Building: 685 West End Avenue

On April 22, 1928, a story appeared in the New York Times under the headline “The Renting Season Starts Early for West Side Apartments.” According to the story, “realty brokers on the West Side” were reporting “that the rental situation” had opened “with most satisfactory results.” Because fewer new apartment buildings were set to open that fall, leases in the few new buildings that were “near completion” were “being made very freely.” As one broker stated, the “early renting season on the West Side” was much better than had been the case in “recent years.” The new subway line along Central Park West, in addition to its repavement, was creating a stir along that thoroughfare, while on West End Avenue, with its proximity to beautiful Riverside Park, was also drawing considerable attention.

Only a “few new houses” were being completed on the “upper portion” of West End Avenue, however, meaning that those that were being constructed were experiencing very high demand. 685 West End Avenue, a fifteen-story building that was “one of the largest” to be erected on that thoroughfare in 1928, was at the top of prospective tenants’ lists. As the story reported, “although” the building would “not be ready for occupancy until October, fifty of its ninety apartments” had “already been rented.” Furthermore, the story emphasized that there would “probably be few if any” apartments left by September. If prospective tenants wanted to rent suites at 685 West End Avenue, which ranged in size from three to six rooms, they would have to act quickly. Average annual rents ranged from $2,000 to $4,000 and looked as they were “virtually stationary,” with no “evidence of reductions” in sight. All in all, apartments at 685 West End Avenue were some of the most sought-after in a rental season that was “likely to experience one of the best years in its history.”…

Description provided by Deanna Kory