George Frederick Pelham (1867Harris and Shockley (1998), p.8 – February 7, 1937) was an American architect and the son of George Brown Pelham, who was also an architect.Shockley, Jay. Gansevoort Market Historic District Designation Report part 1 , New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (September 9, 2003)
Life and career Pelham was born in Ottawa, Ontario, coming to New York City when his father opened an architectural office there in 1875. The elder Pelham designed for the city's Department of Public Parks, and employed his son as a draftsman in his firm. After being privately tutored in architecture, the younger Pelham opened his own office in 1890, specializing in apartment houses and hotels, row houses, and commercial buildings and utilizing the Renaissance Revival, Gothic Revival and Colonial Revival styles. His work is particularly represented on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He designed buildings for 43 years;Presa (2010), p.177 his final building was the Central Hanover Bank and Trust Company Building.
Pelham was the architect of the Chalfonte Hotel at 200 West 70th Street in Manhattan. Built in 1927, it was later converted to rental apartments and is still standing today.George Frederick Pelham , Brief Biographies of American Architects: Who Died Between 1897 and 1947, Society of Architectural Historians. Retrieved 3 April 2007.
In 1905, he designed the Riverdale apartment building at 67 Riverside Drive for developer John Louis Miller. It opened on October 31, 1907. In 1905 he also designed a new synagogue building for Brooklyn's Beth Jacob Anshe Sholom, based on Arnold Brunner's West Side Synagogue building on Manhattan's West 88th Street.Kaufman, David. Shul with a Pool: The "synagogue-center" in American Jewish History, Brandeis University Press, University Press of New England, 1999, , pp. 186–187. The synagogue is no longer extant.
For many years the office was at 200 West 72nd Street, originally built as a clubhouse for the Colonial Club of New-York. Pelham, like Rosario Candela, chose that address because a number of developers had their offices there, including Paterno & Son and Anthony Campagna. See the Building Permits Database put online by the Office for Metropolitan History. Pelham moved to West 72nd Street in 1918 or 1919, from 30 East 42nd Street. Candela worked at 200 West 72nd Street from 1922 to 1928, when he moved to 578 Madison Avenue.
Pelham's son George Fred Pelham Jr. joined the firm in 1910 and continued the family tradition; he was the architect of a number of New York City buildings, such as Castle Village in 1938-1939, 411 West End Avenue in 1937, and 1150 Park Avenue in 1940.
Works
Building Name Floors Year St. James House (501 West 113th Street) 20 1931 121 East 31st Street 12 1931 1120 Park Avenue 19 1930 47 East 88th Street 16 1930 Atlantic Bank of New York (960 Sixth Avenue) 16 1930 77 Second Avenue 6 1903" 77 Second Avenue" at the New York Landmarks website125 Second Avenue71901 81 Irving Place 14 1930"81 Irving Place" at the Gramercy Neighborhood Associates website 98 Riverside Drive 17 1929 50 West 96th Street 15 1929 944 Park Avenue 15 1929 400 East 58th Street 16 1929 14 East 90th Street 12 1929York City Geographic Information Service map Accessed:August 23, 2012 Bedford Hotel (118 East 40th Street) 17 1928-29 Belvoir Apartments (470 West End Avenue) 16 1928 245 Fifth Avenue 26 1927 33 Riverside Drive 17 1927 331 W 84th Street 5 1894 585 West End Avenue 17 1927 115 East 86th Street 16 1927 310 West 106th Street 16 1927 The Broadmoor (235 West 102nd Street) 16 1927 The Marbro (171 West 79th Street) 16 1927 175 West 79th Street 16 1927 21 East 90th Street 16 1927 315 East 84th Street 6 1905 Beekman Apartments (30 Beekman Place) 15 1927 Chalfonte Hotel (200 West 70th Street) 15 1927 263 West 38th Street 17 1926 1225 Park Avenue 16 1926 243-253 East 78th Street 6 1905 20 West 77th Street 16 1926 Park Royal Hotel (23 West 73rd Street) 16 1926 164 West 79th Street 15 1926 Hotel Milburn (242 West 76th Street) 15 1926 The Olcott (27 West 72nd Street) 16 1925 10 West 86th Street 15 1925 1136 5th Avenue 15 1925 910 West End Avenue 15 1925 Surrey Apartments (215 West 83rd Street) 15 1925 1160 Park Avenue 14 1925 964 Madison Avenue 5 1925White and Willensky (2000), p.412 Hudson View Gardens (116 Pinehurst Avenue) 6 1924-25White and Willensky (2000), p.529 Hotel Plaza Athénée (37 East 64th Street) 16 1924 The Florence (545 West End Avenue) 16 1924 314 West 77th Street 9 1924 140 West 86th Street 15 1924 161 West 54th Street 15 1924 290 Riverside Drive 15 1924 Bradford Hotel (210 West 70th Street) 15 1924 Butler Hall (400 West 119th Street) 15 1924 The Gatsby (65 East 96th Street) 15 1924 300 Riverside Drive 14 1924 136 East 36th Street 12 1924 Marboro Apartments (171 West 79th Street) 16 1923 135 East 74th Street 12 1923 130 East 94th Street 9 1923 Oxford Apartments (205 West 88th Street) 15 1922 29 East 64th Street 12 1922 710 West End Avenue 15 1920 270 West End Avenue 13 1918 533-539 West 150th Street (row houses) 5 1915 Bellguard Apartments (216 West 89th Street) 12 1915 Buchova Apartments 12 1915 385 Edgecombe Avenue 6 1913NYCLPC (2009), p.192 36 West 25th Street 16 1912 44 West 28th Street 16 1912 675 West End Avenue 16 1912 Francis Edmund Court (423 West 120th Street) 10 1912 Soundview Court (260 Convent Avenue) 10 1911-12NYCLPC (2009), p.189 133 West 21st Street 12 1911 37 West 28th Street 12 1911 72 Madison Avenue 12 1911 137-139 Grand Street 7 1911Presa (2010), p.79 The Woodhull (62 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn) 8 1911White and Willensky (2000), p.661 Raymore Court (238 West 106th Street) 6 1910Rasenberger, Jim. The Old Neighbors The New York Times. Retrieved 2020-05-22 Hadson Hotel (31 West 34th Street) 12 1910"Hadson Hotel" on SkyscraperPages.com The Cliffden (265 Riverside Drive) 11 1909"Upper West Side Building Tendencies," Real Estate Record and Guide (v. 85, no. 2181, January 1, 1910), p. 5. 15 East 32nd Street 12 1909 Fowler Court (400 Riverside Drive) 12 1909 The Lansdown (352-354 West 46th Street, now the Lyric) 6 1908 The Riverdale (67 Riverside Drive) 9 1907 [Eleanor Thomas] Elliott Hall (49 Claremont Avenue) 6 1906 Kennedy House (47 Claremont Avenue) 6 1906 Concord Hall (468 Riverside Drive) 12 1906-07 17 West 17th Street 11 1907Pearson (1989), p.485 Woodward Hall (50 East 96th Street) 6 1905 The Fairholm (503 W. 121st Street) 6 1905 Congregation Beth Jacob Ohev Sholom (274–276 South 3rd Street, Brooklyn)Unknown1905 Dream Hotel (210 West 55th Street) 13 1904 224-226 Avenue B 6 1904 504-508 East 12th Street 6 1904 Parc 77 (50 West 77th Street) 13 1903 36 West 22nd Street 7 1903Pearson (1989), p.850 441-461 East 140th Street, The Bronx (tenements) 5 1902-03White and Willensky (2000), p.550 34-42 West 96th Street (row houses) 4 1897Pearson, Marjorie and Urbanelli, Elisa. Upper West Side / Central Park West Historic District Designation Report Volume 3: Building Entries New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (April 24, 1990) p.709 616 West 113th Street (row house) 4 + basement 1897 32-36 West 85th Street (row houses) 5 1897White and Willensky (2000), p.363 97 Wooster Street 7 1896-97Wade, Pearson and Dillon (1973), p.168526 West 114th Street51897 42 Hudson Street 6 1896Pearson (1991), p.83 16-22 West 68th Street (row houses) 5 1896White and Willensky (2000), p.358 347 West Broadway 7 1895-96Wade, Pearson and Dillon (1973), p.153 495 Broome Street 7 1895-96Wade, Pearson and Dillon (1973), p.64 397 Washington Street 6 1895-96Bradley, Betsy. Tribeca North Historic District Designation Report New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (December 8, 1992) p.71 303-309 West 103rd Street (row houses) 3 1895-96White and Willensky (2000), pp.336-337 93 Crosby Street 6 1894-95Presa (2010), p.71 18 North Moore Street 5 1894Pearson (1991), p.314 The Fanwood (112-114 East 17th Street) 6 1890-91Harris and Shockley (1998), p.38123 Second Avenune5 (formerly 3)1913 Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun (117 East 85th Street) 5 1902
Sources (unless otherwise noted):The History of the Riverdale , 2007, Kelsey & Associates, Inc."George F. Pelham" on Phorio.com (addresses of named buildings)
References Notes
Bibliography Harris, Gale and Shockley, Jay. East 17th Street / Irving Place Historic District Designation Report New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (June 30, 1998)
Pearson, Marjorie. Ladies' Mile Historic District Designation Report, volume 2 New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (May 2, 1989) Pearson, Marjorie. Tribeca West Historic District Designation Report New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (May 7, 1991) Presa, Donald G. NYCLPC SoHo - Cast-Iron Historic District Extension Designation Report New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (May 11, 2010) Wade, Karen Graham; Pearson, Marjorie and Dillon, James T. SoHo - Cast Iron Historic District Designation Report New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (August 14, 1973)
External links