3. The San Remo Apartments Were Subdivided to Make Them Easier to Rent

With its Old World elegance, The San Remo was originally advertised as the “Aristocrat of Central Park West,” offering unparalleled and highly coveted views. A year after opening, however, a third of building still remained vacant due to the stock market crash, which initiated the Great Depression.

In an effort to rent out the rooms, many of the larger units were subdivided to make them more affordable. With the exception of one unit, all of the south tower two-story apartments were divided into single floor rooms, and many larger C-lines (the largest units on the lower levels) and E-line (northeast corner) units were also converted into smaller spaces. This ultimately added 20 additional units to the building for a total of 138 apartments.