520 West End Avenue, Landmark townhouse in Upper West Side, Manhattan, United States
520 West End Avenue is a residential building on the Upper West Side combining Elizabethan, Gothic, and Romanesque Revival elements on its exterior. The structure uses limestone and red brick in distinct ways across its different levels.
Architect Clarence True designed this building in 1892 for cotton broker John B. Leech and his wife Isabella. It was built during a period when West End Avenue became a destination for the city's wealthiest residents.
The building shows how wealthy New Yorkers in the 1890s chose to display their taste through European architectural styles. Its layered facade in different materials reflects the aspirations and means of that period's elite families.
The building sits at the corner of West 85th Street and West End Avenue near Riverside Park. Public transportation is easily accessible and the neighborhood is very walkable.
The first two floors feature roughly hewn limestone blocks that shift to reddish brick on the upper stories, creating a noticeable change in surface texture. This transition was a deliberate choice both for durability and visual effect.
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