By Bart Boehlert
If you sit at a window table at the BG restaurant on the seventh floor of Bergdorf Goodman and gaze across Central Park, you'll see in the distance the romantic towers of the Beresford rising above the Park like an ancient castle. Built it 1929 in the Beaux-Arts style on Central Park West between West 81st and 82nd Streets, the Beresford remains one of the most desirable and iconic apartment buildings in New York City. Paul Goldberger in The New York Times noted that the Beresford is "a glorious building whose three castle-like towers and fine siting have made it a long-beloved West Side landmark." Its starry residents have included Diana Ross, Mike Nichols, John MacEnroe, opera singer Beverly Sills, and magazine editor Helen Gurley Brown.
The Beresford is considered one of the finest works designed by renowned architect Emery Roth, who also built the towered San Remo and Eldorado buildings on Central Park West. Roth was a gifted Hungarian-Jewish immigrant who first worked for architect William Morris Hunt, who designed the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and then for Ogden Codman Jr., who was friends with Edith Wharton, before opening his own firm.
For the Beresford, Roth designed a colossal fortress-like blockbuster with 22 floors and 178 apartments in a rich Beaux-Arts style based on Italian Renaissance classical themes. American architects like Delano and Aldrich began to move away from Beaux-Arts style, favoring a simpler scheme, so the Beresford is said to be one of the last great Beaux-Arts buildings in New York. The first three stories are clad in rusticated blocks of limestone, and the facade rises above in light brick decorated with terra cotta ornamentation and trimmings including rosettes, swags, scrolls, cherub heads, rams heads and broken pediments. Many of the floors have setbacks, creating desirable private terraces overlooking Central Park. The three octagonal towers atop the building sumptuously conceal utilitarian water towers and are topped with lights that are lit at night like beacons. Inside, gorgeous terrazzo and marble lobbies are illuminated with crystal and brass chandeliers. "The Beresford is a stone symphony whose grand finale is its fully orchestrated triple towers," wrote architectural historian Andrew Alpern.
Brown Harris Stevens has offered numerous notable residences in the Beresford, and agents Lisa K. Lippman and Gerard "Scott" Moore are currently showing Apartment 15B. With ten-foot ceilings and elegant hardwood floors, the apartment’s large, gracious foyer leads to a living room with a wood burning fireplace. Its three windows and an adjoining terrace offer a priceless view of The Museum of Natural History and Planetarium across the street and the great, sweeping expanse of Central Park. The second bedroom is currently set up as a library with handsome, wood, custom built-in bookshelves and a built-in desk area. With its grand exterior and spacious floor plans, the apartments of the Beresford have the old-world solidity of a house-like residence.
"The Beresford is one of the most loved co-ops in Manhattan. While its architecture and gravitas are typical of old-world prewar New York City charm, the building has stayed up to date with renovated common spaces including a state-of-the-art fitness center, air conditioned lobbies, and the best and friendliest service. The location across the street from Central Park and next door to the Museum of Natural History and the Hayden Planetarium and within minutes of the best shopping, dining and transportation make 211 Central Park West arguably the one of the best places to live in New York City." - Lisa K. Lippman