The El Dorado

The apartment building at 300 Central Park West takes up the entire width from W. 90th to W 91st Street. The El Dorado was completed in 1930 and is one of New York City's largest Art Deco style apartment buildings. The twin towers reach 31 stories tall in a ziggurat style of smaller tiers as you move upwards, and are set back to comply with building ordinances. The building became a co-op in 1982 and is part of the National Register's Central Park West Historic District, listed in 1982.

The first El Dorado at this location was an eight-story luxury apartment building completed in 1902. Those El Dorado apartments were five to 14 rooms and rented for $840 to $4,000 yearly by 1914. Rents were higher - at $900 to $4,500 - in 1908. The initial rents for upcoming occupancy in October 1902 were advertised by the owner, John V. Signell, at $1,000 to $4,500. A real estate investor, Audley Clarke, bought the building in 1912 in exchange for a number of his properties in Brooklyn. An investor named Frederick Brown bought the original El Dorado in 1929 and re-sold the property to Louis Klosk, a developer from the Bronx.

Elkay Builders Corporation constructed the new El Dorado apartment building in 1929 using plans by Margon & Holder. Klosk, the President of Eldorado Towers Corporation, was the original owner. With the 1929 Stock Market crash and the onset of the Great Depression, Klosk lost the El Dorado to foreclosure in 1931. The building reorganized under the Central Park Plaza Corporation. Some of the early tenants included Barney Pressman, the founder of Barneys Department Store, and Dr. Stephen S. Wise, a leading Zionist who founded the American Jewish Congress.

Vertical bands of darker brick in the main facade and the towers break up the pattern of lighter brick. The base is faced in cast stone instead of the typical limestone. The triple entrance doors centered on the Central Park West side of the building are ornately surrounded in elaborately detailed bronze. The towers were able to be built so tall, even with the new city building codes of the 1920s, because they occupied less than 25 percent of the building's 200-foot-square footprint. The tower's finials have been compared to Flash Gordon style rockets. A central courtyard 90 feet wide is open to the back of the structure.

Only the south tower is livable; the north tower was built mainly as a water tower. An incredible four-story penthouse in the south tower was owned by musician Moby from 2005 to 2008. The penthouse, including four landscaped terraces, was listed for sale again in 2020 for nearly $6 million. A semi-private elevator landing leads to stairs leading up to the penthouse. The third story of the penthouse is an octagonal library, matching the shape of the tower. The fourth story has a den that leads to the uppermost terrace. Other well-known former modern residents are actors Faye Dunaway and Michael J. Fox.

Anonymous. "High Class Property in Trades." New-York Tribune (New York, NY) July 4th 1912. 5-5.

Dolson, W. H., F. R. Wood Co. "The El Dorado. Advertisement." Sun (New York, NY) September 13th 1914. Apartment House Guide 7 sec, 3-3.

Howard, Alexandra Cushing. Building-Structure Inventory Form for the El Dorado Apartments, New York, N.Y.. Albany, NY. Division of Historic Preservation, New York State Parks and Recreation, 1975.

New York Architecture. The El Dorado, New York Architecture Images: Upper West Side. Accessed September 20th 2021. http://www.nyc-architecture.com/UWS/UWS038.htm.

Schulz, Dana. Moby's former Central Park West turret penthouse is four floors of views for $5.75M, 6sqft. March 16th 2020. Accessed September 17th 2021. https://www.6sqft.com/mobys-former-central-park-west-turret-penthouse-is-four-floors-of-views-for-5-75m/.

Signell, John V. "The El Dorado, Central Park West's New Palatial Structure. Advertisement ." New-York Tribune (New York, NY) September 21st 1902. , Classifieds sec, 11-11.

Wood & Co., F. R. "El Dorado. Advertisement." New-York Tribune (New York, NY) August 30th 1908. 13-13.