Castle Village
Encyclopedia
Housing cooperative
A housing cooperative is a legal entity—usually a corporation—that owns real estate, consisting of one or more residential buildings. Each shareholder in the legal entity is granted the right to occupy one housing unit, sometimes subject to an occupancy agreement, which is similar to a lease. ...
located in the Hudson Heights neighborhood of the Washington Heights
Washington Heights, Manhattan
Washington Heights is a New York City neighborhood in the northern reaches of the borough of Manhattan. It is named for Fort Washington, a fortification constructed at the highest point on Manhattan island by Continental Army troops during the American Revolutionary War, to defend the area from the...
area of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The buildings are among the many resident-owned apartment buildings in Hudson Heights. Most Castle Village apartments feature spectacular views of the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
, the George Washington Bridge
George Washington Bridge
The George Washington Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting the Washington Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City to Fort Lee, Bergen County, New Jersey. Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1/9 cross the river via the bridge. U.S...
(I-95
Interstate 95 in New York
Interstate 95 is a part of the Interstate Highway System that runs from Miami, Florida, to the Canada – United States border near Houlton, Maine. In the U.S. state of New York, I-95 extends from the George Washington Bridge in New York City to the Connecticut state line at Port Chester...
), and New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
.
Historically, New York City apartments owned by their residents are typically held through cooperative corporations
Housing cooperative
A housing cooperative is a legal entity—usually a corporation—that owns real estate, consisting of one or more residential buildings. Each shareholder in the legal entity is granted the right to occupy one housing unit, sometimes subject to an occupancy agreement, which is similar to a lease. ...
rather than condominium
Condominium
A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...
s. Although some cooperatives in New York City had been subsidized housing, Castle Village never was. A few of its residents, however, are still renters because they haven't moved out since the conversion to a cooperative in 1985.
Castle Village stands on 7.5 acres (30,351.5 m²), which was the site of a castle built by real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
developer Charles Paterno
Charles V. Paterno
Dr. Charles V. Paterno was a New York City real estate developer. His work includes the following Manhattan residences:* Castle Village* Hudson View Gardens* The Colosseum* The Paterno...
in 1906. Paterno replaced his castle with a five building apartment project that opened around 1939. The buildings are located on Cabrini Boulevard
Cabrini Boulevard (Manhattan)
Cabrini Boulevard spans the Manhattan neighborhood of Hudson Heights, running from West 177th Street in the south, near the George Washington Bridge, to Fort Tryon Park in the north, along an escarpment of Manhattan schist overlooking the Henry Hudson Parkway and the Hudson River...
between 181st Street
181st Street (Manhattan)
181st Street is a major thoroughfare running through the Washington Heights neighborhood in uptown Manhattan in New York City. It runs from the Washington Bridge in the east, to the Henry Hudson Parkway in the west, near the George Washington Bridge and the Hudson River...
and Alex Rose Place (often referred to as 186th Street). The architect George Fred Pelham, Jr., designed the buildings to be one of the earliest apartment towers to employ reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...
construction. In 1939 the monthly rents (including gas and electricity) were from $66 for 2 rooms to up to $165 for 5 rooms. Each floor contains nine apartments, eight of which have river views. Pelham Jr.'s father, George Fred Pelham, was the architect of two other apartments in Hudson Heights, Hudson View Gardens and The Pinehurst, at Fort Washington Avenue
Fort Washington Avenue (Manhattan)
Fort Washington Avenue is a major north-south street in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. It runs from Fort Tryon Park to 159th Street, where it intersects with Broadway. It goes past Bennett Park, the highest natural point in Manhattan. Famous residents of Fort Washington Avenue...
and West 180 Street.
Architectural influences
The design of the towers was influenced by medieval keepKeep
A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the...
s in Europe.
The cross design of the towers and the towers in a park layout was later used in most of New York's social and affordable housing
Affordable housing
Affordable housing is a term used to describe dwelling units whose total housing costs are deemed "affordable" to those that have a median income. Although the term is often applied to rental housing that is within the financial means of those in the lower income ranges of a geographical area, the...
. The labor movement owned United Housing Foundation
United Housing Foundation
The United Housing Foundation is a real estate investment trust in New York that is best known for constructing Rochdale Village.- Purpose :...
built tens of thousands of cooperative apartments using a similar layout. The reinforced concrete construction was also copied in cooperative developments. Private rental housing, like those built in Parkchester
Parkchester, Bronx
Parkchester is a residential neighborhood geographically located in the south central Bronx, New York City. The neighborhood is part of Bronx Community Board 9...
and Stuyvesant Town
Stuyvesant Town
Stuyvesant Town—Peter Cooper Village is a large private residential development on the East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City, and one of the most iconic and successful post-World War II private housing communities...
residential developments followed the architectural design, but substituted the concrete frame for a cheaper steel frame
Steel frame
Steel frame usually refers to a building technique with a "skeleton frame" of vertical steel columns and horizontal -beams, constructed in a rectangular grid to support the floors, roof and walls of a building which are all attached to the frame...
construction.
Retaining wall
The garden facing the Hudson River was, on May 12, 2005, the site of a retaining wallRetaining wall
Retaining walls are built in order to hold back earth which would otherwise move downwards. Their purpose is to stabilize slopes and provide useful areas at different elevations, e.g...
collapse. In a massive landslide
Landslide
A landslide or landslip is a geological phenomenon which includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rockfalls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows, which can occur in offshore, coastal and onshore environments...
, the 75-foot-tall wall, completed in 1925 and supporting the Castle Village backyard, buried the northbound lanes of the Henry Hudson Parkway
Henry Hudson Parkway
The Henry Hudson Parkway is an long parkway in New York City. The southern terminus is at West 72nd Street in Manhattan, where the parkway continues south as the West Side Highway. It is often erroneously referred to as the West Side Highway throughout its entire course in Manhattan...
and six parked cars. The collapse stopped traffic on the highway for several days, and an entry ramp to the highway remained closed for almost two years. No one was injured. The reconstruction of the wall and garden, performed by Kiewit Constructors
Peter Kiewit Sons'
Kiewit Corporation, an employee-owned, private company, is a Fortune 500 contractor based in Omaha, Nebraska. It is one of the largest contractors in the world. Recent projects have included several bridge retrofittings in the San Francisco Bay Area, Interstate H-3 project in Hawaii, and building...
, was substantially completed in October 2007. The access road to the Henry Hudson Parkway
Henry Hudson Parkway
The Henry Hudson Parkway is an long parkway in New York City. The southern terminus is at West 72nd Street in Manhattan, where the parkway continues south as the West Side Highway. It is often erroneously referred to as the West Side Highway throughout its entire course in Manhattan...
below the wall was re-opened in March 2008.
Neighborhood education
In addition to city schools, several private schools enroll students from nursery school through a post-doctoral fellowship. University education includes Yeshiva UniversityYeshiva University
Yeshiva University is a private university in New York City, with six campuses in New York and one in Israel. Founded in 1886, it is a research university ranked as 45th in the US among national universities by U.S. News & World Report in 2012...
and Boricua College
Boricua College
Boricua College is a post-secondary educational institution located in New York City in the United States. The college was designed to serve the educational needs of Puerto Ricans and other Hispanics....
. The medical campus of Columbia University hosts the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the College of Dental Medicine, the Mailman School of Public Health, the School of Nursing, and the Graduate School of Basic Sciences, which offers doctoral programs in biomedical sciences. These schools are among the departments that comprise the Columbia University Medical Center, whose full name is the New York-Presbyterian/Columbia Medical Center.
Private primary and secondary schools include Mother Cabrini High School
Mother Cabrini High School
Mother Cabrini High School is a Catholic high school located in the Washington Heights neighborhood of the New York City borough of Manhattan. The school was founded in 1899 by Frances Xavier Cabrini and is sponsored by the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the order she founded...
, The School of The Incarnation, and the City College Academy of the Arts, a project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest transparently operated private foundation in the world, founded by Bill and Melinda Gates. It is "driven by the interests and passions of the Gates family"...
.
Other private schools include the Herbert G. Birch School for Exceptional Children and Medical Center Nursery School.
In addition, the complex is zoned to a public school in the New York City Department of Education
New York City Department of Education
The New York City Department of Education is the branch of municipal government in New York City that manages the city's public school system. It is the largest school system in the United States, with over 1.1 million students taught in more than 1,700 separate schools...
: P.S. 187 Hudson Cliffs for grades Kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
through 8.