311 and 313 East 58th Street

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Houses at 311 and 313 East 58th Street
New York City Landmark  No. 0583, 0584
E 58 St May 2025 23.jpg
View of 311 (left) and 313 East 58th Street (right) from across 58th Street
311 and 313 East 58th Street
Location311–313 E. 58th St., New York, New York
Coordinates 40°45′35″N73°57′53″W / 40.75972°N 73.96472°W / 40.75972; -73.96472 (Houses at 311 and 313 East 58th Street)
Arealess than one acre
Built1857 (1857)
ArchitectHiram G. Disbrow
Architectural style Vernacular
NRHP reference No. 82001197
NYSRHP No.06101.000109, 06101.002478
NYCL No.0583, 0584
Significant dates
Added to NRHPNovember 14, 1982
Designated NYSRHPSeptember 27, 1982 [1]
Designated NYCLMay 25, 1967 (House #311)
July 14, 1970 (House #313)

311 and 313 East 58th Street are a pair of houses on 58th Street in the Midtown East neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, New York, US. The buildings were constructed between 1856 and 1857 and are both two stories high. Both houses are designed in a vernacular style, with brick facades, and cornices at their roofs. 311 East 58th Street has a wooden stoop above an areaway, which includes a second entrance to its basement. Next to it, 313 East 57th Street has a covered porch adjoining its entrance.

Contents

Over the years, both buildings have had numerous owners. Number 311 remained a residential building in the 20th century, with the Down family and the composer Charles Jones each owning that house for several decades. Meanwhile, number 313 hosted numerous commercial tenants, including the Humane Society of New York, the Paul's restaurant, the private nightclub Le Club, and a lounge called Two Rooms. By the 21st century, number 311 had become an antiques store, while number 313 had returned to being a private residence. The buildings are New York City designated landmarks and on the National Register of Historic Places.

Description

311 and 313 East 58th Street are located on 58th Street in the Midtown East neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, New York, US. [2] Both buildings are two-story residences with below-grade front yards. [3] Because the grade of 58th Street was raised to provide access to the Queensboro Bridge entrance ramp, the buildings are located slightly below the roadway, [3] [4] and the houses have no parking spots or vehicle loading areas due to local traffic restrictions. [5] The houses are some of the few pre–American Civil War houses still surviving near Midtown Manhattan. [2] [6] : 4  The two combined sites have a frontage measuring 52 feet (16 m) wide along 58th Street and extending 100 feet (30 m) back from the sidewalk. [7] [8]

The house at number 311, to the west, is designed in a vernacular style [6] : 2  and is set back behind a basement-level areaway, hidden behind a picket fence. [4] The brick facade is divided vertically into three bays. [6] : 2  At the eastern end of the building, a stoop of four wooden steps ascends from the sidewalk to the first story's entrance. [4] The entrance consists of double glass-paneled double doors, with a transom window and a lintel above them. There is a secondary entrance to the basement beneath this stoop. The other openings in each bay contain double-hung sash windows. [4] [6] : 2  The windows on the second story have flower boxes outside them. [4] Above the second story is a cornice supported by four scroll-shaped brackets. [4] [6] : 2  Over the years, the facade has remained unchanged. [6] : 2 

Entrance to number 313 E 58 St May 2025 35.jpg
Entrance to number 313

The house at number 313, to the east, is also placed behind a picket fence. It is slightly more elaborate than number 311 [6] : 2  and is designed in a vernacular style with Greek Revival details. [3] [9] The facade is made of brick with trim made of stone and wood, all of which have been painted. It is divided vertically into three bays, the easternmost of which contains a main entrance, flanked by square Greek Revival-inspired pilasters and topped by a series of brackets. [9] In front of the ground story is a porch with a brick floor, which extends the entire width of the house. [6] : 2  The facade under the porch has French doors, and there is also a series of dentils underneath the porch's roof. The second floor has simple rectangular double-hung sash windows with simple window sills below and lintels above. [9] There is a flagpole on the second floor, and the cornice above number 313 is supported by small brackets. [6] : 2 

History

The houses stand on a plot of land that had been granted to John Danielson in 1676 and occupied by a tavern during the American colonial era. [3] The site had various rural estates until the 19th century, when the opening of horse-drawn streetcar lines in the area prompted the development of middle-class rowhouses in Midtown Manhattan. This included the sites of 311 and 313 East 58th Street, which was sold to Hugh Gaine in 1791 and resold to Thomas Addis Emmet in 1829. [6] : 4  Both buildings date from between 1856 and 1857. [3] The house at number 313 was constructed by the contractor Hiram G. Disbrow, who lived there. [3] [9] Charles Shute Pell was recorded as the original owner of number 311 next door, although records indicate that another family member, Abijah Pell, initially occupied it. [10] [11] The Pell family sold number 311 to John B. Huse in 1873, and the house was subsequently resold in 1877, ending up in the ownership of Mathias Down. [10] [12] James Jordan was living in number 313 by the late 1890s, and at some point afterward, that house was acquired by Herman Weiden, a grandson of Mathias Down. [10]

After more than four decades in the same ownership, the houses were acquired in April 1928 by the real-estate developer Milton Barkin, who planned to build a ten-story apartment building on the two sites for $500,000. [7] [8] The real-estate developer Samuel Brener bought the houses at 311 and 313 East 58th Street in January 1929 for $125,000, [13] [14] and the properties were resold the next year to the Hadingway Holding Corporation. [15] [16] Nothing came of any of these plans, and records indicate that these sales were never finalized, as the Weiden family retained the houses. [10] By 1935, number 313 served as the headquarters for the Humane Society of New York. [17] Weiden resold number 311 in 1950; the family had continuously occupied number 311 for seventy-three years. [10] [18] That house's buyer, the classical composer Charles Jones, owned it for nearly half a century. [12] The Humane Society of New York renovated its clinic at 313 East 58th Street in 1954 [19] and subsequently obtained two adjacent buildings in 1959 to expand its clinic. [20]

Entrance to number 311 E 58 St May 2025 37.jpg
Entrance to number 311

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the house at 311 East 58th Street as a New York City landmark on May 25, 1967, followed by 313 East 58th Street on July 14, 1970; [3] these designations protected only the houses' exteriors. [10] [21] The Humane Society moved out of 313 East 58th Street in 1974, [22] and the chef Paul Steindler had acquired it within two years, modifying the interior extensively. [10] [23] Steindler opened the Paul's restaurant at number 313 in 1977. [24] [25] Number 313's restaurant space became the private nightclub Le Club in 1981; the club had moved there in part because the house's 4,700-square-foot (440 m2) interior was larger than the club's previous building and had a skylighted ceiling. [26] The buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 14, 1982, as a single listing known as "Houses at 311 and 313 East 58th Street". [27] After Le Club moved to the Waldorf Astoria New York hotel in 1996, [28] Number 313 became a high-end lounge two years later; the lounge was known as Two Rooms, after the lounges on each of the house's separate floors. [29] Two Rooms operated for a short time before it was forced to close, first because of a water leak, and later because it had no liquor license. [30] Jones, meanwhile, continued to live at number 311 until his death in 1997. [12]

The Landmark Club, a restaurant, moved into the Two Rooms space at number 313 in 1999. [21] Mark and Diana Jacoby, the owners of the antiques store Philip Colleck, purchased number 311 the same year, with plans to restore it and open a store there. [12] The Jacoby family subsequently renovated number 311's rooms to accommodate the store's merchandise. [31] Joseph A. Olshefski, who had worked for several of 313 East 58th Street's previous tenants, listed that house for sale in 2009, seeking a buyer who would use it as a residence. [32] The painter John Ransom Phillips acquired number 313 the next year, having been enticed in part by the skylights in the house's ceiling. Philip Colleck Ltd. continued to occupy the neighboring 311 East 58th Street. [5]

Reception

The writer Christopher Gray described number 311 as being "considered a splendid example of the simple dwellings that once dotted Midtown" in a 1999 article for The New York Times . [12] In 1970, the architectural historian Adolf K. Placzek characterized Number 313 as "a little gem of human proportion". [10] [9] In a 2011 book about historic buildings in New York City, the historian Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel wrote that "these two charming vernacular houses" contrasted sharply with the skyscrapers around them. [3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Cultural Resource Information System (CRIS)". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. November 7, 2014. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
  2. 1 2 White, Norval; Willensky, Elliot; Leadon, Fran (2010). AIA Guide to New York City (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 346. ISBN   978-0-19538-386-7.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Diamonstein-Spielvogel, Barbaralee (2011). The Landmarks of New York (5th ed.). Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. p.  181. ISBN   978-1-4384-3769-9.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 311 East 58th Street House (PDF) (Report). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. May 25, 1967. Retrieved November 26, 2025.
  5. 1 2 Cohen, Joyce (November 19, 2010). "Space Wanted for Living and Painting -The Hunt". The New York Times. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Houses at 311 and 313 East 58th Street" (PDF). National Park Service . Retrieved November 25, 2025. With accompanying pictures
  7. 1 2 "New Building Projects for Plots Bought: Another Tall Apartment for Sutton Place Section; Tall Club Hotel for West Side". New York Herald Tribune. April 28, 1928. p. 27. ISSN   1941-0646. ProQuest   1113367864.
  8. 1 2 "Plans Tall House Near Sutton Place; Milton Barkin Buys 311–313 East 58th Street From the Weiden Estate. TO ERECT TEN-STORY FLAT Parcel Surrounding Second Av. and 46th St. Corner Is Sold—Other Housing Properties in Deals". The New York Times. April 28, 1928. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 313 East 58th Street House (PDF) (Report). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. July 14, 1970. Retrieved November 26, 2025.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Two Remainders of by-gone Days on the Approach to the Bridge". Roosevelt Island Historical Society. April 26, 2022. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  11. ↑ Gray, Christopher (December 1, 1996). "A Small Hotel, a Mock Battleship and the Titanic". The New York Times. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 Rothstein, Mervyn (November 24, 1999). "Commercial Real Estate; Landmark House Becomes an 18th-Century-Furniture Gallery". The New York Times. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  13. ↑ "Review of the Day in Realty Market; Madison Avenue and Yorkville Sites Are Acquired for Tall Buildings". The New York Times. January 17, 1929. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  14. ↑ "Operator Buys Two Big Plots On East Side: Sites on 96th Street May Soon Pass to Builders for Apartment Development". New York Herald Tribune. January 17, 1929. p. 37. ISSN   1941-0646. ProQuest   1111707925.
  15. ↑ "Review of the Day in Realty Market; Leaseholds and a Few Scattered Sales Are Reported in Quiet Manhattan Trading. DEAL NEAR TIMES SQUARE Benjamin Benenson Sells His Lease on Building Adjoining the Southwest Corner of Broadway". The New York Times. February 7, 1930. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  16. ↑ "R. J. B. Denby Purchases Residence in Bronxville". New York Herald Tribune. February 7, 1930. p. 33. ISSN   1941-0646. ProQuest   105609470.
  17. ↑ "Starlight Garden to Open on May 14; Humane Society Will Gain by Dinner Dance in Roof of Waldorf-Astoria". The New York Times. April 28, 1935. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  18. ↑ "Town House Sold on the East Side; 58th St. Home Was in Weiden Family for 73 Years Ave. B Corner Goes to Investor". The New York Times. December 30, 1950. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  19. ↑ "Humane Society Plans Open House; Tour Through Its Renovated Animal Clinic on Monday Is Event in Fund Campaign". The New York Times. November 3, 1954. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  20. ↑ "Humane Society Buys Two E. Side Buildings". New York Herald Tribune. July 21, 1959. p. 16. ISSN   1941-0646. ProQuest   1327657977.
  21. 1 2 Fabricant, Florence (May 12, 1999). "Off the Menu". The New York Times. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  22. ↑ "Metropolitan Briefs: New Parking Rules Set for West Side Kuh Wants Civil Court Judges Shifted Woman Flees Fire, Dies in Fall New Building for Humane Society Taxi Inspection Center Closed". The New York Times. December 18, 1974. p. 49. ISSN   0362-4331. ProQuest   120169001.
  23. ↑ Claiborne, Craig (September 8, 1976). "Aboard This Ship, Everybody Gets to Dine at Captain's Table". The New York Times. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  24. ↑ Tobias, Doris (June 23, 1977). "Arts & People,: Paul S :Luxe Dining In A Grand Setting: A Sampling From The Wine List". Women's Wear Daily. Vol. 134, no. 122. p. 8. ProQuest   1700045276.
  25. ↑ Sheraton, Mimi (July 22, 1977). "Restaurants: Cantonese Cuisine You Can Count On Yun Luck Rice Shoppe". The New York Times. p. 70. ISSN   0362-4331. ProQuest   122900991.
  26. ↑ Sharp, Christopher (April 28, 1981). "Le Club Picks Up Le Czech: Eyeview". Women's Wear Daily. Vol. 142, no. 81. p. 18. ProQuest   1445501083.
  27. ↑ "Federal Register: 49 Fed. Reg. 4459 (Feb. 7, 1984)" (PDF). Library of Congress. February 7, 1984. p. 4653. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
  28. ↑ Gelder, Lawrence Van (November 7, 1996). "Chronicle". The New York Times. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  29. ↑ McGinley, Alexandra (May 17, 1998). "NEW YORKERS & CO.; Same Name, Same Two Rooms, But Now It's a Lounge". The New York Times. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  30. ↑ Fabricant, Florence (February 12, 1997). "Food Notes". The New York Times. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  31. ↑ Moonan, Wendy (January 5, 2001). "ANTIQUES; Browsing Intimately, in Period Rooms". The New York Times. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  32. ↑ Barbanel, Josh (November 6, 2009). "Almost Family". The New York Times. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
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