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55 Central Park West

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Coordinates: 40°46′20″N 73°58′45″W / 40.77223447°N 73.9791438°W / 40.77223447; -73.9791438
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55 Central Park West
55 Central Park West and (to its left) Holy Trinity Lutheran Church
55 Central Park West is located in New York City
55 Central Park West
55 Central Park West is located in New York
55 Central Park West
55 Central Park West is located in the United States
55 Central Park West
LocationUpper West Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
Coordinates40°46′20″N 73°58′45″W / 40.77223447°N 73.9791438°W / 40.77223447; -73.9791438
Built1929 (1929)
ArchitectSchwartz & Gross
Architectural styleArt Deco
Part ofCentral Park West Historic District (ID82001189[1])
Added to NRHPNovember 9, 1982[1]

55 Central Park West is a 19-floor housing cooperative on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Built in 1929, it was designed by the architectural firm Schwartz & Gross.[2] The building is a contributing property within the Central Park West Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The building holds significance in American popular culture because the plot of the 1984 film Ghostbusters revolves heavily around it. Although the building does not have an official name, it is often colloquially referred to as The Ghostbusters Building, The Shandor Building, The Shandor Apartments or Spook Central, the fictional names it is given in the film.

History

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Plans for the building, between 65th and 66th Streets, were filed by architectural firm Schwartz & Gross at the behest of Victor Earle and John C. Calhoun, for whom they were working. Earle, and his brother Guyon, had been actively developing the Upper West Side of New York City since the 1910s.[3]

The structure is considered to be mostly "second tier"[4] by the socialite New Yorkers who occupy most of the buildings along Central Park West. It was opened as a rental property in 1930. Its neighbor to the south is the earlier Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. Upon its opening Real Estate magazine praised it as resembling "Jungfrau, that most beloved snowcapped Alpine peak."[4]

Musician Rudy Vallee and industrial designer Raymond Loewy were two of the building's earliest residents.[4] Ginger Rogers was one of its residents during her Broadway days in the early 1930s.[5] Hat designer Lilly Dache with husband Jean Despres of Coty Perfume were residents following their 1931 marriage until 1935. Other residents of the building have included Donna Karan,[6] Calvin Klein, Ring Lardner, Jr., and Marsha Mason.[7] The duplex penthouse on the 19th and 20th floors was owned by composer Jerry Herman in the 1970s, before he sold it for $1 million to Klein (who later sold it, and then bought it again in the 1990s). David Geffen later purchased it for $6 million, before selling it for $8.6 million to music executive Steve Gottlieb, who in turn listed it the week his record label TVT Records filed for bankruptcy.[7][8] He sold the apartment to Marc Lasry (co-founder and CEO of the Avenue Capital Group) for $33 million in 2014.[7][8][9]

Architecture

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The building was the first fully Art Deco structure on the street.[3]

Facade

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The exterior of the building is somewhat non-traditional. As the brick facade rises from the ground it changes shade from deep purple to yellow-white. Color was widely used during the 1920s as a tool in architecture for overall effects. The rental brochure stated: "new modernistic design of exterior with beautiful shaded color scheme". The New Yorker's architecture critic, George S. Chappell, praised the building's use of color, said, "the total effect is exhilarating."[3]

Interior

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When the building opened in 1930 it had apartments ranging from three to nine rooms, the largest of which had four bedrooms. The apartments featured a dropped living room, developed by the Earle brothers, which set the interior apart from most others constructed around the same period. An original rental brochure shows the dropped living room nearly entirely open to the entrance gallery; traditionally the gallery was held as a different room.[3]

Significance

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The building is a contributing property to the Central Park West Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 9, 1982.[1][10] It is also a contributing property to the New York City's Upper West Side / Central Park West local historic district. Benjamin Schwarz, writing for The Atlantic, said of the buildings along Central Park West, "no endeavor on earth is more arduous than getting into one of these buildings," and specifically cited the "details of Donna Karan's deal for her digs at 55 Central Park West."[6]

The building holds significance in American popular culture as it was prominently featured in the 1984 comedy Ghostbusters. In the film, "550 Central Park West" – known also as The Shandor Building, The Shandor Apartments or "Spook Central" – was the residence of the Ghostbusters' first client, cellist Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver). They later learn it had been designed and constructed by insane architect and surgeon Ivo Shandor, who founded and led a secret society in 1920, The Cult of Gozer, dedicated to the worship of Gozer the Gozerian.[11] Since Ghostbusters first hit theaters, 55 Central Park West has been known as the "Ghostbusters Building". The building's appearance in the film differs from its actual appearance.[4][11] Eight additional floors and a large rooftop temple were added to exterior shots of it via matte painting by Production designer/Art director John DeCuir. The Gozerian Temple consisted of its massive, ornate shrine, altars, obelisks and the iconic gargoyle statues depicting the Terror Dogs, Zuul the Gatekeeper and Vinz Clortho the Keymaster.[12]

The building also appears in the 2003 Christmas film Elf, as the home of Buddy’s human family.

References

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  1. ^ a b c "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. ^ White, Norval & Willensky, Elliot (2000). AIA Guide to New York City (4th ed.). New York: Three Rivers Press. ISBN 978-0-8129-3107-5.
  3. ^ a b c d Gray, Christopher (July 11, 1999). "Streetscapes / 55 Central Park West; The Changing Colors of an Art Deco Landmark". The New York Times. Retrieved June 3, 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d Gaines, Steven (November 7, 2005). One Apartment, 75 Years". New York. Retrieved April 3, 2007.
  5. ^ Lynch, Geoffrey (2014). Manhattan Classic: New York's Finest Prewar Apartments. ISBN 9781616892678.
  6. ^ a b Schwarz, Benjamin (May 2005). "Eminent Domains". The Atlantic. Retrieved April 3, 2007.
  7. ^ a b c Finn, Robin (October 19, 2012). "Exclusive: 55 Central Park West – Coveted by Many, Lived In by Few". The New York Times. Retrieved June 3, 2017.
  8. ^ a b Green, Stanley (January 29, 2014). "Marc Lasry Pays $33 Million For a Duplex Penthouse on Manhattan's Central Park West". Jewish Business News.
  9. ^ Abelson, Max (March 4, 2008). "Central Park West's Priciest Listing—Now You See It, Now You Don't". Observer.
  10. ^ "Central Park West Historic District" Archived July 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. (Java), National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form Archived November 12, 2005, at the Wayback Machine, New York's State and National Register of Historic Places Document Imaging Project, New York State Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved April 3, 2007.
  11. ^ a b Aykroyd, Dan; Ramis, Harold; Reitman, Ivan (Director). Ghostbusters (Film). New York City: Columbia Pictures., June 8, 1984.
  12. ^ Wallace, Daniel (October 27, 2015). Ghostbusters: The Ultimate Visual History, Insight Editions. San Rafael, California. p. 31-32, 38–39, 48. ISBN 978-1608875108
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