John E. Scharsmith Explained

John E. Scharsmith was an American architect of Swiss extraction with a practice in New York City. Having served with a New York regiment in the American Civil War, by the turn of the 20th century, with offices at 1 Madison Avenue,^[1] he was responsible for several landmarked apartment blocks in Beaux-Arts style, such as The Hohenzollern, West End Avenue and 84th Street (1902), and The Chatsworth Apartments, 344 West 72nd Street, (1902–04, Annex, 1905–06),^[2] and for the eight-storey apartment block, 425 West End Avenue, at 72nd Street (1905).^[3] He designed the neo-Gothic Swiss House, 37 West 67th Street (1906–07), built for the Swiss Benevolent Society as a home for aged Swiss, one among a group of artists' studio buildings on that block being constructed at the time by various firms.^[4]

His office also provided designs for less ambitious projects, such as the Fort Tryon Apartments, northeast corner of St. Nicholas Avenue and 180th Street (for Moersh & Wille, 1907)^[5] the pair of 6-storey brick and stone apartment houses at the northwest corner of St Nicholas Avenue and 163rd Street and southwest corner of 164th Street (1908)^[6] or stables he built on West 151st Street just west of Convent Avenue, for John Quinn (1897).^[7] Scharsmith designed the extant block of Renaissance Revival rowhouses at 449-459 Convent Avenue, near 150th Street (1896–97).^[8] Some of his other early rowhouses include the nine 3-storey brick dwellings 503-519 West 173rd St near Amsterdam Avenue (1896-1897).^[9]

Notes and References

1. http://www.metrohistory.com/dbpages/NBresults.lasso?-MaxRecords=10&-SkipRecords=8710 Office for Metropolitan History, "Manhattan NB Database 1900-1986
2. Builders: George F. Johnson, Jr. and Aleck Kahn; Landmarks Preservation Commission: Chatsworth Apartments ; Andrew Dolkart, Matthew A. Postal, Guide to New York City Landmarks, cat. no. 388; Christopher Gray, "Streetscapes: The Chatsworth; Riverside South's Threat to a 1904 Apartment Tower," The New York Times, 13 December 1992 (accessed 25 February 2010).
3. http://www.metrohistory.com/dbpages/NBresults.lasso?-MaxRecords=10&-SkipRecords=6181 Office for Metropolitan History, "Manhattan NB Database 1900-1986
4. http://www.landmarkwest.org/events/Spring%20House%20Tour%2009/HD%20designation%20report.pdf National Register of Historic Places: West 67th Street Artists' Colony Historic District
5. http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=286982&imageID=464761&word=Apartment%20houses%20--%20New%20York%20(State)%20--%20New%20York&s=3&notword=&d=&c=&f=2&k=4&lWord=&lField=&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&total=707&num=80&imgs=20&pNum=&pos=82#_seemore New York Public Library: Digital Gallery, "Apartment houses: New York (State): New York"
6. http://www.metrohistory.com/dbpages/NBresults.lasso?-MaxRecords=10&-SkipRecords=8710 Office for Metropolitan History, "Manhattan NB Database 1900-1986," (accessed 25 February 2010)
7. https://www.nytimes.com/1897/09/18/archives/in-the-real-estate-field-details-of-yesterdays-dealings-by-private.html "In the Real Estate Field, The New York Times 18 September 1897
8. http://home.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/reports/HAMILTON_HEIGHTS-SUGAR_HILL_HISTORIC_DISTRICT_EXTENSION.pdf Hamilton Heights/Sugar Hill Historic District Extension Designation Report, 2001
9. Web site: Office for Metropolitan History . 2023-11-26 . Office for Metropolitan History . en-US.