler-the-belnord-225-west-86th-street/.

New York SP Belnord Apartments , National Archives . Accessed August 23rd 2020. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319291.