Morris B. Sanders Studio & Apartment | |
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General information | |
Type | Residential |
Architectural style | Modernist |
Location | Manhattan, New York, US |
Address | 219 East 49th Street |
Coordinates | 40°45′17.8″N 73°58′12.9″W / 40.754944°N 73.970250°W |
Construction started | March 1935 |
Completed | December 1935 |
Technical details | |
Material | Blue brick, glass block (facade) |
Floor count | 5 (front) 6 (rear) |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Morris B. Sanders |
Designated | November 18, 2008[1] |
Reference no. | 2267[1] |
219 East 49th Street, also known as the Morris B. Sanders Studio & Apartment, is a building in the East Midtown and Turtle Bay neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, along the northern sidewalk of 49th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. The house, designed by Arkansas architect Morris B. Sanders Jr. and constructed in 1935, replaced a 19th-century brownstone townhouse. It contained Sanders's studio, as well as a residence for him and his wife Barbara Castleton Davis.
The five-and-a-half-story building contains a facade of dark blue bricks as well as glass block windows. The glass blocks were installed to provide insulation and privacy while also allowing illumination. The house was designed with two residential units: Sanders's seven-room apartment on the fourth, fifth, and partial sixth floors, as well as a six-room unit on the second and third floors that was rented to others. The ground story, with a white marble facade and a slightly angled entrance doorway, was used for Sanders's studios. Upon completion, 219 East 49th Street was largely praised for its design.
Davis bought the previous structure in mid-1934 and originally intended to remodel it. Ultimately, the old brownstone was removed and replaced with the current building, which was completed in December 1935. Sanders lived in the house until his death in 1948, and it was sold the year afterward. Since 1980, the house has been owned by Donald Wise. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building as an official landmark in 2008.