The Langham

135 Central Park West | Upper West Side | built 1907

Open on the map8 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1907

    Clinton & Russell's Langham apartments open on Central Park West

    Developers Abraham Boehm and Lewis Coon complete the Langham at 135 Central Park West in 1907, a Beaux-Arts building designed by Clinton & Russell for about $2 million. Each floor holds four apartments, above a rusticated limestone base and with French-style iron balcony railings. Advertised leases start at $4,500.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1913

    September 2

    Trading-stamp magnate Thomas Sperry dies in his Langham apartment

    After a June 1912 fire destroys his New Jersey estate, Thomas A. Sperry, founder of the Sperry & Hutchinson trading-stamp company, moves his family back into their Langham apartment. Stricken with ptomaine poisoning on the voyage home from Europe in 1913, he is carried off the ship and dies in the apartment on September 2.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1915

    March 7

    A 4 a.m. fire in the Costello apartment tests the Langham's fireproofing

    Around 4 a.m. on March 7, 1915, Irving Bloomingdale's wife smelled smoke in their eleventh-floor apartment, and he had the hallman turn in an alarm. The blaze was in the apartment of retired banker Alfred Costello, whose family left by elevator while few other residents noticed. It stayed within that apartment and caused $7,500 in damage, soon testing the building's much-advertised fireproof construction.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1925

    March 16

    Coconut importer Leopold Schepp begins giving away his fortune

    Leopold Schepp, a Langham resident who made his fortune importing coconuts, begins giving away his $10 million fortune on March 16, 1925, starting with checks to employees. He dies in his apartment the following year, on March 11, 1926.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 1936

    May 21

    Opera star Giovanni Martinelli hosts a reception for La Scala's conductor

    The opera star Giovanni Martinelli rented a ten-room apartment at the Langham in 1936. Only weeks later it hosted a reception for Franco Ghione, conductor of La Scala in Milan, and his wife. On May 21 the rooms filled with celebrities from the New York stage and opera.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  6. 1951

    June 27

    Actor David Warfield dies in his Langham apartment at 84

    David Warfield was among the entertainers living at the Langham by 1915. Every November 28 the newspapers reported his birthday, with celebrations growing quieter each year, and he told reporters he disliked being reminded of birthdays. He died in his apartment in the building on June 27, 1951, aged 84.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  7. 1986

    Mia Farrow's apartment becomes the setting for the Thanksgiving scene in Hannah and Her Sisters

    Mia Farrow's mother, Maureen O'Sullivan, had lived in the building, and her apartment later became Farrow's home. Farrow was still living there in 1986, the year she starred in Hannah and Her Sisters, and the Thanksgiving dinner hosted by her character, Hannah, was filmed in that apartment. The building's first screen appearance had been the 1979 film Love at First Bite. In 1987 Farrow's rent-controlled eleven rooms cost $1,800 a month.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  8. 1996

    March 7

    Carly Simon agrees to market rent as Mia Farrow leaves

    A 1993 law required tenants earning over $250,000 a year to pay market rents. The Daily News reported on March 7, 1996, that Carly Simon and State Senator Manfred Ohrenstein had agreed to new rents of $8,000 a month, up from $2,200 and $1,700 in 1987. Mia Farrow was leaving the building.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

Nearby

All 64 buildings with stories in Upper West Side