Graham Court has 800 rooms, currently divided into 93 apartment units. and contains eight elevators. It runs the full length of the block between 116th and 117th Streets along Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, with a depth of on the side streets.
Exterior It is a "boxy mass" designed in the mode of an Italian
palazzo. The first two floors of the exterior
facade are of rusticated limestone, with tan or gray brick above and a crowning story of foliate
terra cotta capped by a copper cornice.
Main facade The building is divided horizontally into three parts. The main facade, on
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Boulevard, is divided into five parts vertically as well, having slightly projecting central and end pavilions. The two-story rusticated base, consisting of
limestone set in alternating wide and narrow horizontal bands which show only the horizontal joints, has simple rectangular
fenestration and rises above an areaway with molded
water table (architecture) and
wrought-iron railing. Capping the base is a projecting
stringcourse which is decorated with a wave molding on the center and end pavilions. The monumental main entrance, leading through an arcade to the interior courtyard, is a
Palladian motif consisting of a central molded arch, with a keystone ornamented with a
cartouche, rising from an interrupted entablature which is supported by pinkish polished
granite columns of composite order and
pilasters with
entasis. A pair of large central ornamental wrought-iron gates is flanked by smaller gates. The
spandrels carry inset granite
roundels. The entrance is flanked by round-arched first-story windows with molded surrounds and keystones and second-story rectangular windows with surrounds. The inscription "Graham Court" appears above the arch, flanked by horizontal terra cotta panels with
anthemion motif decoration. The arcade leading into the courtyard continues the treatment of columns and pilasters. A barrel vault, faced with
Guastavino tiles, rises from the
entablature and is decorated with broad ribs which extend from the columns. The pavilions of the midsection of the building, extending from the third through the seventh stories, are framed by
quoins; the rusticated stone bands of the central pavilion are punctuated by fenestration. All windows have simple rectangular terra cotta surrounds; those at the fourth, fifth, and seventh stories of the center most portion of the central pavilion have entablatures. Each floor is separated by a continuous stone stringcourse. Above the entrance on the third story, between the windows, are terra cotta panels of foliate design. The fourth floor of the central pavilion has a stone balcony with cartouches (part of the coping is missing), and there are also iron balconies with a harp motif at the fourth-story end and a seventh-story central and end pavilions. The seventh story is capped by an ornamental terra-cotta stringcourse (reeds bound by bay leaf garlands) with central and end cartouches. The top story has alternating round-arched windows and terra-cotta panels with decoration of classical derivation. The metal
cornice, originally denticulated and
modillioned, has been removed; remaining are the
dentils and an
egg-and-dart motif molding. A
parapet wall, acting originally as subtle
pediments for the central and end pavilions, is now fully exposed and covered with
tar.
Side facades The two side faces are identical mirror images (except for two round-arched entrances at either end on 116th Street and one larger one at the western side on 117th Street) and continue the same treatment as the main facade. The two side facades are arranged vertically as three pavilions. The unarticulated rear facade is of plain brick.
Courtyard The
courtyard, reached by an open arcaded entry from Seventh Avenue, is 79 feet by 108 feet square and was originally planted with grass and ornamental shrubbery. Its gate is now locked against intruders. The court itself creates a genteel but cozy feeling, grand but also comfortably secure from the outside - an unusual amenity in a city where there are few private unroofed spaces. It also gives cross ventilation to every apartment. One of the great issues in apartment design at the turn of the century was the disposition of the courts - often reduced to mere air shafts. But because of its size, Graham Court could have a courtyard shared with no other building. In the courtyard, a driveway and sidewalk encircle an oval garden area with walks in a cross pattern which originally had a central fountain (the stone base remains). Eight iron lampposts were located in the oval and one pair flanked each of the four interior entrances (only four posts, one globe, and the stone pedestals remain). The reverse of the front facade entry arch, on the courtyard, is similar to it but without the keystone and is flanked by a pair of blind oval bulls-eyes with top and bottom keystones. The building is entered from the courtyard through four porticoes with columns of composite order, Guastavino tile ceilings, and balustrades (part of the one at the northeast corner is missing) which are set against the angled corner. Wood double doors with glass central panels and
transoms are surrounded by egg-and-dart moldings and are flanked by small round-arched windows (most of which have been filled with polished granite). The courtyard walls maintain the building's overall horizontal division and materials, except that the base is one story high and is composed only of wide limestone bands and the brick is set in horizontal bands with plain and denticulated stringcourses. The first story has simple rectangular fenestration; the windows of the second through seventh stories have flat-arched lintels with triple keystones (some have end voussoirs), except for the second-story corner windows above the entrance porticoes which have molded surrounds with cartouche keystones. The top story has round-arched windows with keystones and is capped by a copper cornice with egg-and-dart and patterned motif moldings.
Interior The planning of the apartments was a bit crude. Andrew Alpern, in his book
Apartments for the Affluent, says the building has an "awkward circulation pattern" and the bedrooms tend to be small and narrow. But each apartment combines features - oak kitchen cabinets, mosaic foyer floors, mahogany and oak flooring, paneled dining rooms and multiple fireplaces - that later, simpler buildings could only sample. ==History==