Andrew Alpern papers
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
This collection consists of the reference files and reports authored and/or maintained by New York architect, historian and attorney Andrew Alpern. The files primarily include photographs, articles, and newspaper clippings. Included are reference files for Alpern's 2001 book The New York Apartment Houses of Rosario Candela and James Carpenter as well as his 2015 book The Dakota: A History of the World's Best Known Apartment Building. The collection also includes reports related to New York City landmark designation cases prepared by Andrew Alpern.
Biographical/Historical Note
Andrew Alpern (b. 1938) is a New York architect, architectural historian, and attorney. He is the author of four books about apartment houses in New York City, including Apartments for the Affluent: A Historical Survey of Buildings in New York, (NY, McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1975) and The New York Apartment Houses of Rosario Candela and James Carpenter, (NY, Acanthus Press, 2001).
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in eight series by subject and/or format:
Series I: Building and Neighborhood Reference Files 1920-2001
Series II: Series II: Reference Files for The New York Apartments of Rosario Candela and James Carpenter
Series III: Copy Negatives
Series IV: Slides
Series V: Reports related to NYC landmark designation cases, 1987-2008
Series VI: 2018 Accrual - Reports/Research Files 1920-2015
Series VII: 2018 Accrual - Reports by Christopher Gray 1977-2009
Series VIII: 2018 Accrual - Reference Files for The Dakota: A History of the World's Best Known Apartment Building
Scope and Contents
This collection is made up of the reference files maintained by Andrew Alpern.
Series I is focused on specific New York City buildings and neighborhoods. These files primarily include photographs, articles, and newspaper clippings.
Series II contains the reference files maintained by Andrew Alpern for the book The New York Apartments of Rosario Candela and James Carpenter. The files include images, articles, newspaper clippings, promotional materials and correspondence related to the book.
Series III consists of copy negatives. They are mainly images of the NYC buildings featured in the reference files, identified on their outer envelopes.
Series IV consists of 62 slides of New York City buildings featured in Alpern's 1975 book Apartments for the Affluent.
Series V consists of reports related to New York City landmark designation cases. The reports were prepared by Andrew Alpern between 1987-2008.
Series VI contains reference files focused on specific New York City buildings and neighborhoods, donated in 2018. These files primarily include photographs, articles, and newspaper clippings.
Series VII consists of research and reports completed by Christopher Gray (1950-2017).
Series VIII contains the reference files maintained by Andrew Alpern for the 2015 book The Dakota: A History of the World's Best Known Apartment Building . The files include images, articles, newspaper clippings, promotional materials and correspondence related to the book.
This finding aid is based on the inventory written by Andrew Alpern. All descriptions and identifications were provided by Mr. Alpern. The bulk of the collection consists of reproductions (photocopies of articles, contemporary copy negatives of historical photographs, etc.). The dates of the collection reference the dates of the original material from which the copies were made.
Subjects
Access Restrictions
Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.
The videotapes and CDs are restricted because of their fragility and because N-YHS has no equipment on which to play them.
Use Restrictions
Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff.
Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.
Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions
Preferred Citation
This collection should be cited as Andrew Alpern Papers, PR 324, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, New-York Historical Society.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Andrew Alpern, 2015, 2016, 2018.
About this Guide
Processing Information
This finding aid is based on the inventory written by Andrew Alpern. All descriptions and identifications were provided by Mr. Alpern.
Repository
Series I: Building and Neighborhood Reference Files, 1920-2001, inclusive
General Note
This series is made up of the reference files maintained by Andrew Alpern, focused on specific New York City buildings and neighborhoods. The files primarily include photographs, articles, and newspaper clippings.
Abigail Adams House (421 East 61st Street, Mount Vernon Hotel Museum)
Amiable Child grave
Armories
Art Deco
Banks
Battery Park
Battery Park City
Beekman Place
Broadway
Bronx
Brooklyn
Brooklyn Bridge
Bridges
Campanile (450 East 52nd Street)
Carnegie Hill
Castle Village
Central Park
Chrysler Building
Churches
Clubs
Coney Island
Cooper Hewitt
Cooper Union
Courthouses
Dodge Mansion (800 Fifth Avenue)
Empire State Building
Fifth Avenue Association
Firefighting
Forty-second (42nd) Street
Fraunces Tavern
Fred F. French Co.
General Theological Seminary (20th Street & 9th Avenue)
Grand Central Terminal
Grant's Tomb
Andrew Haswell Green
Greenwich Village
Hall of Fame (Bronx)
Harlem
Hotel Endicott (Columbus Avenue & 81st Street)
Hotel Pennsylvania (Seventh Avenue & 32nd Street)
Hotels
Henry Miller's Theatre
Hudson View Gardens
Ada Louise Huxtable
Inwood
Jackson Heights (Queens)
Jumel Mansion
Ladies Mile
Leonori (26 East 63rd Street)
Libraries
Lower East Side
Lower Manhattan
Lyndhurst (Tarrytown)
Madison Avenue
Marble Hill
Mark Cross (store)
Merchant's House Museum (Old Merchant's House, Seabury Tredwell House)
Metropolitan Museum Historic District
Moondog (musician and "viking")
Clement C. Moore
Murray Hill
Museums
New Century Apartments (401 West End Avenue)
Normandy (170 Riverside Drive)
Pomander Walk
Queens
Restaurants
Rhinelander
Rockefeller Center
Russell Sage Building
St. Bartholomew's Church (Park Ave & 51st Street)
St. Peter's Church (West 20th Street)
Schools
Sculpture
Sixth Avenue
Sniffen Court
SoHo
Stables/Garages
Statue of Liberty
Steinway/Pike House (Astoria, Queens)
Stores
Stuyvesant Square
Subways
The Sulgrave
Sutton Place
Synagogues
Tenement Houses
Theaters
Times Square
Transportation
Tudor City
Turtle Bay
Underground
Union Square
Upper Manhattan
Villard Houses
Washington Heights
Waterfront
Westbeth
129 East 17th Street
11-17 East 45th Street
160 East 72nd Street
39 East 79th Street
25 East 83rd Street
88 Central Park West
43 Fifth Avenue
820 Fifth Avenue
960 Fifth Avenue
998 Fifth Avenue
667 Madison Avenue
23 Park Avenue (Robb House)
730 Park Avenue
823 Park Avenue
903 Park Avenue
1185 Park Avenue
35 Prospect Park West (Brooklyn)
1213 York Avenue
Series II: Reference Files for The New York Apartments of Rosario Candela and James Carpenter, 1925-2001, inclusive
General Note
This series is made up of the reference files maintained by Andrew Alpern for the book The New York Apartments of Rosario Candela and James Carpenter, published in 2001. The files include images, articles, newspaper clippings, promotional materials and correspondence related to the book.
Articles
Bios (other than Candela and Carpenter)
Book drafts and reviews
Candela, Rosario
Carpenter, James
Correspondence
Floor plans
Images
Promotional materials
Research done by Christopher Gray
Series III: Copy Negatives, undated, inclusive
General Note
This series is made up of copy negatives maintained by Andrew Alpern. They are mainly images of NYC buildings, identified on their outer envelopes.
4 x 6 copy negatives
8 x 10 copy negatives
Series IV: Slides, 1975, inclusive
Scope and Contents
This series consists of 62 slides of New York City buildings featured in Alpern's 1975 book Apartments for the Affluent.
Slides from Apartments for the Affluent, 1975, inclusive
Series V: Reports related to NYC landmark designation cases, 1987-2008, inclusive
Scope and Contents
This series consists of reports related to New York City landmark designation cases. The reports were prepared by Andrew Alpern between 1987-2008.
Cases involve the following properties:
York Avenue Estates;
Coleman Station Historic District;
Tin Pan Alley Historic District;
1213 York Avenue;
Riverside Apartments, Brooklyn;
Hotel Pennsylvania;
Former Public School 64;
184 Kent Street, Austin Nichols warehouse;
Windermere Group, 400-406 West 57th Street;
55 White Street;
351-355 Central Park West;
Central Park West Historic District expansion
Reports, 1987, inclusive
Reports, 1988, inclusive
Reports, 1988
Reports, 1989-1994, inclusive
Reports, 2005, inclusive
Reports, 2006-2010, inclusive
Series VI: 2018 Accrual - Reports/Research Files, 1920-2015, inclusive
Scope and Contents
This series is made up of the reference files maintained by Andrew Alpern, donated in 2018. The files are focused on specific New York City buildings, topics, and neighborhoods. The files primarily include photographs, articles, and newspaper clippings. It also includes 2 video cassettes.
Conditions Governing Use
The videotapes are restricted because of their fragility and because N-YHS has no equipment on which to play them.
ABC Building, West 67th Street, 1983-1999, inclusive
Gaetano Ajello, 1977-2009, inclusive
Albany Apartments, London
Alwyn Court, 182 West 58th Street
Ansonia, 2109 Broadway
Apartment House Names
Apartment Houses
Apartments from Other Uses
Apthorp Courtyards, Broadway and West 78th; and Graham Court, Seventh Avenue and West 116th Street
Archdiocese of New York - Souvenir Album in Commemoration of the Centennial Anniversary of the Archdiocese of New York 1808-1908 [Photocopy], 1908, inclusive
Architects and Builders, 1977-2007, inclusive
Austin Nichols Warehouse /184 Kent Avenue, Brooklyn, 2005, inclusive
Belnord, 225 West 86th Street
Beresford, 211 Central Park West
C.K.G. Billings Estate, 1985-1996, inclusive
Blizzard of 1888, 1888-1998, inclusive
Brittania, 527 West 110th Street
Brownstones, 1970-2015, inclusive
Buildings - Miscellaneous
Car Barns and Bus Depots
Carnegie Hall, 1963-2007, inclusive
Scope and Contents
includes articles and brochures about the Carnegie Hall Studios, the live/work spaces for artists.
Cast Iron, 1970-2013, inclusive
Castles, 1987-2003, inclusive
Cemeteries
Central Park West
Central Park West: Building-Structure Inventory, 1975, inclusive
Century Apartments, 25 Central Park West
Chelsea
Chelsea Hotel, 222 West 23rd Street
Cherokee Apartments aka the Shively Sanitary Tenements, York Avenue and East 77th-78th Streets
Huguette Clark Residence, 907 Fifth Avenue, 1927-2013, inclusive
Coffee House Club, 1915-1993, inclusive
Collyer Brothers
Columbus Avenue, 1983-2001, inclusive
Bill Cunningham
Dorilton, 171 West 71st Street
Duplex/Studio Buildings
East End Avenue, 1984-2000, inclusive
East Side
El Dorado, 300 Central Park West
Elevators
Fairfax Apartment/795 Fifth Avenue, 1996-2017, inclusive
Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue and Central Park: Building-Structure Inventory, 1975, inclusive
Fifty-Seventh Street
Jack Finney, 1983-1995, inclusive
Gainsborough, 222 Central Park South
Harmon Hendricks Goldstone
Gracie Mansion
Gracie Square
Gramercy Park
Hetty Green
Hampshire House, 150 Central Park South
George Harris, Canadian architect
Henrik Hudson, 380 Riverside Drive
Hotel des Artistes, 1 West 67th Street
Houses in New York City
Housing
The Imperial, 55 East 76th Street
Interiors
Landmarks
Lighting, 1981-1994, inclusive
Lobbies
London Terrace
Majestic, 115 Central Park West
Manhasset, 301 West 108th Street and 300 West 109th Street
Montana Apartments
Navarro, or Spanish Flats
Neighborhoods
New York's Changing Scene newspaper feature
New York City history
Normandy, 140 Riverside Drive
Old London Street
Osborne, 205 West 57th Street
Park Avenue
Parks
Penn Station
Penthouses
Pomander Walk, Upper West Side, 1981, inclusive
Prospect Park South, 1975, inclusive
Real Estate Deeds and Records, 1674, 1811-1859, inclusive
Reform Club, 1986-1994, inclusive
Renovations, 1935-2006, inclusive
River House, 435 East 52nd Street, 1980-1994, inclusive
Riverside Apartments, Brooklyn, 2008, inclusive
Riverside Drive
Rockefeller Apartments, 1941-2015, inclusive
Roosevelt Island, 1975-2017, inclusive
Russian Tea Room
St. Urban, 285 Central Park West
San Remo, 145-146 Central Park West
Schwab Mansion, 73rd-74th Streets, Riverside Drive to West End Avenue
Schwartz and Gross Architectural Firm
Sheet Metal Company Catalogs, 1892-1909, inclusive
Editta Sherman
Skyscrapers
Soaring Salons - 1020 Fifth Avenue
South Street Seaport, 1977-1989, inclusive
Stairs and Escalators
Frances Steloff, Gotham Book Mart
Streets and Avenues
Subways, 1984-2018, inclusive
Terra Cotta
Thirty-fourth Street Reformed Church Jubilee Booklet, 1873, inclusive
Clarence True
Unbuilt Projects, 1957-2001, inclusive
Verona, 32 East 64th Street
Wendel Family, Fifth Avenue
West End Avenue, 1990-2013, inclusive
West Side
Garret Ellis Winants, 1976, inclusive
Windermere, 400-406 West 57th Street, 1989-2005, inclusive
Ida Wood
Woolworth Building
World War II Ration Books, 1942-1943, inclusive
Zabar Thesis: "The Influence of W. E. D. Stokes's Real Estate Career on West Side Development,", 1977, inclusive
Scope and Contents
master's thesis by Lori Zabar [Photocopy]
William K. Zinsser
351-355 Central Park West, 1987-1992, inclusive
605 East Ninth Street, former P.S. 64, 2006, inclusive
45 East 66th Street - Eclectic Elegance
11 East 73rd Street - Pulitzer's Modified Mansion
998 Fifth Avenue
1010 Fifth Avenue
1107 Fifth Avenue
34 Gramercy Park
270 Park Avenue, 2013, inclusive
417 Park Avenue - Holdout House
666 Park Avenue - Magnificent Maisonette
820 Park Avenue
1025 Park Avenue - Joyful Jacobethan
1040 Park Avenue
137 Riverside Drive - Hearst's Highrise
44 West 77th Street - Gotham Gothic
109 West Broadway/112 Reade Street, 1989, inclusive
300 West 72nd Street
55 White Street, 1987-1988, inclusive
[Video Cassette] Andrew Haswell Green Television Coverage, undated, inclusive
Conditions Governing Use
Videotapes are restricted because of their fragility and because N-YHS has no equipment on which to play them.
[Video Cassette] Firebird Russian Restaurant, 365 West 46th Street, opening party, 1996, inclusive
Conditions Governing Use
Videotapes are restricted because of their fragility and because N-YHS has no equipment on which to play them.
Series VII: 2018 Accrual - Reports by Christopher Gray, 1977-2009, inclusive
Scope and Contents
This series consists of research and reports credited to New York Times columnist Christopher Gray and his Office of Metropolitan History. The files, maintained by Andrew Alpern, focus on specific New York City buildings and neighborhoods. The files primarily include photographs, articles, and newspaper clippings.
Adams Express Company Building, 61 Broadway, 1985, inclusive
Arnold, Constable Building, 1996, inclusive
Bruce Barton House, 134 East 80th Street, 1994, inclusive
Gilsey House, 1200 Broadway, 1977, inclusive
Gorham Apartments, 891 Broadway, 1978, 2009, inclusive
Hecksher Building, 1979, inclusive
Metropolitan Club, 1986, inclusive
Park and Tilford Building, 100 West 72nd Street, 1978, inclusive
Poughkeepsie Newspaper Building, Poughkeepsie, NY, 1980, inclusive
The Riverdale, 67 Riverside Drive, 1978, inclusive
John S. Rogers House, 53 East 79th Street, 1998, inclusive
Felix Rosen House, 157 East 70th Street, 1995, inclusive
St. James Building, 1986, inclusive
William Schickel House, 52 East 83rd Street, 1998, inclusive
Second Church of Christ, Scientist, 1982, inclusive
Sisters of the Bon Secours Building, 1984-1985, inclusive
Stable Building, 115-119 East 75th Street, 1980, inclusive
Townsend Building, 1986, inclusive
467 Central Park West, 1986, inclusive
220 East 51st Street, 1979, inclusive
14 East 53rd Street, 1986, inclusive
20 East 65th Street, 1979, inclusive
45 East 66th Street, 1977, inclusive
230 East 68th Street, 1980, inclusive
22 East 71st Street, 1981, inclusive
59 East 77th Street, 1980, inclusive
175-177 East 78th Street, 1979, inclusive
123 East 80th Street, 1994, inclusive
136 East 80th Street, 1979, inclusive
207 East 85th Street, 1980, inclusive
24 Gramercy Park, 1995, inclusive
530 Park Avenue, 1979, inclusive
863 Park Avenue, 1979, inclusive
120 and 125 Riverside Drive, 1979, inclusive
520 West End Avenue, 1986, inclusive
135 West 58th Street, undated, inclusive
2 West 76th Street, 1995, inclusive
[Photocopies] Real Estate Brochures, undated, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Includes:
Reproduction of a 1914 promotional brochure for the John I. Downey Building Construction company.
Reproduction of an undated promotional brochure for the Empire Building, 71 Broadway (built 1895-1898).
Reproduction of a 1911 article about Churchill's Restaurant building, along with a letter from Andrew Alpern to Christopher Gray.
Series VIII: 2018 Accrual: Reference Files for The Dakota: A History of the World's Best Known Apartment Building, 2015, inclusive
Scope and Contents
This series is made up of the reference files maintained by Andrew Alpern for the book The Dakota: A History of the World's Best Known Apartment Building, published in 2015. The files include images, articles, newspaper clippings, promotional materials and correspondence related to the book.