The Manhasset

Constructed between 1899 and 1905 as one of several apartment hotels along Broadway on the Upper West Side, the Manhasset was designed in the Beaux-Arts style and was split into northern and southern halves.The base is two stories high and is clad with rusticated limestone blocks; it has entrances on 108th and 109th streets, as well as storefronts on Broadway.The Heller family acquired the Manhasset during the late 20th century and converted the apartments into a housing cooperative in 1993, retaining ownership of the retail condominium at the building's base.The Manhasset is located at 2801–2825 Broadway, on the western sidewalk between 108th and 109th streets, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City.[19][20] Several apartment hotels had been built along Broadway in advance of the subway's opening, including the Belleclaire, Ansonia, and Marseilles to the south.[5] That July, William Noble & Co. filed plans for two separate apartment houses on the site, one each facing 108th and 109th streets.Both structures were to be eight stories tall,[5] the maximum height allowed for apartment buildings in New York City at the time.[24] Work on the Grenoble began later in 1899,[5] and John W. Noble Jr. received $618,463 worth of mortgage loans on the site in December.[25] William Noble had declared bankruptcy shortly before the building's construction, having acquired the unprofitable New York Mercury newspaper.[5][7] The building went into foreclosure in September 1901,[29] and Jacob D. Butler took back control of the site at an auction that month, paying $521,431.[9] At the time, Broadway was rapidly becoming a commercial thoroughfare, particularly because of the subway's opening, and contemporary buildings such as the Belnord and the Apthorp had storefronts.[9] Carrie Butler sold the building in January 1910 to the Realty Assets Company for approximately $3 million,[38][40] and the new owners appointed Mark Rafalsky & Co. as the leasing agents.[44] The American Real Estate Company owned the building until March 1919, when they sold the structure to a syndicate led by Gilbert & Kramer at an estimated cost of $1.3 million.[9] The real estate investor Samuel Brener bought the building in March 1925, at which point it was valued at $1.9 million.[9] Mutual Life sold the Manhasset in 1941 to the 137 Riverside Drive Corporation,[55] and the building remained a rental structure for the next half-century.[58] The Hellers converted the apartments into a housing cooperative in 1993, retaining ownership of the retail condominium at the building's base.[7][9] The LPC ultimately designated the Manhasset as a city landmark in 1996,[59] shortly before the architect Kevin Bone submitted plans for repairs to the building's roof.[5] Bone, whose workers observed large holes in the cornice, later reflected that "the pigeon population was so heavy we were carrying fleas back to the office".[7] In the late 1990s, the building's owners spent $6 million repairing the roof, pouring concrete floor slabs, and cleaning the facade.[61] The Manhasset Apartments was severely damaged on March 11, 1999, when a fire started in a Mexican restaurant at ground level before spreading to the upper stories via an air shaft.[63] At the time of the blaze, the building's renovation was nearly completed, and the residents included elderly people and middle-income professionals.[60] In the 21st century, the Manhasset's residents have included the director Arliss Howard and his wife, the actress Debra Winger.