Audubon Park Historic District

AP

Cragmoor Dwellings (801 Riverside Drive)

Crillon Court (779/789 Riverside Drive)

The next building along Riverside Drive, the Cragmoor Dwellings appeared in the early 1920s, followed by Crillon Court, which is built around an open courtyard, at 779/789 Riverside Drive, in the mid 1920s.  The Cragmoor Dwellings are currently being converted to condos, and Crillon Court has recently undergone extensive renovations and now has a beautifully landscaped, completely rebuilt entrance.

While the Cragmoor Dwellings and Crillon Court employ simpler construction materials than the earlier buildings do and even though they lack their rich detail, they do have architectural interest.  Note, for example, the elegant, curved arches at the entrance to the Cragmoor Dwellings and the detail at the roof line.  Note also how the courtyard at Crillon Court, divided from the street with a high brick and iron fence, creates a pleasant setting for the building. 

While they may fall short of the grandeur of the older buildings in Audubon Park, these later buildings do represent an intermediate period of apartment building design between the highly decorated Beaux arts style and the anonymous brick boxes that began populating Manhattan shortly thereafter.  A city-built example of the later, River Terrace, looms over Crillon Court, effectively blocking the view of the river its apartments once had.  Sadly, when the city built this eyesore on property that had once been part of Audubon's Minnies Land (and later Audubon Park), officials in charge lacked sufficient imagination to at least incorporate "Audubon" into the building's name.

Now, continue to the corner of 158th Street and Edward Morgan Place.  An imaginary line between Edward Morgan Place and the upper part of Riverside Drive suggests the original path of the Boulevard Lafayette and illustrates the traffic problems that arose when the original Riverside Drive joined it. 

Sutherland (611 West 158th Street)

The Sutherland, like the Audubon Park Apartments that you saw early in your walk, sits outside what was Audubon Park.  However, its position on the corner of 158th Street and Riverside Drive draws it into the line of apartment buildings fronting on the portion of Riverside Drive that runs through Audubon Park and with its heavy projecting balustrade at the second floor and arched dormers at the top, surmounted by a weathered copper roof, it demands attention.  Completed in 1910, the Sutherland was already in place before the Riviera or Grinnell; its construction cost, $250,000 seems paltry when compared its sister buildings.  While most of the apartment have long since lost the “unsurpassed views of the Hudson” promised in original advertisements, some with windows facing 158th Street still have stunning views of the river.

Buildings placed on certain sites may completely block the most desirable street openings and may affect the grades best suited for other parts of the tract...One such building has been recently undertaken on the northwest side of the present driveway where it bends eastward to join the old Boulevard Lafayette at 158th Street...Unless early action be taken by the Board of Estimate, this building will be erected facing the handsome and superior types of buildings on the east side of the drive, and it will stand across the line of 157th Street...

A Statement by Washington Heights Taxpayers Association

1920

The Sutherland

811 West 158th Street

Cragmoor Dwellings, Crillon Court, and

the Sutherland are part of

the newly designated

Audubon Park Historic District

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