Morningside Heights Proposed Historic District

West 116th Street

A proposed Morningside Heights Historic District is being considered. The Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing Tuesday receiving public support for the designation. The Morningside Heights Historic District Committee has been fighting for the past 20 years to create this district.

The proposed historic district consists of approximately 115 buildings in an area stretching from West 109th Street to West 119th Street, Riverside Drive to Amsterdam Avenue.

From the top of a 135-foot bluff, Morningside Heights overlooks the Hudson River on one side and Harlem on the other. It is about 15 minutes from midtown Manhattan by subway.

The area that is now Morningside park was described as "inconvenient for use" by a city surveyor in 1867, meaning difficult to build property on, so it was made into a park, which was called "Morning-side park" because its east facing slope catches the morning sun.

Throughout most of the 19th century, Morningside Heights remained largely undeveloped except for scattered estates and clusters of mid-century frame houses clustered around West 110th Street (later renamed Cathedral Parkway) and modern-day Broadway.

That development history resulted in a cohesive residential district that is comprised primarily of apartment and flats buildings, along with a smaller number of rowhouses that represent the district’s earliest development.

Riverside Drive - Morningside Heights

Like much of the Upper West Side, the earliest residential development in the proposed district includes private town houses such as 625-627 West 113th Street (1897-98, C. P. H. Gilbert) and speculative rows such as 604-616 West 114th Street (1896, Frank A. Lang) that were built in the 1890s.

A cross between the Upper West Side and Harlem, Morningside Heights boasts some of the city’s most impressive architecture: Turn-of-the-century apartment buildings (many with marble lobbies grand enough to house a presidential reception) and row houses dominate.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission is also considering designating The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine a landmark.

Cathedral of Saint John the Divine

Within the boundaries of the district, 64% of the buildings were built between 1900 and 1910. Wide streets such as Riverside Drive, Cathedral Parkway, West 116th Street and Claremont Avenue are lined with impressive apartment buildings while the narrower streets have smaller apartment and flats buildings, row houses and club buildings. Many of the district’s apartment buildings were designed by some of New York City’s prominent apartment house architects.