Passersby in front of the Paterno, a turn-of-the-century architectural stunner
Varied architecture results in visual harmony
A view of the Hudson River from the perspective of Riverside Park
The Joan of Arc Monument presides over 93rd Street and Riverside Drive
Big bay windows take in the views.
A glimpse of the Colosseum on 116th street
Grant's tomb
The Paterno
Riverside Park's four-mile-long green space from 72nd to 158th Streets
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neighborhood

Riverside Drive
Type: 
Text
Author name: 
Carmela Ciuraru

Overlooking the Hudson River, running along Manhattan's northwestern edge from 72nd Street, Riverside Drive is lined with grand old brownstones and stately Beaux Arts buildings. The street is among the city’s most prized places to live, particularly the section between the Upper West Side and Morningside Heights (the latter neighborhood is populated largely by Columbia University faculty and students).

The buildings along Riverside Drive boast a long list of famed architects, including Emery Roth and C.P.H. Gilbert, but it was Frederick Law Olmsted—designer of Central Park and Brooklyn’s Prospect Park— who envisioned this winding boulevard as part of his plan for the fourmile- long Riverside Park. Along the scenic drive are monuments and statues commemorating Eleanor Roosevelt and Joan of Arc, and, in Riverside Park itself, Grant’s Tomb, built for President Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia Dent Grant. Even now, Riverside Drive’s real draw lies in its breathtaking architecture, including the block-long, 75-room French Renaissance–style mansion at 11 Riverside, which was constructed in 1901 for steel magnate Charles M. Schwab and once qualified as the most lavish home in Manhattan.

The 12-story, red-brick building at 137 Riverside (at West 86th Street), built in 1906, is distinctive for its striking four-story limestone base, marquee entrance, and unusual top banding; it also has an interesting cultural history, having been the longtime home of legendary publisher William Randolph Hearst, who bought the entire building 102 NEW YORK S PA C E S after its former owner (then Hearst’s landlord) refused to let him expand his triplex penthouse by an additional two floors.

At 116th Street stand the Colosseum (435 Riverside) and the Paterno (at 440), two magnificent, curved-facade buildings designed by Schwartz & Gross and completed in 1910: The Paterno has an imposing porte-cochere and a marble lobby with a stained-glass ceiling. In 1920, eight-room apartments in these sister buildings were advertised at $150 to $175 a month. More recently, a 650-square-foot coop at Riverside Drive and West 93rd Street listed for sale at $500,000. With commanding river views and an Old World character unrivaled by the sleek glass towers that saturate parts of the city, Riverside Drive remains a coveted residential address.