Harperly Hall

Harperly Hall (also known as 41 Central Park West) is an apartment building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City. The building is located along prestigious Central Park West and was built in 1910, it opened in 1911. Cast in the Arts and Crafts style, a rarity for New York City, Harperly Hall was designed by Henry W. Wilkinson. The structure was listed as a contributing property to the U.S. federal government designated Central Park West Historic District in 1982 when the district joined the National Register of Historic Places. At one time it was known as the Madonna building as Sean Penn and singer Madonna lived there together, then she sans Penn, then owned in absentia by the entertainer, and finally the material girl selling the spread in 2013 for $16 million US.[4]

Harperly Hall
Harperly Hall
LocationManhattan, New York City
Coordinates40°46′17″N 73°58′48″W
Built1910–1911[1][2]
ArchitectHenry W. Wilkinson
Architectural styleNeo-Renaissance, Arts and Crafts
Part ofCentral Park West Historic District (ID82001189[3])
Added to NRHPNovember 9, 1982

History

Henry Wilhelm Wilkinson, the building's architect, and a group investors purchased the property at the northwest corner of 64th Street and Cntral Park West in 1909. The original group included Wilkinson, decorator Mary Bookwalter, artist Dwight Tryon, humorist Wallace Irwin, and concert manager Loudon Charlton. According to filed corporate papers the goal was to build a co-operative "suitable for artists' studios." The building was named after a manor house in County Durham, England, the Wilkinson's ancestral home.[2]

By March 1910 construction on Harperly Hall was nearing completion, the building represented the first housing co-operative in the Central Park West area.[5] The building officially opened in 1911 with 76 apartments.[2]

Architecture
Harperly Hall gate

The building at 41 Central Park West was designed by architect Henry W. Wilkinson. Wilkinson's design is unique from the typical apartment building design of the day. Wilkinson, who had little experience designing apartment-houses, used the Arts and Crafts style liberally, throughout the structure. Though the building is cast mostly in the Arts and Crafts style, a rarity for New York City, it does contain elements of the Neo-Italian Renaissance style.[1][2]

The facade is brown brick with a limestone base and terra cotta trim. The bricks, rough and mottled, are laid in "undulating lozenges" on the face of the building. This forms a "carpet-like" texture which gives the building a handmade character. Glazed tiles highlight the surface where they provide colorful displays of gold, turquoise and green. The glazed tile work is most likely the work of ceramicist Henry Mercer.[2]

References
  1. Central Park West Historic District Archived July 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, (Java), National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, New York's State and National Registers of Historic Places Document Imaging Project Archived November 12, 2005, at the Wayback Machine, New York State Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved April 18, 2007.
  2. Gray, Christopher (November 13, 1994). "Streetscapes/Harperly Hall; Restoring an Arts and Crafts Co-op Masterpiece". The New York Times. Retrieved April 18, 2007.
  3. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  4. https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/14/big-ticket-madonnas-apartment-for-16-million/
  5. "In the real estate field". The New York Times. March 4, 1910. p. 15. ProQuest 97052589. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
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