Building: The Adlon

The Adlon and The Aljomor
The Adlon opened in December 1912, and was designed by noted architects George and Edward Blum. The developers, Alexander Pincus, Joseph Graf, and Morris Goldstone commissioned the Blums to design a first- class fire proof building on the southwest corner of 54th Street and 7th Avenue. The neighborhood was undergoing substantial changes at that time, with large apartment houses taking the place of smaller tenement-style buildings. As the American West expanded, it became popular to name these New York City apartment houses after the newly-created states: the Oregon, the Idaho and Wyoming are nearby examples. New York Times columnist Christopher Gray, writing in his April 18, 1999 Streetscapes article, points out that The Adlon was festooned with fashionable Secessionist and Arts & Crafts details and bucked that trend. Thus we were named after the renowned Hotel Adlon in Berlin.

The developers acquired the site for South building while still in the planning stages of the North building. They hired the Blums to design an Arts + Crafts companion building and dubbed it The Aljomor – a compilation of Al, Joe and Morris.

The Adlon is truly a unique structure. Most residential buildings of the period were of the Beaux Arts style with corbels, wreaths and other catalogue design elements. Not The Adlon and The Aljomor, they speak speak their own distinctive language. And while the marketing materials in 1912 used the shorthand term “Moorish” in fact the exterior is an exuberant display of Arts and Crafts, Celtic, Secession, and Art Nouveau details. There are exaggerated shields, textured brick, Gruby tiles and Secession squares throughout.

The apartment interiors are notable for their conservative traditionalism. Heavy wooden door and window casings, elaborate plasterwork and –now lost—decorative fireplaces characterize our rooms.

The building also has a fascinating social history with many luminaries as former residents: Mickey Mantle, Carol Burnett, along with a host of Broadway performers.

The building converted to cooperative ownership in 1989. It remains a standout survivor in one of Manhattan’s most dynamic neighborhoods.