Building: 521 Park Avenue

William Alciphron Boring (1859–1937) was an American born architect. He studied architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris & then returned to New York to work in the office of the renowned firm of McKim, Mead, and White.

In 1897, with his friend & colleague Edward Lippincott Tilton, Boring co-designed the federal Immigration Station at Ellis Island in New York harbor. The project was honored with numerous international design awards including a gold medal for architecture from the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900.

As a sole practitioner, Boring designed 521 Park Avenue & the building was completed in 1911. Up until this time Park Avenue was still a vast, open air railroad yard with the train tracks from Grand Central extending north from 45th Street to almost 60th street.

521 Park is a 12 story building that originally contained full floor apartments, however, over the years a number of modifications of the original floor plans had been made & then subsequent combinations were created which has led to the current number of 27 apartments.

A distinction of 521 Park Avenue is that it was one of only a few buildings originally built as a coop. The building was converted to a condominium in 1987.

Building Description Provided by Lee M Frankel