271 Central Park West

The 12-story apartment building to the north of W. 87th Street at Central Park West was built from 1912 to 1913. The brick building is Neo-Renaissance style with some elements of the older French Second Empire style. The central entrance of 271 Central Park West is flanked by Ionic pilasters in stone, two stories tall and topped by a heavy entablature. The faux balconies and the stone frieze decorated with garlands and shields give the Schwartz & Gross design a horizontal emphasis - something new in that era. The garland surrounds of upper-story windows and the sculptural quality of the faux balconies are more like the older style. The building changed from rental apartments to co-ops by the 1970s.

Before the New York City street grid reached this far north, the land where 271 Central Park West would later stand was owned by George Bowne, covering about eight whole future blocks. By 1894, one rowhouse was standing in the future footprint of 271, at the corner with W. 87th Street. Samuel A. Herzog bought the lots to build 271 in August 1912; the apartment building was finished by September 1913.

The apartment building originally featured an upper cornice, visible in older photographs but gone by the mid-1970s. The building retained the two apartments per floor plus a penthouse configuration for many years. The apartments facing east toward Central Park were designed with nine rooms while those facing west have eight rooms. Each apartment has a library, dining and living rooms, a wood-burning fireplace, and rooms for staff. The building was 60 percent rented by June 1913; yearly rents were then $2,400 to $2,900. By the time the building opened, no apartments were left unleased. Herzog sold the building in December 1913.

One of the early residents was Freida Hempel, an opera singer with the Metropolitan Opera since 1912. Ms. Hempel's wedding to William B. Kahn, a banker, took place in her home at 271 in June 1918. The groom had been a married man who claimed to have fallen in love with Ms. Hempel when first hearing her sing, seven years prior. The couple's eighth-floor apartment was burglarized while no one was home in December 1922; a $15,000 chinchilla fur coat and $10,000 more in valuables were stolen. The robber was soon caught, while trying to rob an occupied apartment on W. 92nd Street one evening. Two policemen were in the neighborhood, heard the victim's screams and caught "the matinee burglar" after he ran out of the building. The burglar - 23-year-old Thomas F. Belford - confessed to a string of 100 thefts; he claimed that switching from afternoon to evening was the cause of his being caught.

The tenth and eleventh floor apartments have been combined in recent years to form a single duplex residence of 15 rooms with six bedrooms (for sale in 2021 for under $20 million). Some famous names who've called 271 Central Park West home include actors Bruce Willis, Mark Hamill, Robin Williams, and Meryl Streep.

Anonymous. "In the Real Estate Market: New Central Park West Apartment House Sold." New-York Tribune (New York, NY) December 20th 1913. 16-16.

Anonymous. "Freida Hempel Bride of William B. Kahn." New-York Tribune (New York, N.Y.) June 9th 1918. 12-12.

Anonymous. "Freida Hempel Loses $25,000 to Robbers." New-York Tribune (New York, N.Y.) December 7th 1922. 24-24.

Anonymous. "Matinee Burglar Tells his Methods." New York Herald (New York, N.Y.) December 23rd 1922. 3-3.

Cordell-Reeh, Danica. 271 Central Park West, StreetEasy. September 1st 2021. Accessed September 15th 2021. https://streeteasy.com/building/271-central-park-west-new_york.

Herzog, Samuel A. "New 12 Story Fireproof. Advertiesment." The Sun (New York, N.Y.) June 15th 1913. , Classifieds sec, 18-18.

Horsley, Carter. 271 Central Park West, CityRealty. Accessed September 15th 2021. https://www.cityrealty.com/nyc/central-park-west/271-central-park-west/review/3070.

Howard, Alexandra Cushing. Building-Structure Inventory Form for 271 Central Park West, N.Y.. Albany, NY. Division of Historic Preservation, New York State Parks and Recreation, 1975.