Russian Mission Residency
355 West 255th Street | Riverdale | built 1975
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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.
- 1967
Robert Weinberg proposes a public housing tower for the lot
Before the Soviets came, the land belonged to Robert Weinberg, who in 1967 proposed an 18-story building of 340 apartments for middle-class and low-income tenants under Mayor John Lindsay's scatter-site housing program. Affluent neighbors protested, the project was never built, and the parcel stayed vacant until the end of 1971.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1971
The Soviet Union buys the empty Riverdale lot for $900,000
The vacant Riverdale site passed to the Soviet Union in December 1971 for $900,000. A first design by the firm Pomerance & Breines won Soviet approval, but construction bids came in high, the lowest near $9 million, and those plans were abandoned.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1974
The 20-story residence rises from the top floor down
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed the tower around a suspended-steel-floor system patented by California's International Environmental Dynamics, first devised against earthquakes, and Tishman Construction built it for about $8 million. Prefabricated floors were lifted into place beginning with the 20th and ending with the 1st. Sixteen floors hold 240 apartments; the lowest three house a school, auditorium, gym, theater, barber shop, stores and a garage for 100 cars.
“The prefabricated floors would be hoisted up, starting with 20th floor first and moving down to 1st floor last.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1975
Ambassador Yakov Malik hails the building as a product of US-Soviet cooperation
In late April 1975, Ambassador Yakov Malik described the Riverdale residence for Soviet diplomats as the first offspring of US-Soviet cooperation. The building now houses diplomatic staff of Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is affiliated with its Permanent Mission to the United Nations.
“Towards the end of April 1975 Ambassador Yakov Malik called the project the “first child of the cooperation between the USSR and the U.S.”…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1985
A Reagan-Gorbachev cultural pact opens the residence to exchanges
After Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev signed a cultural agreement on November 21, 1985, the compound began hosting exchanges. Pupils from the residence's own school met American high school students from the area, and the building also held musical concerts.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Russian Mission ResidencyWikipedia
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