The Colosseum (Manhattan)

The Colosseum is an apartment building located at 116th Street and Riverside Drive in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, New York City.

The Colosseum
The Colosseum in 1910.
General information
Type	Residential
Location	435-437 Riverside Drive, Morningside Heights, Manhattan, New York City
Coordinates	40°48′32″N 73°57′57″W
Completed	1910
Height	132.91 ft (40.51 m)
Technical details
Floor count	10
Design and construction
Architecture firm	Schwartz & Gross
Developer	Paterno Brothers
References
[1]

The building is noted for its curved facade, unusual among New York City buildings, and impressive marble lobby.^[2] Across 116th Street, The Colosseum faces The Paterno, another building with a similar curved facade. The New York Times has said that the "opposing curves, (form) a gateway as impressive as any publicly built arch or plaza in New York."^[3] The unusual curved facades are the result of an 1897 plan to make the land between Claremont Avenue and Riverside Drive into a public park in order to give veterans' parades a large park adjacent to Grant's Tomb as a terminus. The street was redesigned to enter the proposed park in a gracious curve, but the city never appropriated funds to buy the land.^[3]

The Colosseum was designed by Schwartz & Gross and built by the Paterno Brothers, Charles and Joseph, in 1909-1910. The luxury four-bedroom apartments with sweeping views of the Hudson River rented for $150 to $175 a month.^[3]

Harlan Fiske Stone and Lajos "Louis" Jambor lived in the Colosseum when it was a private building.^[4] The Colosseum was later acquired by Columbia University. Among the distinguished members of the Columbia faculty who have lived here are David Weiss Halivni and Edward Said.

References

1. "The Colosseum". Emporis. Archived from the original on March 6, 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
2. Horsley, Carter. "The Colosseum, 435 Riverside Drive", City Realty. Accessed 26 November 2015.
3. Gray, Christopher (1999-08-15). "The Colosseum and the Paterno, 116th Street and Riverside Drive; At Curves in the Road, 2 Unusually Shaped Buildings". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-09-05.
4. "LOUIS JAMBOR, 69, VERSATILE ARTIST; Portraitist and Mural Painter Who Also, Did Book, Film Work Succumbs Here". The New York Times. 1954-06-12. Retrieved 2020-02-22.

External links

• Media related to The Colosseum, 435 Riverside Drive at Wikimedia Commons