For decades, the old mansion has stood empty. Looming there on the corner of West 85th Street and Central Park West, its ground floor windows blurred out by brown paper and painter’s tape. A sign on the basement window warns politely that all who venture near are on camera. But the people who venture near, enter and exit, smoke and sip coffee while leaning on the dark red walls – they’re all laborers.
Who lives there?
Rumor has it that there’s a swimming pool in the basement. For a while it was a rooming house. There was a fire once, the old timers say. When the parlor floor window shades are up, you can see the intricate stained glass detail and mahogany paneled walls. One Christmas, the front window – the one facing the park – was unshaded, and someone had installed a giant Christmas tree.
Still no people seem to live there.
Yesterday the workers vacuumed the sidewalk. A couple of years ago they dug up the sidewalk to install heaters to melt the winter ice.
Curiosity got to me. Here’s what I found online. Thanks to a blog by Tom Miller. An architect, Edward Angell, and a developer, William Noble, built the old mansion on spec. Back in 1888, when the Upper West Side was being wrested from the residents of Seneca Village and Central Park was brand new, Noble got Angell to build these ornate brownstones facing the park. He built them on spec.
When I first moved to this block – in February 1997, the building was said to be a rooming house. Today, when I walked by on my way to the park, it looked pristine. And yet, it’s empty. Such a waste. And I wonder if the person who owns it has a big family that will one day bring life to the place, or if they’re going to turn it into a crazy expensive AirB&B.
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