The Wilbraham

The Wilbraham is an apartment building at 282–284 Fifth Avenue and 1 West 30th Street in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City.The lowest two stories are clad in rusticated blocks of New Jersey brownstone, with storefronts near the western and eastern ends of the facade.Its bachelor flats each consisted of a bedroom and parlor, with a bathroom but no kitchen; the communal dining room was on the eighth floor.[5] The area's wealthiest residents moved uptown in the 1880s,[4] but the neighborhood remained fashionable for clubs, hotels, and the first blocks of "French flats".[5] When the Wilbraham opened in 1890, the surrounding area contained many Broadway theaters, men's clubs, Madison Square Garden, and Delmonico's restaurant.[6] Even in the 21st century, the area contained a large number of apartment buildings, scattered among the commercial and office structures of the neighborhood.[9] The Wilbraham is clad in Philadelphia brick and brownstone from quarries in Belleville, New Jersey, with wrought- and cast iron, and has sash windows with wooden frames.[10] The base is clad in rusticated blocks of brownstone, with alternating decorative bands and rock-faced stone, above a water table of gray polished granite.[10] The arch in the third bay initially contained a stairway to the basement, which was topped by two windows; these were respectively replaced with service doors and a grille.[14] On the facade's western elevation, the top two stories are visible above the roof of an adjacent structure and are clad in painted brick.[13] An open staircase with a cast-iron balustrade and newel ascend from the western side of the lobby to the top floor and contains pink treads and landings.[20][23] In addition, each tenant had housekeeping service, similar to in a short-term hotel, as well as an intercom that allowed them to talk to the building's superintendent.[20] The main entrance on 30th Street, described by an 1890 Real Estate Record and Guide article as "wide and spacious",[24] leads to the lobby which retains its original layout.[31][29] The Real Estate Record described the dining room as having "separate tables and a handsome oak sideboard, with plate and crockery, the latter being artistic and evidently of Chinese or Japanese manufacture".[24][26] The bathrooms each faced either 30th Street or Fifth Avenue;[24] they contained porcelain tubs and exposed metal pipes, which at the time were considered novel features.[6][40] The building was commissioned as a speculative development by William Moir, a Scottish-American jeweler who was well known in the surrounding neighborhood in the late 19th century.[41] That July, the Real Estate Record reported that D. and J. Jardine had been hired to erect a "six-story and basement fire-proof structure" with stores on the first floor and bachelor apartments above.That June, William Moir applied for a permit to construct two additional stories, including a mansard roof, because he wished to maximize the amount of rentable space that the city's building codes allowed.[20] Davis Collamore & Co., the china and glass purveyors, leased the basement, ground-floor storefront, and second story when the Wilbraham opened.[20][33] John J. Gibbons, the leader of Davis Collamore & Co., bought the structure from Emily H. Moir at the beginning of January 1908 for $1 million.[48][49][50] At the time, Gibbons believed that the building would continue to attract "high-class retail trade" because of its location on Fifth Avenue, which was easily accessible by public transportation.Several units with kitchens were added, making the Wilbraham likely the first apartment building on the midtown section of Fifth Avenue with gas stoves.[27] Maxwell Handelsman acquired the building in June 1944 from Metropolitan Life;[56][57] the buyer paid cash and took a mortgage of $242,500.[9] By 1968, The New York Times described the Wilbraham as "a friendly building with overtones of the publishing world, genteel old ladies and young career women".[61] The Real Estate Record and Guide in 1890 called the Wilbraham "certainly the 'crack' apartment house of its kind in New York City...quite an imposing piece of architecture".[33] In designating the building as a landmark in 2004, the LPC wrote that "the Wilbraham is extraordinarily well-detailed and reflects the influence of the Romanesque Revival style in the rock-faced stonework and excellent, intricately carved stone detail".[59] In 2020, The New York Times characterized the Wilbraham and the nearby Holland House building as "providing texture to the historic fabric" along the southern end of Fifth Avenue.