The Studio Building

889 Lexington Avenue | also 131 East 66th Street | Upper East Side | built 1906

Open on the map3 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

    Charles A. Platt completes an 11-story Renaissance Revival studio building

    A syndicate plans a studio building at the northeast corner of 66th Street and Lexington Avenue in 1905 and first hires Pollard & Steinam and B. Hustace Simonson, but Charles A. Platt later takes over as both architect and investor. The 11-story limestone building is finished in 1907, with two entrances topped by broken pediments on double-height Scamozzi columns. The studios have nearly double-height windows on the north side, out of view from the street, and Platt and his wife are among the first residents.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1915

    April 28

    Pianist Ernest Schelling hosts a dinner and reception for Ignace Paderewski

    Pianist and composer Ernest Henry Schelling and his wife, Lucie Howe Draper, give a dinner and reception at their home at 131 East 66th Street for Ignace Paderewski, Schelling's longtime teacher and friend. The Sun reports it on April 29, 1915. Guests include figures from the music world and Manhattan society, such as the Harry Harkness Flaglers.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1970

    The city designates the Studio Building a landmark

    The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates 131-135 East 66th Street an individual landmark in 1970 and describes its cornice as one of the finest in the city. At the hearings, Henry Hope Reed of the Municipal Art Society testifies that the building is among the finest apartment houses of the American Renaissance.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

Nearby

All 93 buildings with stories in Upper East Side