243 West End Avenue’s owners have revived a former name for the building: Coliseum Plaza. The apartment house was built in 1925 as Hotel Cardinal, an apartment hotel designed by Emery Roth, one of New York’s foremost residential architects. The red brick facade is embellished with elaborate polychrome terra cotta window treatments on the bottom three and top three floors – recalling the classic base-shaft-capital design of early tall buildings.
The NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) notes in its West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension Designation Report that the original cornice and windows have been replaced. Originally, the windows were six-over-six double-hung sashes (archi-speak for 12-paned windows).
LPC adds a musical note: Music publisher Frederick Benjamin Haviland, whose songs included “The Sidewalks of New York,” lived here before his death in 1932. Fast forward to 2015: there’s a song titled “243 West End Avenue” performed by The Virgin Lips. You heard it here first!
Gallery: Hover over photos for captions; click to view images in lightbox
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243 West End Avenue, erected 1925, was designed by Emery Roth. It is part of the West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension.
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243 West End Avenue, erected 1925, was designed by Emery Roth. It is part of the West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension.
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243 West End Avenue, erected 1925, was designed by Emery Roth. It is part of the West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension.
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243 West End Avenue, erected 1925, was designed by Emery Roth. It is part of the West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension.
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243 West End Avenue, erected 1925, was designed by Emery Roth. It is part of the West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension.
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243 West End Avenue, erected 1925, was designed by Emery Roth. It is part of the West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension.
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243 West End Avenue, erected 1925, was designed by Emery Roth. It is part of the West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension.
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243 West End Avenue, erected 1925, was designed by Emery Roth. It is part of the West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension.
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243 West End Avenue, erected 1925, was designed by Emery Roth. It is part of the West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension.
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243 West End Avenue, erected 1925, was designed by Emery Roth. It is part of the West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension.
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243 West End Avenue, erected 1925, was designed by Emery Roth. It is part of the West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension.
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243 West End Avenue, erected 1925, was designed by Emery Roth. It is part of the West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension.
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243 West End Avenue, erected 1925, was designed by Emery Roth. It is part of the West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension.
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243 West End Avenue, erected 1925, was designed by Emery Roth. It is part of the West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension.
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243 West End Avenue, erected 1925, was designed by Emery Roth. It is part of the West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension.
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243 West End Avenue, erected 1925, was designed by Emery Roth. It is part of the West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension.
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243 West End Avenue, erected 1925, was designed by Emery Roth. It is part of the West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension.
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243 West End Avenue, erected 1925, was designed by Emery Roth. It is part of the West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension.
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243 West End Avenue, erected 1925, was designed by Emery Roth. It is part of the West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension.
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243 West End Avenue, erected 1925, was designed by Emery Roth. It is part of the West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension.
All images copyright © Kenneth Grant / photos taken Mar 2014-Jan 2019
1925 , 241-247 West End Avenue , 243 WEA , 243 West End Avenue , 301-303 West 71st Street , apartment building , apartments , brick , Coliseum Plaza , Emery Roth , granite , high-rise , historic , landmark , Manhattan , New York , New York City , NY , NYC , polychrome terra cotta , Renaissance Revival , residential , Spanish Colonial Revival , Upper West Side , West 71st Street , West End Avenue , West End-Collegiate Historic District Extension
