28 East 72nd Street - The Waldo Mansion

Upper East Side, Manhattan

Landmarks Preservation Commission approval for the conservation and restoration of the limestone exterior, the reinstatement of the balustrade above the fourth floor, the fifth floor mansard roof and the original elaborate dormers of an elegant five story townhouse in the Upper East Side Historic District.

Gertrude R. Waldo built this townhouse in conjunction with the neighboring house to the east on the corner of Madison Avenue and East 72nd Street. It was designed by Kimball & Thompson, Architects, in a neo-French Renaissance (Châteauesque) Style and constructed in 1897.

On the entrance level, there is a round-arched entrance with an adjacent round-arched window giving the impression of an arcade. The facade of the mansion is dominated by a projecting curved bay at the second and third stories surmounted by a balustrade. Both stories contain triple square headed windows. Beneath the fourth floor windows are friezes with richly enframed cartouches. A tall limestone clad chimney continues a composition influenced by the châteaux of the Loire Valley. Although the Waldo Mansion is modeled on French 16th century châteaux, its reduced scale and urban setting result in a characteristically late 19th century American architectural creation.

Removed in 1954, the fourth floor originally was surmounted by a limestone balustrade in front of a fifth floor composed of a steep, sloping, slate-covered mansard roof with a great two-tiered limestone dormer flanked by two highly detailed dormers.