London Terrace History

By 1929, Henry Mandel owned the city block bounded by Ninth and Tenth Avenues and 23rd and 24th streets. The land was once owned by Clement Clark Moore, who wrote ‘T was the Night Before Christmas, and was located across from the fashionable Millionaire’s Row. Mandel hired the architectural firm of Farrar & Watmaugh to design the massive complex, which was built in two phases. The central... [more]

By 1929, Henry Mandel owned the city block bounded by Ninth and Tenth Avenues and 23rd and 24th streets. The land was once owned by Clement Clark Moore, who wrote ‘T was the Night Before Christmas, and was located across from the fashionable Millionaire’s Row. Mandel hired the architectural firm of Farrar & Watmaugh to design the massive complex, which was built in two phases. The central structure, comprised of ten adjoining buildings, was completed in 1930. A year later the four imposing corner structures were added. The complex contained 1665 apartments comprised of 4.000 residential rooms. Mandel’s dream was grander still. He filled London Terrace with state-of-the-art amenities that included: a 75′ x 35′ pool, an acre of gardens, a building-wide intercom system, on site shopping, a free page-boy service, a telephone message service, a penthouse community room, a roof top play area for children, a deck exclusively for children and another roofdeck furnished like it was located on a ocean liner. The pool, roofdeck, gardens and intercom system are still in use today. Acclaimed and ambitious, the dream eventually killed its creator. The Great Depression struck just as Mandel started to build, forcing the developer into foreclosure in 1934. Mandel jumped to his death from atop his dream building, leaving the elegant London Terrace in a financial mess that took almost fifteen years and four banks to clear up. In 1948, the building was divided into two parts and sold to separate management companies. The Kriesel family bought the corner towers and the ten middle buildings were sold to four partners, which included two electrician brothers and a mason. The towers went co-op in 1989 and the center buildings, known as London Terrace Gardens, remain as rental units to this day. You can find more info and news about London Terrace on my website: www.susansingerspaces.com [less]