Bretton Hall, Manhattan

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Interior of Bretton Hall.
Interior of Bretton Hall.

Bretton Hall, Manhattan is a twelve story establishment at 2350 Broadway (Manhattan) from 85th Street to 86th Street[1] in the Upper West Side[2] of New York City. It was completed in 1903. The architect was Harry B. Mulliken. He also designed the Cumberland Hotel, Thomas Jefferson Hotel, and Spencer Arms Hotel on Broadway.[2]

Contents

[edit] Present time

Currently the red brick and limestone building has 461 rental apartments and employs cornerstones repeatedly, particularly above the central bay above the Broadway entrance. It has a large stainless steel marquee and a four-step-up entrance with a disabled ramp side approach. It is without a garage, sidewalk landscaping, health club, or roof deck. Bretton Hall employs a doorman and features ornamental balconies and other architectural attributes. Its fenestration is haphazard. Its facade exemplifies Beaux Arts architecture, yet it lacks the elaborate cornice it originally had. It was lost many years ago. Architect John C. Calderon has redesigned the parapet in red brick with stone put down in alternating stripes. The restoration of the building cost $1,000,000.[3]

[edit] Business transactions

The 86th Street Company received the unimproved property from Le Grand K. Petit with a mortgage of $90,000 on it. A building loan of $1,250,000 at 6% was secured from the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company on March 10, 1902. Afterward the 86th Street Company mortgaged the property for $1,365,000 at 6%, due October 1, 1903, to the General Building and Construction Company. John R. & Oscar L. Foley leased Bretton Hall to Anderson & Price for twenty-one years for a price of $2,394,000, for Irons & Todd, who comprised the Seaboard Realty and 86th Street Companies.[1]

[edit] Hotel apartment

When it opened in late 1903 the basement and deckhouse apartment hotel was fireproof and equipped with an electric plant and six elevators. The structure contained 187 suites, 506 rooms, 231 baths, and 385 toilet rooms. It fronted Broadway for 205 feet and 85th Street for 100.11 feet. Its rear measurement was 204.4 feet. Plans for Bretton Hall were filed on June 7, 1902 with an estimated cost of construction to be $1,550,000.[1]

The New York Produce Exchange Bank opened a branch at the Bretton Hall Hotel in November 1903. They leased offices in the edifice for a period of ten years for an annual rental between $2,500 to $3,500.[4]


[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Bretton Hall Leased, New York Times, August 18, 1903, pg. 10.
  2. ^ a b On Broadway: A Journey Uptown Over Time, David Dunlap, Rizzoli, 1990,
  3. ^ Along Broadway Jettisoned Cornices Are Being Rebuilt, New York Times, January 7, 2007, pg. 11.9.
  4. ^ New Bank On Upper Broadway, New York Times, New York Times, November 8, 1903, pg. F4.

[edit] External link

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
  • Bretton Hall photo and article at thecityreview.com retrieved on 2-12-08.