The Riviera
The Riviera, with its height and proximity to the Hudson, offers sweeping views of the river. The Riviera’s unusual floor-plan, which includes five deep light wells, offers an unusual amount of natural light and stunning spacious common areas. The 13-story building has a majestic limestone base, which spans the height of the first three stories. From the fourth to the eleventh floor, the building is decorated with a majestic brick and limestone facade. The exterior is also decorated with limestone quoins (large rectangular cornerstones), and the top floor features striking decorative arched Venetian windows and cornices. All of the Riviera’s original ornamental and architectural details are intact and meticulously maintained. The lobby itself is lined with large glass windows and features a hand-painted coffered ceiling. In the center of the building, down the long and grand open space of the lobby are two gilt-iron and marble double staircases and the Riviera’s famous brass-doored elevators.
The Riviera is one of the most coveted addresses in Washington Heights. This Beaux-Arts-style building was built over two year period between 1909 and 1911 by architects Rouse and Goldstone, on what was then a brand new extension of Riverside Drive. One of the most expensive buildings in the neighborhood at the time, the Riviera cost $1,700,000 to build.
Riverside Drive was extended north of West 155th Street in 1900, which changed the Washington Heights neighborhood from a quiet suburban development surrounded by lush woods, called Audubon Park, into a more urban neighborhood to appeal to New York’s growing professional class. Around the time several new buildings were erected in the same general area as the Riviera, yet this unique five-sided building stands out as one of the most distinguished examples of pre-war architecture in the area. The lot on which the Riviera stands was once part of a farm belonging to John James Audubon, the painter, and naturalist, who was the most dominant wildlife artist in the United States for nearly half a century. Audubon’s best-known work, The Birds of America, a collection of 435 life-size prints, is still a standard of naturalist art. Much of the neighborhood surrounding the Riviera retains some aesthetic imprint of this lush and verdant past, with much more tree coverage and broader streets and sidewalks than many other areas in Washington Heights.
Riverside Drive, Washington Heights, NYC.
Photography by Gary Sapolin.
