Rediscover the UWS's Main Street!
"West Seventy Today" introduces you to your business neighbors along West 72nd Street, from Central Park to Riverside Park in weekly installments.

This week, celebrating 50 site histories with a double dose of neighbors!
Meet your neighbors, NOW:
Matching Occasions with Little Cards & More
By Claudie Benjamin

It’s been decades since the Upper West Side was dotted with custom print stores where customers could lean on the advice of a seasoned printer as they selected fonts and paper quality for wedding invitations, business cards and custom holiday greetings.

The Internet, with easy access to design software, precipitated the decline of the local print shops. And, where some similar services remained in copy shops and stylish greeting card stores, most have closed because of drastically reduced business due to Covid-restrictions on celebratory gatherings and reduction in walk-in trade.

But happily, A Little Card Company, ensconced in the Manasse’s Professional Building, built in 1912 at 133 West 72nd, continues to thrive. The business serves individual customers, not-for-profits and corporate clients.  A Little Card Company owner Tracy Hattem is all about making customers happy. KEEP READING
...and ALSO NOW:
Gracefully Feeling Better
By Claudie Benjamin

Every exercise therapy has its own philosophy and discipline. Some have hallmark equipment designed to train the body in specific ways. Trainers and enthusiasts of particular techniques talk about finding what’s right for them in helping them feel better. Identifying just the right therapy and therapist/trainer of course makes all the difference. The process often comes by way of trial and error but finding the means to relieve pain and increase body strength, and ease of relaxed movement is hugely satisfying.

Rebecca Correia, a ballet dancer and GYROTONIC® instructor opened Étude 72 at 133 West 72nd Street, in July 2020. She knew that launching her own business during the Covid period would be fraught with uncertainties. But, she was determined to persevere.

After obsessing over the financials, weighing pros and cons with her boyfriend, she concluded that if she offered training via Zoom and provided one-on-one instruction while paying great attention to distancing, sanitizing and good ventilation and taking Covid screening tests at mobile vans frequently, she could offer a rewarding service that would attract clients. KEEP READING
...and THEN:
Especially for Doctors, Specialists, Dentists
by Tom Miller

Builder and contractor James J. Slevin’s family had lived in the handsome 22-foot wide residence at 133 West 72nd Street for years by 1911. But the once tranquil residential neighborhood had become increasing commercial and vehicular and foot traffic now shattered the family’s domestic calm.

On June 4 that year The New York Times reported “Within a few days another of the fine private residences on Seventy-second Street, between Broadway and Columbus Avenue, will be torn down, adding one more link in the chain that is making this thoroughfare one of the most important cross-town business streets on the west side.” Slevin had sold his house to the newly formed Cluny Realty Corporation. The article continued “on its site will be erected an attractive seven-story apartment building to be used exclusively as offices for dentists and doctors. The latest improvements and conveniences will be provided, particular attention being paid to the lighting features of each office.”
It would be interesting to know if the Cluny Realty Corporation took its name from the plans of architect Charles E. Birge, or if Birge modeled the architectural style of the building after his employer’s name. Either way, The New York Times explained that Birge “has treated the façade in the French Celtic style of the type of the famous Cluny Palace in Paris.”

Other than its height, the resultant limestone-faced structure looked perhaps more like a mansion than an office building. A short, three-step stoop led to the double-doored entrance. The first and second floors were decorated in carved French Renaissance motifs and the tall stone parapet atop the roofline was decorated with pierced Gothic panels. The $75,000 cost of construction would be equal to just over $2 million today.
KEEP READING the history of 133 W72nd at 72 Crosstown
72 Crosstown highlights the architectural and social histories of the buildings along West 72nd Street.

We are working on your suggestions -- if you have a building you'd like us to prioritize, or a business you think we should feature, let us know!
SUGGEST a business: landmarkwest@landmarkwest.org
See you on West 72nd Street again, next FRIDAY!
LANDMARK WEST!
45 West 67th Street NY NY 10023