3. The Abercrombie
The Abercrombie, built in 1908, is located on a wide corner lot at the southwest side of the intersection of St. Nicholas Avenue and West 165th Street. It has a predominantly brick facade with terra cotta trim and lion-head grotesques above the entryway.
An entry light partly blocks the building’s nameplate; as in many older buildings that are not in historic districts, alterations to original features is not uncommon in Washington Heights. However, while this and many of the buildings listed here have been altered at the ground floor by retail uses, signage, or lighting, if one looks above, on the upper floors many of the original details remain.
A friendly tenant invited us in for a look at the lobby. The original building plans do not show a fireplace, so it is not clear if the fireplace ever functioned or was always merely for show, though many pre-war buildings include working fireplaces in the lobby or in apartments.
“Supplement to Apartment Houses of the Metropolis,” 1909, via Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy, The New York Public Library