Master Apartments

Master Apartments
Riverside Drive entrance
Former names	Master Building
General information
Type	Housing cooperative
Architectural style	Art Deco
Location	310 Riverside Drive New York, NY 10025 United States
Coordinates	40°48′02″N 73°58′17″W / 40.80050°N 73.97126°W / 40.80050; -73.97126
Construction started	March 24, 1928
Opened	October 17, 1929
Cost	$1,925,000
Height	443 ft (135 m)
Technical details
Floor count	29
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Harvey Wiley Corbett, Helmle, Corbett & Harrison; and Sugarman & Berger
Master Building
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
New York City Landmark No. 1661
NRHP reference No.	16000036
NYCL No.	1661
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	February 23, 2016
Designated NYCL	December 5, 1989
References
[1]

The Master Apartments, officially known as the Master Building, is a 27-story Art Deco skyscraper at 310 Riverside Drive, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City. It sits on the northeast corner of Riverside Drive and West 103rd Street. Designed by Harvey Wiley Corbett of the firm Helmle, Corbett & Harrison, in conjunction with Sugarman & Berger, the Master Apartments was completed in 1929 as the tallest building on Riverside Drive. It was the first skyscraper in New York City to feature corner windows and the first to employ brick in varying colors for its entire exterior.

The Master Apartments' name derives from the Master Institute of United Arts, an art institute founded in 1920 by Nicholas and Helena Roerich. Wealthy financier Louis L. Horch began purchasing lots in 1925 to build the apartment building, and in 1928 he secured a bond to fund its construction. As built, the building's lower floors consisted of a museum; a school for the fine and performing arts; and an international art center. The building opened in 1929 to generally positive acclaim, but it went into foreclosure in 1932, and Horch's tax-exempt corporation acted as the Master Building's receiver from 1934 to 1935. Following a disagreement between Horch and the Roeriches, the museum was closed and the Roeriches unsuccessfully sued to regain control of the Master Apartments. Louis Horch's wife Nettie also controlled some aspects of the building and its organizations during this time, but by 1958, the Horches' son Frank became the building's manager.

During the 1950s and 1960s, people moved out of the surrounding Manhattan Valley neighborhood. Consequently, the Master Apartments' museum and cultural center closed by 1971, their holdings dispersed elsewhere, although the building's auditorium was still used for cultural events. After Louis's death in 1979, the building was bought by real estate investor Sol Goldman, who converted it to a housing co-operative over the next decade. Further renovations, which were completed in 2005, resulted in many of the one-bedroom studios being combined into two- and three-bedroom units. These renovations attracted more families and made the building more luxurious by both quality-of-life and purchase-price measures. The Master Apartments was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.