Tudor City is an apartment complex on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City, bordering the Turtle Bay and Murray Hill neighborhoods. It lies on a low cliff east of Second Avenue, between 40th and 43rd Streets, and overlooks First Avenue to the east. Designed and developed by the Fred F. French Company, the complex is named for its Tudor Revival architecture. Construction commenced in 1926, making it one of the first residential skyscraper complexes in the world. Tudor City was also one of the first and largest examples of a planned middle-class residential community in New York City. The complex is a New York City designated landmark district and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The 13-building complex consists of 11 housing cooperative structures, one rental apartment building, and one short-term hotel, which collectively house 5,000 people. Most of Tudor City's buildings are arranged around 41st and 43rd Streets, which slope upward east of Second Avenue; the eastern ends of the two streets are connected by Tudor City Place, which crosses over 42nd Street. Two parks flank 42nd Street, and there was originally an 18-hole miniature golf course in the southern park. The buildings generally contained stone, brick, and terracotta facades, as well as ornate Tudor-style details. The Fred F. French Company advertised Tudor City heavily, erecting large signs on the roofs of two buildings on 42nd Street.
Before Tudor City was constructed, tenements and slums dominated the area. Following the development of the nearby Grand Central Terminal and office buildings during the early 20th century, Fred F. French began planning a residential enclave in Midtown Manhattan. French announced plans for Tudor City in December 1925, and the first 12 structures were completed in phases between October 1927 and late 1930. The section of 42nd Street through Tudor City was widened in the 1950s with the construction of the nearby United Nations headquarters, and the complex's last residential building, 2 Tudor City Place, was finished in 1956. The French Company sold the Hotel Tudor in 1963. Harry Helmsley bought most of the remaining buildings in 1970 and, over the next decade and a half, attempted to redevelop Tudor City's private parks. Helmsley resold the buildings in 1984 to Philip Pilevsky and Francis J. Greenburger, who converted most of these structures to co-op apartments.
History Background
The site was historically part of the Turtle Bay Farm, which had been acquired in 1795 by Francis Winthrop, who named the area Prospect Hill because it overlooked the East River. Prospect Hill rises eastward from Second Avenue to a granite cliff about 40 feet above First Avenue. Neither 41st nor 43rd Streets reach First Avenue but end at a three-block-long north–south street called Tudor City Place, which crosses 42nd Street on an overpass. The topography provides a measure of seclusion. Until the mid-19th century, the area was farmland. The huts and farms in the area attracted many squatters, and the bluff itself was controlled by "Paddy" Corcoran, who lived in a hut at the top of the hill.
The area was first developed following the Civil War when the streets between First and Second Avenues were largely built up with brownstone-fronted row houses erected for the middle class. Development of single-family houses in the Tudor City area peaked in 1870, and horse-drawn streetcar lines were built along Second and Third Avenues. The Church of the Covenant established a mission called Covenant Chapel in 1870, which had relocated to Prospect Hill by the end of the 19th century. Elevated railway lines were erected on Second and Third Avenues in the late 1870s. Soon afterward, the blocks east of First Avenue were taken over by noxious industries: abattoirs and meat packing houses, a gasworks, an animal glue factory, and the Waterside Generating Station. Middle-class families abandoned their row houses, and lower-income workers moved into these buildings, which became tenements or boarding houses. By the early 20th century, many of Manhattan's wealthier residents had moved to the suburbs, commuting to Midtown through the then-new Grand Central Terminal.
Development
Site selection
A real estate operator named Leonard Gans believed there was a market for middle-class apartments within walking distance of Grand Central Terminal and that Prospect Hill was an advantageous location for it. He persuaded Paine Edson – a long-time employee of the real-estate development firm Fred F. French Company – who convinced Fred French himself. French wished to create a residential enclave in Midtown Manhattan, as he believed the New York City Subway was overcrowded and unsanitary, and traffic congestion in the city was growing. According to author Lawrence R. Samuel, Prospect Hill's topography and proximity to the East River made it "an ideal spot to situate a group of high-rise buildings that would offer thousands of residents sanctuary from the various transportation woes that plagued the city". With Gans's help, the company quickly acquired nearly a hundred properties. The site covered and had cost approximately . It took five weeks to buy all the parcels on the site; on average, Gans bought three land lots per day.
On December 18, 1925, French announced plans for Tudor City, a large residential development on Prospect Hill. In contrast to French's earlier apartment buildings on Park Avenue, which mainly attracted wealthy people because of their upscale addresses, the new Tudor City targeted middle-class managers and professionals who had previously commuted from the suburbs. Reflecting his intentions for Tudor City, French popularized the phrase "walk to work" in connection with the buildings' development. The buildings would also be highly visible from Grand Central, further increasing their appeal to potential residents. The assemblage was valued at $7.5 million in 1925 dollars, and the project was to cost $22.5 million in total. French selected one of his company's architects – H. Douglas Ives, who had formerly worked for Cass Gilbert – to supervise the project. The buildings were to be designed with many elements of the Elizabethan and Tudor architectural styles, which dated from 16th-century England.
Construction and opening
French ordered more than 10 million pieces of face brick in 1926; at the time, it was the largest such order in New York City. The first structure in the development, the 22-story Prospect Tower, was announced in June 1926. The French Company filed plans with the New York City Department of Buildings for the Cloister, right across the street, that September. Plans for the third building, the Manor, were filed in December 1926, and excavations for the first two buildings were completed soon afterward. French, who expressed optimism about the project, soon increased the estimated cost to $40 million. In February 1927, the French Company filed plans for another 22-story building and began constructing the steelwork for the first three buildings. The steelwork for the Manor and Prospect Tower was finished by that April. French had wanted to rent out apartments for $500 per year, but the development had garnered much more interest than French had intended. As early as March 1927, the French Company had rented out 44 apartments in the first two towers; by that June, the company was receiving 250 applications per week from potential residents.
The Manor and Prospect Tower opened on September 30, 1927, followed by the Cloister soon afterward. When the first two buildings opened, apartments in Prospect Tower without housekeeping services were already being rented for $800 to $2,050, and units with housekeeping were being rented at higher prices. By November 1927, ninety percent of the apartments in the Manor and Prospect Tower had been rented, a figure that had increased to 99 percent by May 1928. The remaining towers in the complex, similarly, were nearly fully occupied soon after they were completed. The fourth building in the complex, the Hermitage, was completed in early 1928, followed that May by Tudor Tower. The French Company bought a rowhouse on 42nd Street in December 1927 and acquired additional property on 41st and 42nd Streets in February 1928. The firm filed plans for buildings at 312–324 East 42nd Street and 314 East 41st Street in March 1928. By then, seven structures were being planned or under construction in Tudor City, including a 60-story apartment building that was to be the world's tallest.
Haddon Hall, Hardwicke Hall, and Hatfield House on East 41st Street all opened on January 1, 1929, and were 60 percent rented within six weeks. Woodstock Tower on 320 East 42nd Street was completed in 1929; at 23 stories, it was the tallest apartment building in New York City at the time. It was followed soon afterward by the opening of Essex House. The French Company filed plans for Windsor Tower, on the east side of Prospect Place between 40th and 41st Streets, in January 1929. This was followed in February by plans for a 53-story hotel just to the west, although plans for that tower were abandoned because of the French Company's inability to acquire the row house at 8 Prospect Place, whose owner wanted $250,000 for the property. The French Company also remodeled one of the houses on 43rd Street and converted it into a kindergarten in October 1929. Windsor Tower opened on January 1, 1930, and was the eleventh structure in the complex to be completed. The French Company opened an indoor golf course at the base of Windsor Tower in March 1930. The last of the original Tudor City buildings to be completed was the Hotel Tudor, which opened in late 1930 and was 70 percent rented upon its completion. The Times described the project as one of several high-rise developments that were "radically changing the old-time conditions" along East 42nd Street, along with the Chanin Building, Chrysler Building, Daily News Building, and Lincoln Building.
French Company ownership
1930s
Throughout 1930, the French Company continued to advertise Tudor City as an investment opportunity. Of the original buildings in Tudor City, the Hotel Tudor was the only structure that did not originally rent apartments by the year; instead, rooms were rented on a nightly or weekly basis. Excluding the 600-room hotel, the complex had 2,800 apartments and 581 staff members upon its completion. French advertised the units to people who were working in Midtown Manhattan, particularly at large structures such as the Graybar Building and Chrysler Building, and he also tried to entice diners at the complex's restaurants to rent at Tudor City. The complex had cost $30 million, or $10 million below the original projected cost. The buildings were still not fully occupied by the end of 1930, prompting rental managers to reduce the prices of the remaining apartments. As the Depression continued, the French Company continued to lower prices and advertised the buildings' proximity to transit options and Midtown Manhattan offices. Advertisements also promoted the area's "old-world charm" and sense of community, though the writer Lawrence Samuel says the wording may have implied that the residents were largely white.