Rediscover the UWS's Main Street! |
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"West Seventy Today" introduces you to your business neighbors along West 72nd Street, from Central Park to Riverside Park in weekly installments.
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Meet your neighbors, NEW:
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by Claudie Benjamin
Spa services, while not an absolute necessity, certainly make you feel better. Take massage, for example, who doesn’t have at least one ache or pain that can’t be eased by a massage provided by a skilled practitioner? Stress too, can be defused by a 30-minute back rub or foot massage.
Just making time to breathe deeply, to embrace relaxation, and to decompress from the week’s anxieties, is a positive way to move forward during this anxious Covid-19 period.
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Michelle (Xiu Fei) Chen, Owner of Modern Spa at 139 West 72nd Street, must certainly have moments of concern as she sees the drop in customers and has had to reduce the staff in her two nail and spa shops. The second shop, Michelle’s Nail Spa is at 240 W 72nd Street. But, it’s in her character to look at the glass as half full. Dressed casually with black leggings, a purple top and with an elegant silk scarf draped around her neck and shoulders, she is upbeat and speaks warmly of her many regular customers. KEEP READING
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by Tom Miller
On June 26, 1885 architects Thom & Wilson filed plans for five “four-story brick (stone front) dwellings.” Designed for developer Robert Irwin, each was projected to cost $25,000—or a little more than $635,000 today.
Architects working on the new Upper West Side at the time freely dipped into a grab bag of historic styles, creating sometimes picturesque, sometimes quirky, and often, romantic architectural concoctions. Thom & Wilson’s five houses on West 72nd Street joined the trend; and two of them would especially stand out.
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A year later, on August 7, 1886, The Record and Guide remarked on the flurry of construction taking place on the Upper West Side. It specifically pointed out the block of West 72nd Street, between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues and mentioned “Robert Irwin has almost finished five handsome brown stone dwellings, two of which are in the Maresque style of architecture.”
The Record and Guide was referring to the mirror-imaged neighbors of 137 and 139 West 72nd Street; but its description of “Maresque” to define the style was simplistic at best. Indeed, there were pierced Moorish decorations high above the sidewalk level; but they coexisted with Gothic pointed arches, Chateauesque towers with conical caps, and medieval-style carvings. KEEP READING
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72 Crosstown highlights the architectural and social histories of 1/3 of the buildings along West 72nd Street. If you have a building you'd like us to prioritize, or a business you think we should feature, let us know!
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See you on West 72nd Street again, next FRIDAY! |
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LANDMARK WEST!
45 West 67th Street NY NY 10023
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