The BEAUX-ARTS APARTMENTS

307 E. 44th Street

Today, we travel one block north to profile the Beaux-Arts Apartments. The story begins in 1928, when the Beaux-Arts Society buys a piece of land on East 44th Street to build a new clubhouse. This was at a time when Beaux-Arts architecture was having a renaissance.

Soon enough, a number of prominent members of the club banded together and bought the land for two apartment buildings, adjacent to the newly built clubhouse. The overall plan was to buy the rest of the block and create a Beaux-Arts colony, but timing was against them. They began building just in time for the stock market crash of 1929.

They opened in January, 1930. Among the many architects assisting, Raymond Hood and Kenneth Murchison were credited for overall design. Hood was the better-known of the pair, having the Daily News building, the American Radiator building and the McGraw-Hill building to his credit.

The result was two buildings at 307 and 310 E. 44th Street (the latter sharing a back wall with The Cloister). Comprised of buff, red and black brick with a limestone-and-chrome base, it offered 648 units that were primarily studios, measuring 13 by 22 feet. 

The floors were cork, kitchens were small, and the two twin beds folded up into the walls. At the top of the building were duplexes, with double-height rooms.

Marketing the complex was straightforward. Prospective tenants were told to Venez Ici (Come Here) for a "continental atmosphere" to living via "really modern apartments." Even though the tiny kitchens had no provisions for cooking, a call to Cafe Bonaparte for room service "makes life easy." And the gendarme at the front door ‒ a costumed doorman ‒ made the whole thing fun. 

In the end, the complex's ill-timed opening actually worked in its favor; the idea of taking smaller quarters was already in the air. The Beaux-Arts Apartments fit the times.    

  

To conclude, a photograph taken further down the block about ten years later. This shows the Unique Garage, Tudor City's official garage, reached by tunnel to 43rd Street. In the background are the Beaux-Arts Apartments, named city landmarks in 1988.