Designated: July 15, 1986
*Constructed in 1871-72 and designed by Nathaniel Bush, who acted as the official architect of the New York City Police Department , this handsome French Second Empire style brick building was located at the center of the village of Carmansville, then an affluent suburb of New York. Typical of Bush’s work, the station house is also an important reminder of the history of this section of Manhattan.
The facade on Amsterdam Avenue and the longer side elevation are treated very similarly. Both have central slightly projecting bays three windows wide flanked by narrow bays with a single window at each story. There is a full basement and areaway surmounted by a simple, but handsome wrought-iron fence which surrounds the building. The entrance has a heavy brownstone round-arched pediment, ornamented with dentils and supported on console brackets. (The original doors and lanterns are no longer in place.) The central first-story window on the side elevation (which was originally an entranceway) displays a similar pediment. The side windows of the central bays have brownstone lintels at each story. Round-arched pediments appear in the flanking bays at the first-story level, triangular pediments at the second, and lintels at the third. A round-arched pediment with dentils surmounts the central window of the second story on both elevations, echoing in smaller scale those below. The quoins, which articulate the bays and corners of the building are composed of alternating smooth and vermiculated brownstone. The cornice, cast in galvanized iron, is bracketed with console brackets atop the quoining. (These were originally surmounted by decorative urns.) The tall mansard roof contains metal pedimented dormers with segmentally arched windows, two flanking the central tower pavilions on each elevation and larger central ones within the pavilions themselves. (The central dormer on the facade was damaged by fire and a large portion of it has been removed.) Metal cresting (a segment of which is no longer extant) with corner finials surmounts the roof. The jail annex to the building is executed in the same brick , is two stories in height and has had a garage door added at stret level. The southelevation of the station is a party wall. The building has been sealed.
*Excerpt from the Landmarks Preservation Commission Designation Report
STATUS Designated Individual Landmark
The Neighborhood
Hamilton Heights
The Hamilton Heights Historic District was designated on November 26, 1974
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