Riverside-West 105th Street Historic District

Thirty buildings make up this L-shaped enclave on Manhattan's Upper West Side, running along West 105th Street, Riverside Drive and part of West 106th Street. The land sits high above Riverside Park and the Hudson River. All of it was developed between 1899 and 1902 as a neighborhood of single-family row houses and mansions, mostly of light limestone, with some brick trimmed in limestone. French Beaux-Arts design dominates, and restrictive covenants controlled the houses' design, height and setbacks, giving the streets an open, Parisian scale. Cornices, wrought-iron balconies and mansard roofs create strong horizontal lines on 105th Street, while bowed fronts set a gentle rhythm as the street slopes toward the drive. The houses have since been converted to multiple dwellings or institutions, yet their architectural character remains intact. The only intrusion is a Buddhist church built in 1963 at 332 Riverside Drive. The district was listed for its cohesive, architect-designed streetscape, which is among the most impressive on the Upper West Side.