Rodin Studios

The Rodin Studios is on the southwestern corner of 57th Street and Seventh Avenue, two blocks south of Central Park in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It occupies the addresses 894–900 Seventh Avenue and 200 West 57th Street. The Rodin Studios abuts 888 Seventh Avenue to the south and west; it faces the Osborne to the north, The Briarcliffe to the northeast, and Carnegie Hall and Carnegie Hall Tower to the east. Other nearby buildings include the American Fine Arts Society (also known as the Art Students League of New York building) and Central Park Tower to the northwest; Alwyn Court and the Louis H. Chalif Normal School of Dancing to the northeast; and 218 and 224 West 57th Street to the west. Right outside the building are entrances to the New York City Subway's 57th Street–Seventh Avenue station, served by the . The Rodin Studios is part of an artistic hub developed around the two blocks of West 57th Street from Sixth Avenue west to Broadway during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, following the opening of Carnegie Hall in 1891. Several buildings in the area were constructed as residences for artists and musicians, such as 130 and 140 West 57th Street, the Osborne, and the Rodin Studios, as well as the demolished Sherwood Studios and Rembrandt. In addition, the area contained the headquarters of organizations such as the American Fine Arts Society, the Lotos Club, and the American Society of Civil Engineers at 218 West 57th Street. The Rodin Studios' site was previously occupied by the Inverness, a seven-story brick-and-stone apartment building that had been developed in 1881. ==Architecture==

The Rodin Studios building was designed by Cass Gilbert in the French Gothic style. The Wells Construction Company was the general contractor, The Federal Terra Cotta Company provided the terracotta, Harrison & Meyer constructed the cement floors and hallways, the W. G. Cornell Company was the plumbing and heating contractor, and the Barker Painting Company decorated the interior. which in turn was named for the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. It is tall and has its main roof at above ground. The Rodin Studios does not occupy its entire lot; rather, it is shaped like the letter "F". The northern facade on 57th Street fills the entire length of the lot. On the eastern side of the building, a wing extends south along Seventh Avenue for about , while at the center, a shorter wing extends south for about . Facade The Rodin Studios' facade is clad largely in buff brick alternating with gray or burnt-gold highlights. It contains French Renaissance-inspired trim made of terracotta and iron, as well as ornamental brickwork. The 57th Street and Seventh Avenue elevations, or sides, both contain alternating wide and narrow bays. The 57th Street side has five wide bays while the Seventh Avenue side has four. The southern and western elevations contain sash windows within a buff-brick facade. Only a small part of the western elevation is visible along 57th Street, as that wall faces another building. The ornamental detail includes screens over the studio windows, as well as carvings of animals and human grotesques. At ground level, the main entrance is in the central bay on 57th Street. The other wide bays on 57th Street and Seventh Avenue have storefronts and the narrow bays contain gold-colored metal grilles. There are corbel tables above each of the ground-level wide bays as well as a string course above the third floor. Each of the wide bays contains five sash windows per floor, while the narrow bays have a single sash window on each floor. The center bay's double-height window openings are offset by one story, with single-height windows on the third and twelfth stories. The 57th Street side has double-height openings while the Seventh Avenue side has sash windows. The remainder of the building was dedicated to artists' studios in single-story simplex and double-story duplex layouts, customized for each different resident's needs. The simplex studios were in the rear wings, on the southern side of the building. and were deep. Each unit had between three and eight rooms, with the living space on the lower floor and the bedrooms on the upper floor. The double-height studios were subsequently infilled with intermediate floor slabs, subdividing the interior into single-height office floors. ==History==

Cooperative apartment housing in New York City became popular in the late 19th century because of overcrowded housing conditions in the city's dense urban areas. By the beginning of the 20th century, there were some housing cooperatives in the city that catered specifically to artists, including at 130 and 140 West 57th Street, as well as on 67th Street near Central Park. However, these were almost always fully occupied. The Rodin Studios corporation was founded in 1916 by painters Lawton S. Parker, Georgia Timken Fry, and John Hemming Fry. The Frys were married and studied at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts, where Parker later taught; all three had studied in Paris before moving to New York City. Parker and the Frys created the Rodin Studios because neither could find a satisfactory studio arrangement. The Rodin Studios corporation acquired the site from Mary A. Chisholm in August 1916. Gilbert revised the design several times based on suggestions from Parker and the Frys. New York Times advertisements from 1918 showed that the most ornate apartments went for at least $350 per month, . Meanwhile, the Frys took four of the five apartments on the thirteenth and fourteenth floors, creating a 30-room studio. The studios were not only occupied by artists; the 1930 United States census indicated that the residents included bankers, cotton brokers, and railroad engineers. author Theodore Dreiser, who lived there from 1926 to 1931; and Ethel Traphagen Leigh, founder of the nearby Traphagen School of Fashion. Additionally, Johann Berthelsen operated a private school of voice in the Rodin Studios, while architect John Eberson opened an office in the building in 1926. Later use In 1942, the building was sold at auction to Joseph A. Hale for $800,500 to satisfy a lien against the Rodin Studios corporation. Two years later, in 1944, the Sipal Realty Corporation acquired the Rodin Studios. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) held hearings in 1986 during which it considered the Rodin Studios for city landmark status. Two years later, on February 16, 1988, the LPC designated the Rodin Studios as a landmark. The lobby was renovated around 1998. RCG Longview, a joint venture of Feil and Rockpoint Group, Subsequently, architects Zaskorski & Notaro and engineers Robert Silman Associates were hired to restore the facade, replacing one-tenth of the terracotta. In 2014, Feil and Rockpoint paid $120.4 million for a majority stake in the building's ownership. == Critical reception ==

Christopher Gray of The New York Times wrote that the Rodin Studios was "one of the most elegant studio and apartment buildings in New York" and that the 57th Street facade was "a shimmering cascade of French Gothic ornament". The magazine The Art World called the Rodin Studios "strong yet graceful, solidly planted on the ground, yet lifting the mind of the observer upwards willy-nilly." ==See also==